On Monday, Jan. 13, Gov. Mike Braun took the oath of office, replacing Eric Holcomb as Indiana’s 52nd governor. In response to the news, The Observer contacted faculty and students across Notre Dame to hear their perspectives on this historic event.
Prior to assuming the governorship, Braun served as a senator from the state. In 2022, he filed papers to run in the 2024 Indiana governor’s race, decisively winning a crowded six-way Republican primary. Following this, he moved on to the general election, defeating Democratic challenger Jennifer McCormick to become governor.
In an email response to The Observer, Jeff Harden, professor of political science specializing in American politics and political methodology with a particular emphasis on state politics, noted the strategy that likely went into Braun’s decision to vacate the Senate in favor of a gubernatorial position.
“The Senate offers prestige and power as the upper chamber of the premier legislature in the country, but each member is just one of many at the same level, and only a few ever move up beyond it,” Harden said. “The governor’s office is, of course, more localized. But it offers the unique opportunity to serve as an executive rather than one of many. I suspect that Braun saw this latter path as a better option for continuing his political career.”
During his time on the campaign trail, Braun embraced many typical Republican policies, including tax cuts, energy independence, parental rights, securing the southern border and an anti-abortion agenda.
“The discussion of issues on Braun’s campaign website is essentially a reflection of Republican priorities at the national level,” Harden said. “It mentions a few state-specific points but also several that reflect larger conversations across the country. This pattern is not surprising; political scientists have demonstrated that state-level elections have become increasingly nationalized over the last decade.”
While Braun’s predecessor, Eric Holcomb, is a fellow Republican, questions still circulate on how significantly Braun will differ in governance from the former governor. Based on his research, Harden predicted a slightly rightward shift in governance compared to Holcomb.
“I have a histogram graphing the distribution of all Indiana Republicans,” Harden said. “The graph shows that Holcomb is essentially in the middle of the party from an ideological perspective, while Braun is somewhat right of the party center. That finding suggests to me that, as governor, Braun will move policy to the right compared to Holcomb.”
Student opinion on Braun and his policies were relatively mixed. In an interview with The Observer, a Siegfried Hall freshman, Jude Hubner, from Indianapolis revealed his decision to vote for Braun as governor.
“I would say immigration is a big issue, and he’s been good on immigration, from what I’ve seen of his voting pattern,” Hubner said. “He’s pro-life, which is another issue I would say that he’s pretty good on.”
Other students, however, did not display a clear preference. Brett Driscoll, a graduate student in Siegfried Hall originating from Cedar Lake, Ind., disclosed he did not vote in the governor election. Driscoll self-identified his political stance as slightly right of center, but was cautious about limiting abortion access, a stance that Braun has supported.
“As a Catholic, I personally am pro-life. However, that’s a personal choice,” Driscoll said. “I do think I’m actually more pro-choice when it comes to political positions because I don’t think that a government should be able to tell us what we can and can’t do.”
When asked what he would tell Braun if given the opportunity, Driscoll had just one request.
“Fix the potholes in the state,” Driscoll said. “Please, please fix the potholes because my drive from Northwest Indiana to South Bend is a little rough sometimes.”
