(Music) Donald Trump elected president.

Mike Braun's decisive gubernatorial victory.

Plus, Todd Rokita reelected, and more.

From the television studios at Wfyi.

It's Indiana Week in Review for the week ending November 8th, 2024.

Indiana Week in Review is made possible by the supporters of Indiana Public Broadcasting stations.

This week, Donald Trump won a sweeping victory to return to the white House, likely winning the popular vote as well as the Electoral College for the first time in his three runs for president.

In Trump's victory remarks, he called his run the greatest political movement of our time and pledged to help the country heal.

Exit polling shows that Trump improved his margins from 2020, with nearly every demographic group while on track to win more states than he did in 2016.

In Indiana, Trump appears headed toward a bigger margin of victory than 2020, and one that matches and possibly even slightly improves on his 2016 win.

Are you surprised at Trump's decisive victory?

It's the first question for our Indiana Week in Review panel.

Democrat Ann DeLaney.

Republican Mike O'Brien.

Oseye Boyd, editor in chief of Mirror Indy.

And Niki Kelly, editor in chief of the Indiana Capital Chronicle.

I'm Indiana Public Broadcasting Statehouse bureau chief Brandon Smith.

Mike, I think this always felt like a coin flip.

So are you surprised that Trump won the way he did?

I think everyone's surprise, including Donald Trump.

I mean, they were planning on, you know, being in the middle of a recount in suburban Philadelphia today, you know, not planning the transition that they were able to start planning on Tuesday night.

you know, I said a few weeks ago and I was genuine in this.

I was really curious on the Democrats strategy, and it was very well coordinated.

We haven't seen a better organized Democratic Party in Indiana in some time.

Funded.

Good candidates.

Coordinated.

Certainly.

Coordinated.

Message on social issues.

Clearly abortion was the tip of the spear on on the messaging.

And I was curious if that was going to work and I and that strategy was based, I think, in red places, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Ohio that overwhelmingly passed abortion protections and protected women's rights.

I think what?

So I don't think Democrats got voter preferences wrong.

I think what they got wrong was voters willingness to be motivated by those enough to elect Kamala Harris.

Because you look at places like Arizona, you put the question in front of them and say, do you support abortion rights?

Yes.

Who are you voting for?

President Donald Trump?

Well, don't you know he's the guy that appointed the US Supreme Court to overturn Roe v Wade?

Yeah, but I don't care about this more than I care about all of this, which is the economy, wages, inflation, immigration and all the things that Donald Trump prioritized.

And so my read on the back end is Democrats didn't really look at voter voters and look at Democrats and go, we disagree with you.

We just don't care as much about those things as these do about these things.

Where do Democrats go from here on a national level?

Well, I think a lot depends on what he does now.

I mean, if he starts using the Army to round up everyone with brown skin in the country, if he starts, he's supposed to be bringing world peace.

He's supposed to be controlling inflation.

He's supposed to be doing all of these things.

And I don't think he's going to deliver at all.

I mean, he doesn't believe in the rule of law.

He tried to overthrow the government.

He lies habitually.

He disrespects women.

I mean, it's really amazing to me that he could have been put forth by the Republicans as the nominee.

I understand they didn't like Biden and they didn't like Biden's policies.

But that perfectly flawed candidate is now the president of the United States.

Can he bring peace in the Middle East?

Can he resolve the Ukrainian war without without undermining the Ukraine?

Can he do that?

You know, can he can he control inflation?

Can he do all the things he's promised people?

The answer is no.

The good news is it's not theoretical.

We're going to find.

Out not so.

That it does make a difference for what happens from here.

Because the off year election for that for Republicans could not be.

But if.

You spend the next two years talking about rounding up people on trains and deport them, and that does not better happen then or people are going to look at you in 2026 and go, what are you talking about.

Now?

I want to if that's the.

Expectation.

You're saying if he does, if that's.

The expectation, you're setting some pretty horrible things that are happening or people are going to go, no, this is fine.

Okay, okay, I know he.

Doesn't and you're going to loop.

What if he doesn't?

I want to I want to ask this, which is so much of this.

I think the shock of this is because of Donald Trump, the person.

But if I told you the party in power in the white House had under its watch record high inflation that people are still feeling even as inflation is, has normalized.

And then they lost.

Wouldn't that make sense?

I mean, doesn't that follow like the way this country's elections have.

Always worked against other presidencies historically?

You know, it creates one term president things.

And so, that's what we're seeing, I think because though Trump and his sort of a larger than life bombastic, you know, you know, persona, I think people thought, well, maybe they could fight through the inflation or the economy or the wages of the jobs.

