Indiana's gubernatorial candidates discuss their top priorities
As Indiana's gubernatorial race enters the final stretch, both candidates are making their pitches to voters in Clark County.
Republican Mike Braun came to Jeffersonville for a rally at Luther F. Warder Park on Saturday, Oct. 26, and Democrat Jennifer McCormick has a rally scheduled for the same location on Saturday, Nov. 2.
Both candidates spoke to 비바카지노 Viva News about their top priorities if they are elected.
Jennifer McCormick
Most Hoosiers got to know McCormick while she served as the state's Republican education secretary during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shortly after she left that post in 2021, she changed her party affiliation to Democrat.
"I'm pretty fiscally conservative," she told 비바카지노 Viva News. "But I also have always believed in empowerment of others and taking care of others. And when I saw the Republican Party going in a different direction, I just couldn't get behind that. So, for me, it was about staying true to my values."
If elected, McCormick said she will work to ensure Indiana has a competitive workforce with the best education and workforce training opportunities.
"We need a governor who will focus on reproductive rights and freedoms, education and good-paying jobs," she said.
Mike Braun
Braun spent most of his life growing his Jasper-based automotive accessory distribution company. He's currently in the middle of his second term as a U.S. senator.
"I wasn't going to do the Senate more than two terms, like many that make a career out of it," he said. "I'm a believer in term limits."
Braun said his top priorities, if elected, will be capping property tax increases and lowering the cost of health care and health insurance for Hoosiers.
He accomplished the latter for his own business and employees by offering incentives for preventative care, he said. He wants to do the same with state government health insurance to create an example for the private marketplace, he said.
"From that time to the present, we offered free biometric screening," he said. "So you can see if you've got an issue pending and then other wellness and prevention tools. And then trying to make health care consumers out of my employees, to where they get engaged to try to shop around for their minor health care."