Q&A from 'All Indiana Politics Special: The Governor’s Debate'

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The three candidates in November’s election for governor debated in a live broadcast Thursday night at WISH-TV studios.

“All Indiana Politics Special: The Governor’s Debate” featured Republican Mike Braun, Democrat Jennifer McCormick, and Libertarian Donald Rainwater.

Here are the questions they were asked followed with their answers. Answers are paraphrased until in quotation marks. This story will be updated as new questions are added.

Raise your hand if you support cutting or reducing Indiana’s property taxes as governor?

All three raised their hands.

What specifically would you cut, and how would you replace funding for schools and local police and fire services?

BRAUN: People are complaining about property taxes. Circuit breakers put in place by Gov. Mitch Daniels are no longer working. He would reset property taxes to where they were before they went out of control. He wants to assure local governments and school districts have enough to keep going.

McCORMICK: She knows property taxes are weighing on everyone. She put out a property tax plan to give savings to all Hoosiers in a bipartisan way. It’ll be ready on Day 1 and particular help elderly Hoosiers and veterans. The plan would save $660 million; it’s been well-received. She says Braun keeps revising his plan.

RAINWATER: In 2020, he suggested property taxes should be capped at 1% of the value of the property over seven years. He’s done planning — looking at tax-increment finance districts and 10-year tax abatements — on how to fund local government amid a tax cap.

In the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border a crisis, and what should be the role of Indiana government in addressing it?

McCORMICK: Braun, while in Congress as a U.S. senator, has opposed legislation that would have helped. Braun voted against the legislation for political reasons alone. Indiana needs to consider legal immigration’s positive role in helping Indiana’s economy.

RAINWATER: The governor should enforce the rule of law. The federal government has failed to enforce its mandate to manage immigration. Why Braun hasn’t solved the immigration problem while a U.S. senator? Would he do better as Indiana governor?

BRAUN: Former President Donald Trump protected the borders; President Joe Biden has not. He declined to list the crimes that come to Indiana. “I don’t think any Hoosier would be for making it legal that you could have 5,000 illegal immigrants coming across the border daily.”

Do you believe Indiana should add additional restrictions on abortion, repeal the law, or keep things as they are now?

RAINWATER: If changes need to be made to the current law, then the judiciary needs to determine that. Legislators can listen to constituents and make changes. Additional things: Many lifelong Hoosiers are pro-choice; I’ve never seen in the state constitution where Indiana is declared a pro-life state, as Braun has said; many women, lifelong Hoosiers, are pro-live.

BRAUN: Indiana’s abortion has held up through the courts, and Hoosiers have supported it because Indiana as a pro-life state. He says Indiana’s legislature vetted its law carefully, and that held up in the courts, and “it reflects the majority of Hoosiers in the state.”

McCORMICK: I trust women and health care providers. Let’s put the question to the voters in a ballot initiative. Sixty percent of Hoosiers believe in allowing women control the decisions for their health care. Braun says he thinks he got it right, but we need to go back to standards of Roe v. Wade and trust our women. “Hoosiers, I have your back on this.”

Do you believe the school voucher system is helping or hurting the education of Indiana’s children?

BRAUN: Indiana has a leading edge on choice and competition, and also puts the parents as the main stakeholders in their children’s education. “When you have one size fits all, it’s a monopoly.” If you’re not for choice, competition, and vouchers to make it doable, it’s not a zero-sum game. Indiana’s money follows the kids, as was established years ago.

He says Pike County once had mismanagement within a school district, and had to shut down one with the best performance. “If it had not been for the availability of a charter school, you would’ve had to bus those kids 20 to 30 minutes additionally. They are thriving now because they had the option, and the parents went for it.”

Braun says McCormick was in charge for four years as a state schools superintendent and that “results never got any better. I think you’ve got to be held accountable when that’s the one thing you did in state government.”

McCORMICK: I believe in fiscal responsibility. Indiana puts $1.6 billion into private education, and the results haven’t been good. “Make no mistake, this isn’t about parents choosing, this is about a school choosing. The admission policies need to be looked at. If I should up with a child and the school doesn’t like the academy performance, or the color of their skin, or how they identify LGBTQ, or their religious belief, they do not have to take them. … Public dollars need to go to public schools. That whole program needs to be reviewed.” The threshold of eligibility is $220,000 family of four, and how many Hoosier families make that much?

Indiana schools have been under continuously changing standards and test before the exam results are in. Those changes, every time, cost $40 million. We don’t have good data to know what is and isn’t working.

McCormick, when she was a former state schools superintendent, didn’t have control over changing the test.

RAINWATER: I believe in universal school choice. Our public school system is failing; only 63% of children taking statewide tests in math and English. “We are spending almost 60% of our state budget on education.” The state constitution allows for the funding of public and private schools.

McCormick, when she was a former state schools superintendent, changed the test and wasted money.

Do you support Indiana legalizing marijuana use, either medicinal, recreational, or both?

McCORMICK: I’m aware 80% of Hoosiers support it. My cannabis plan calls for a conversation on medical use before a conversation on adult use.

On adult use, Indiana is losing out on $177 million in tax revenue and hundreds of thousands of jobs because surrounding states have legalized marijuana.

Indiana needs a commission on cannabis use.

RAINWATER: “We don’t need to expand government. We don’t need a new commission. We don’t need new regulations. We can make cannabis in all forms — medicinal and recreational — legal right now.”

“If legislators are not prepared, that is their fault, and we should probably replace them. We should make this legal now, and, as governor, I would make sure that all nonviolent criminal cannabis-related offenses are expunged.”

BRAUN: Marijuana use medicinally and recreationally is cascading across the county, and Indiana needs to address it seriously. He’d have to think about whether to allow adult use. On medical use, “We’re probably ready for it.” On both counts, he’s going to listen to law enforcement because they will have to enforce it and put up with any issues.