But, you know, voters just they were they were voting with their, their pocketbook.

And while inflation had normalized, when you go well, compared to four years ago, it's still.

Higher.

Yeah.

It's as mean to me when I go to the store.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know, I don't think about oh it's normalized.

So yeah.

You're not comparing.

Yeah.

They're not comparing the price.

Years ago it was this price now is just.

No it matters right now.

Today.

Yeah.

You're going to.

Go down right.

Those prices are not going to go down.

And if the tariffs come on they are going to go up.

But nobody cared about that.

Not now but yeah not now.

Yeah.

But it's it's hard to argue in that negative space where you go well inflation was eight 1,012%.

Now it's three 4 or 5%.

But it could have been because of that.

But it's down seven but it's still up four right.

Mike you're yeah.

You're not comparing.

It.

So you're deciding when.

You got when you go to the grocery store, you're not comparing your bill and the prices on your bill to, oh well, six months ago or a year ago, that's hasn't changed.

This is bad, but it hasn't changed.

It hasn't changed yet.

Right?

Right now I'm in the store right now.

Yeah.

All right.

Governor elect Mike Braun says his big election victory gives him a platter of opportunity to tackle the kitchen table issues he ran on, including property tax and health care reform, says his double digit victory in the governor's race gives him a mandate that can help further his agenda, as he works with the state legislature.

And I'll accept it humbly and try to engage everyone in my own party, along with the good ideas across the aisle.

Braun says an initial focus of his transition will be reviewing state agencies and their leadership.

It's going to be my vision of being an entrepreneurial governor that's going to be conservative on the financial side, but very entrepreneurial on the problem fixing side.

Braun says he likes to move quickly and to expect agency leadership announcements to start soon.

Ann DeLaney, does Braun's win give him greater leverage with the legislature?

No, I mean, we have a weak governor ship with a simple override, and you've got a lot of crazy people in those Republican caucuses, so I don't know how you necessarily control them.

I know he says he's going to solve all these problems, but I'd really like to know with with the scaled back of income tax and corporate tax, how are you going to fix property tax?

At the same time you fix what they screwed up with education over the last 10 or 15 years.

I mean, the part of the reason property taxes are as high as they are is because the percentage of funding from the state budget for K through 12 traditional education has plummeted, and property taxes for per student have doubled over that period of time.

We have one of the highest property tax increases in the country.

So what are you going to do with that?

Is he going to continue or shrink the property tax?

At the same time?

He doesn't increase the funding.

I think he's going to have a lot of rural school districts coming and saying, what are you doing to our education system where we have reading down, we have the number of people from high post-high school getting additional education has also plummeted under their watch.

He's got some really big challenges ahead of him, and he's got some crazies in his caucus know if they if they want to scale back these incremental decreases in income and corporate taxes that nobody really feels.

Oh, I can predict fairly safely, that's not going to happen.

Do you.

But but let me ask this.

So again, talking about that relationship with the legislature.

The legislature has been Republican dominated for more than a decade now.

We've had Republican governors obviously that whole time, and they've shown a relative willingness to go, that's nice.

We're going to do what we're going to do, and you're going to sign it or you're not going to sign it.

And we don't really care all that much, does a 14, you know, 13, 14 point win matter to them?

I think it does because I think the theory, as we were getting closer to the election and the and the, you know, the they felt like it was getting closer or the governor's race is getting closer.

I know the House Republican Campaign Committee was worried about losing the Zionsville seat.

The Carmel seat, you know, probably the Brownsburg, you know, the Browns were.

Seeing that one still up and that one is still technically up in.

The air.

Six votes, I think.

so there was an idea that if they front wins by four or 5 or 6 and they bring in, they lose a supermajority, well, someone's going to like, they're not gonna be happy about that.

And that's and that's going to translate to their willingness to go take on a big legislative agenda.

Well, of course none of that happened.

He won by 14 points.

Super majorities Becky Cash and Tiffany Stoner that that was an outstanding matter.

Well, and a lot of what Mike Braun is already I mean, he's already engaged state agencies starting Wednesday, literally Wednesday to to analyze budgets, analyze personnel.

What are they do you know, do a Swot analysis?

I mean he's really like quickly taking a businessman approach to the administration of state government.

But a lot of it's a lot of those changes if he wants to consolidate agencies or rearrange things, which it sounds like has been part of the conversation, that's going to, well, that's going to go through the legislature.

Those are statutorily created agencies largely.

And so he's going to need some buy in from the legislature.

But the legislature's also spent the last couple of years really taking a hard look at the organization of state government.

What are these agencies doing?

So there's a world where, like Mike Braun in the Chris Garten and Todd Houston, these guys that have been looking at the government that way could come together and go, no, you're right.

Like we do need to reorganize and create efficiency for you.

To that end, there's so much on the legislature's platter of opportunity, for the upcoming session.

There's so much on the table, I mean, the budget.

But then all of the things within the budget and all the things that cascade down from that, the issues that they're trying to tackle does a kind of big reorganization of government fit into all of those other big plans?

Maybe, but I think so.

Here's something that I think is, is a little monkey wrench in all the plans, is that Lieutenant Governor Michael Beckwith.

So I'm curious to see how he fits in with everything, because I think even though start may be aligned for, a Braun in the legislature, we don't know what he's going to have to deal with internally when it comes to Beckwith.

I think that's where his challenge is going to be.

I don't think it's going to be the legislature, so I'm kind of excited to see how this plays out because I think it's going to be very interesting.

Yeah.

It's the biggest unanswered question about Mike Braun's gubernatorial term.

What Mike, what role Michael Beckwith is going to play beyond the statutory one.

Yeah, I would call it like one be you know, I mean, I think the legislature will probably be very supportive of a lot of the basic things, the two issues that I think might be more problematic for governor elect Braun are the two that he was most straighten about, which are property taxes and health care stuff.

I think they'll look for some smaller things, but not these massive overhauls that the Braun people would prefer on that I also want to know, and of course, it's a 14 point, you know, win.

It's big.

But he would see fewer votes.

And Eric Holcomb did right years ago.

Guys that.

Didn't help Eric.

Holcomb.

So yeah, they they have a really.

I think it's approach.

He's talked about his relationship with the legislature, having been in the legislature only for one term.

I want to ask I want to ask.

A little line in the middle of the second.

Term.

I want to ask a little bit more about this, which is I'll ask you about this, which is to those points, the two big things that clearly Braun is most focused on health care reform, property taxes.

On the property tax side.

Well, he had this relatively detailed plan.

He also has said all along, listen, I'm just casting a vision.

Lawmakers will work out the details.

So I mean, they're going to do something about property taxes.

Is anything basically a win for Mike Braun in that sense?

Well, he'll declare it.

So yeah.

So I suppose you could do that.

But the question is do the voters feel it and do the education or the educators feel it?

I mean, that's the biggest problem with tackling the property taxes.

I agree, they're too high.

And we supposedly had a solution from Mitch Daniels before.

Remember, all we have to do is put the highest sales tax in the country in place and the property tax problem solve for good.

Well, it was solve for about 16 years and it's back again.

Mike Braun is clearly I think this is my perspective more passionate about health care reform.

It's something he cared a lot about in this business.

He talked about it in the legislature.

He talked about it when he went ran for the Senate.

He's talked about it throughout his time in the Senate.

And now a lot as governor.

Is that arguably the harder battle, and will he be less willing to declare victory no matter what?

Oh yeah, that's our battle.

I mean, the legislature has been trying to tackle that for five, you know, last fight forever.

But for the last five years, when it was discovered that we have some of the highest costs in the country.

Right.

and so they have been trying and made harder by the fact that state government and state legislatures don't control health care policy, most largely.

Yeah.

and so but he does have but he does understand.

And you've seen at the statehouse last couple sessions, he does understand from his own experience that that is the number one concern of in business right now.

It is their ability to sustain a workforce and a health care program.

And he tells a good story about what he did as a business owner to do that.

And it's why you see the Manufacturers Association, the Chamber of Commerce.

It's not the old stuff.

It's not the drug companies and the insurance companies lobbying.

It's statehouse on health care.

It's the employers.

Yeah.

All right.

Time now for viewer feedback.

Each week we post an unscientific online poll question.

And this week's question is, does governor elect Mike Braun's margin of victory give him leverage with the legislature?

A yes or B no?

Last week we asked you one last time who will win the race for governor?

The results weren't quite the same.

22% said Mike Braun, 76% said Jennifer McCormick, 2% said Donald Rainwater.

If you'd like to take part in the poll, go to fyi.org slash.

We're and look for the poll.

Well, Republican Todd Rokita says his victory in the race for attorney general sent a clear message about what Hoosiers want.

Rokita easily won reelection this week, defeating Democrat Destiny Wells.

Speaking to a roomful of cheering supporters, Rokita says his win was a rejection of what he views as far left extremism.

I am grateful to have earned the votes and, more importantly, the trust of so many Hoosiers tonight.

Rokita says his overwhelming victory will help him build on the work he's already done as attorney general.

He emphasized his fight to protect Indiana's near-total abortion ban and continued attacks on transgender Hoosiers.

