Indiana has developed a diverse talent pool to develop future governors.
After the American Civil War, Governors Conrad Baker, Isaac Gray, Alvin Hovey, Ira Joy Chase, James Atwell Mount and Winfield T. Durbin used their battlefield experiences at Shiloh, Vicksburg, Chickamauga and Sherman’s March to the Sea to forge political careers and ultimately wield power in state legislatures.
After World War I, Governors Paul V. McNutt and George N. Craig served as commanders of the American Legion based in Indianapolis and were subsequently elected governors. After World War II, Governors Matthew Welsh, Roger D. Branigin, Edgar Whitcomb and Robert Aull parlayed their military experience into politics.
Then, successive lieutenant governors rose to the top, including Orr, Frank O’Bannon, Joe Kernan and finally Eric Holcomb.
With the nomination of Mike Braun in the Republican primary this May, a new trend is emerging: The road to the second floor of the state Capitol starts in Washington, DC, our dysfunctional capital.
Brown is the latest Indiana native to leave the halls of power at or near Congress to win the state’s gubernatorial election, following Governors Mike Pence and Mitch Daniels. Brown is completing one term as a U.S. senator. Pence served in Congress for 12 years before returning to Indianapolis to run for governor in 2012. Daniels served on Senator Richard Lugar’s staff, on the Republican National Senatorial Committee, as a political adviser to President Reagan and as White House budget director under President George W. Bush before deciding to return to the presidency in 2003 to end 16 years of Democratic rule.
The trend may not end with Brown. Rep. Jim Banks is the favorite to win Brown’s Senate seat in November. If Brown hadn’t run for governor, Banks would almost certainly be gearing up for a 2032 election, and that’s likely. Earlier this week, reporters asked Brown’s senior adviser, Joshua Kelly, whether Brown would run for reelection in 2028 if he won in November. Kelly replied, “Absolutely.”
During an interview last November at Brown’s Meyer Distributing Jasper office, he noted that Indiana history has seen former governors become U.S. senators, from Gov. Oliver P. Morton to Evan Bayh, “and you’re trying to do the opposite.”
“You know why?” Brown responded. “Because they come from the farm system of politics. The ones who left the governorship didn’t finish politics. They wanted to continue. I was lucky in that I did something in the real world first before I decided to get into politics at a significant level.”
“When I decided to run for governor, it was an either/or situation,” Brown continued. “If I didn’t run now, it would take another nine years. I made a vow not to run for Senate more than two terms, and I never would have broken that. It was basically the decision that made the most sense.”
I asked Brown, do you feel like you’re more of a business person at heart and soul?
“I knew what I had to do legislatively as a member of the House, so I feel like I’m good at both,” he said. “For me, if you’re an entrepreneur, you know the path from here to there. I had to figure out pretty much everything about how to make that struggling business successful. Basically, the difference is that someone with a typical agricultural politics background gets a law degree and almost immediately transitions into elected or appointed politics and even practices. But most people who want to end up in the Senate choose elected or appointed politics as a career. I think that’s a big mistake.”
“I don’t think you’re going to learn enough once you get there,” he said. “Without the hands-on experience, you’re going to be very dependent on the chief of staff.”
Brown cited Governor Mitch Daniels, who combined his experience working with Mayor Lugar and Senator Lugar with his executive position at Eli Lilly and Company. “Mitch knew business as well as government,” Brown said. “So when he became the state’s chief executive officer, he had the confidence to know what to do.”
Brown likes to tell the story of how he addressed the rising cost of health insurance for his employees by switching to a self-insured plan, turning them into “risk-bearing consumers,” saving them and the company hundreds of thousands of dollars. Brown believes he can do the same for Indiana’s 30,000 state government employees.
Brown is now beginning to make his mark on the Indiana Republican Party, hosting a unity event in Carmel on June 24 that will include many of the Republican Party’s mainstream contingents, as well as Brown’s primary opponents Suzanne Crouch, Brad Chambers and Eric Dowden.
Republican Chairwoman Anne Hathaway has been openly invited by Brown to stay in her current (and temporary) role if she wishes.
“I’m not going to speak for Anne,” Kelly said. “She’s probably going through a process of where she wants to go next, and if she decides to take the next step, that’s up to her.”
And on Friday, Brown will host a chat with Indiana residents in Jasper. Kelly told reporters the event will continue, but there is now a long waiting list.
Brian Howey is a senior writer and columnist for Howey Politics Indiana/State Affairs. You can find Howey on Facebook and at X @hwypol.