Wells emphasized to her supporters that change is incremental.

And it takes all of us and our sacrifice to wake up our neighbors and to let them see what is on the line.

Democrats haven't won the race for attorney general since 1996.

Niki, how much of this victory was approval of Todd Rokita specifically versus just Republican voters voting for a Republican, or even the Trump coattail effect?

Yeah, I think it's I think it's probably the latter.

I think the coattail effect, and we've always been able to look at attorney general and Secretary of state, you know, in the in the off years as the baseline for party voters.

So, I mean, he definitely did lose some votes from when you look at, you know, what Trump brought in, what Braun brought in and what banks brought in.

So he definitely lost some due to, you know, his, you know, things he's gone after abortion doctors things like that.

So that cost him some votes.

But in general that race just couldn't occupy people's space.

You know, they were so much busier with the top of the the top of the ticket.

Rokita reportedly this week said, he has taken himself like he's his name is not on the list of people willing to serve in the Trump administration.

He wants to focus.

He wants to focus on Indiana.

I mean, it is absolutely the sort of person that would make sense for a Trump administration.

I, I, I don't mean that as derisively as you probably think of it.

And, but, are you surprised the Rokita is not wanting to to go to the federal level?

That's the thing to say, right?

You say you want to stay here and you want to hear all about Indiana, but when the offer comes, it's what you actually do.

so I don't expect him to not say that.

Well, we'll just see what actually happens, though, because I believe if he gets to offer, he will go.

couldn't be that lucky.

what do you think is what do you think Todd Rokita imagines for his future?

Now?

I don't think he wants to be attorney general.

He's not reading me in on that.

You and I aren't chatting about that.

So if you.

Have if you look at what are the what are the next opportunities?

U.S. Senate race in 28.

Presumably Braun runs for reelection 2032.

Maybe your your next, gubernatorial gubernatorial opportunity an open seat.

I think he's smart to run for attorney.

You know, run for reelection for attorney general to stay in the mix.

and that's what I'm like.

And unlike the other, statewide offices, you can stay in attorney general for as long as they they keep.

reelecting.

You, As a person that.

do you presumably Braun runs for reelection.

Do you presume Mike Braun is for reelection?

No, I don't I mean, his track record has been he didn't finish his term in the legislature.

He ran one time from for Senate.

He's the oldest governor ever elected.

No, I see him as one term.

And I think that's what Rokita has his eye on.

And this is all about the Trump wave.

I mean, if you could have put him up just like the abortion question up by itself, he would have lost because he's been a disgrace to the state.

The really serious who though, like you threw a lot of mud at Diego and it didn't work.

This was a little more well-funded than the race against year, but but it's very it's it's buried in this.

Buried.

It's buried.

But the Secretary of state said it wasn't.

Now let's see what happens.

The next secretary of state.

Yeah.

That's true.

When there won't be anything above the ticket on exact right.

Because there's no Senate race in 26.

All right, well, the Indiana House and Senate appear headed for the status quo after this year's election results, with Republicans maintaining the super majorities in both chambers.

The Senate headed into the 2024 elections, split 40-10 between Republicans and Democrats.

Half the chamber was up for election this year, and none of those seats changed.

Political hands.

There will be two new members of the Senate.

One Democrat lost reelection in the primary, and one Republican incumbent opted not to run again.

The House had been split 70-30 the last two years, and unofficial county results have it headed for the same balance for the next two.

Democrats had been targeting a few seats, particularly in suburbs around Indianapolis, hoping to flip for and break the GOP supermajority.

But a good night for Republicans statewide helped ensure the supermajority will remain.

Oseye, given the Trump wave and all of that.

Are you surprised the state of races appeared so unchanged?

No, not at all.

Not at all.

What's been a supermajority of Republicans now in the House for, what, seven seven election cycles now?

yeah, something like that.

Yeah.

Since 2012.

So no, I'm not surprised.

I mean, we look at our state.

Our state is very, very red with pockets of blue.

Just what.

For a. Yeah.

Well, I don't.

Know if you look at what's election day.

Even pretty close to the.

Trump.

Well, even but even I think even without the, the districts or redistricting as it, as it is, I think the state is still pretty red.

Democrats need to really convince people to get out and vote.

Our voter turnout is abysmal, right?

but on the flip side, if more people come out and vote, what does that mean?

They will vote for Democrats?

Maybe not.

Maybe our state still stays red.

But, we we do need to get more people to vote.

I think that's our biggest issue.

And that could actually flip the, legislature.

That's why not change the rules.

Not a single that's not only Donald Trump.

You know, we didn't win, so we got cheated.

Last.

Night voting.

Yeah, I think so.

Most gerrymandered state in the country.

I think I think straight ticket I think specifically voting does make a difference.

We'll see.

We'll see if all of the seats remain UN flipped because there is that, Brownsburg area seat, which I believe last I checked was a 66 vote difference.

That's well within the margin that a recount could change.

Or even if absentee ballots are still being counted.

but let's assume it stays where it is.

Are you surprised that not a single seat flipped 20?

I maybe thought 1 or 2 would flip.

But but I mean, okay, 20 points, but how about the other way?

But but how about the other way?

So a Democrat didn't lose a single seat, you know, a seat on the on the river, which is.

So they ran they the Republicans ran a candidate who took money from a criminal and wouldn't give it back.

Okay.

That's true.

That may have.

Had some.

Impact, but I mean, are you a little surprised that, I mean, literally nothing.

We had good.

Candidates.

You had great candidates.

The 20 point.

If you don't know the 20 point, well, even with the 20 point, when you look at like look at the Danny Lopez district, Trump lost that.

Jennifer McCormick won that district.

He won by eight.

That's that's a sign of a strength of a candidate.

And that he was a.

Very good candidate.

He was I don't disagree with that.

So was Danny Lopez.

As for that district, he is he's a Republican who fits that that district.

See how he votes when he's in that super majority.

Well, I mean, but Jerry did that for how many years that voted the way I think that.

We'll talk about.

What's.

Happened in that district is what Democrats have suggested for years, which is moderate.

Republicans are willing to vote Democratic.

Clearly, it's a majority Democrat vote, and that except for Danny Lopez.

are we going to start to see some of that trickle down to the city level in?

I mean, we we've talked about the purple wing of Hamilton County for a long time.

We're not seeing it too much at the state level.

And the, the, the, the top of the ticket races notwithstanding.

Are you going to start to see it trickle down more into the municipal level?

Is that where it's really going to start?

We've seen it.

Go to go to.

Go purple as opposed to ro or B or in blue.

Yeah.

But we're going to start seeing.

Are we.

Yeah that's true.

And then flip.

Right.

But are we going to see Democrats start winning more at the local level in those areas.

Or is it just kind of baked in the way it's always been?

you're going to have redistricting again.

Okay.

And I don't know whether that changes.

I don't know if we'll ever get to the point where we have redistricting by commission.

I don't know, we'll forever get to the point where we don't have straight party voting.

I, you know, and those two things contribute to whether it stays red or blue.

It does.

It mixes.

You have.

To.

When you redistrict.

In order to make some of those seats competitive, you have to go crack urban centers.

If you look at the map, the blue areas are urban cores.

You have to go break those and send those voters into suburban areas.

That's gerrymandering.

And it's not what we did.

Yeah, no, you kept them all together.

And the other none other other other than perhaps.

It would go outside.

Other other than perhaps the Senate in Fort Wayne.

Fort Wayne.

That that's that's.

Right.

So can't tie Hamilton County and lose 85 counties.

You just can't do it.

And once.

Wednesday.

All right.

Finally, at the Allen County GOP election night party, a local Fort Wayne band reportedly performed a cover of Cool the Gang song Ladies Night and changed the lyrics to make it Jim Banks night.

Mike O'Brien.

Is this funny or cringe?

It's as cool as Republicans get.

I think that's the best.

Can we can you do you like that we should be changing and changing.

So fringy is is that where we're at?

Is the ladies night Jim Banks and so sense there's dancing.

If it was if the song was just playing that's one thing.

If there was.

There was dancing.

That's a little different.

Square dancing probably.

That's extra cringe.

A what do you make of Jim Banks not being down with the rest of the Republican Party in Indy on election night?

Is that just a local?

I wanted to be surprised.

He's always been very, focused on that corner of the area, you know, of the state and, you know, his family's there.

I think he wanted his parents and his grandparents and things like that.

And it would have been harder to bring them.

To bring them all down.

Yeah, that makes sense.

And I talked to Jim Banks this week.

We will talk more about that and sort of the path he's charting for himself next week.

But that is Indiana Week in Review for this week.

Our panel is Democrat Ann DeLaney.

Republican Mike O'Brien, Oseye Boyd of Mirror Indy and Niki Kelly of the Indiana Capital Chronicle.

You can find Indiana Week In Reviews podcasts and episodes at wfyi.org/iwir or on the PBS app.

I'm Brandon Smith of Indiana Public Broadcasting.

Join us next time because a lot can happen in an Indiana week.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the panelists.

Indiana Week in Review was a wfyi production in association with Indiana's public broadcasting stations.