INDIANAPOLIS — Gov. Mike Braun on Thursday said Republicans lost heavily Tuesday night because Democrats effectively focused voters on affordability, and he called the results a wake-up call for his party.
Republicans lost 16 seats in the Indiana House of Representatives and five in the Senate. They also lost the secretary of state and state comptroller offices, the 5th Congressional District seat and dozens of county and township offices, including in longtime Republican strongholds such as Hamilton County.
In his first public comments since the election, Braun said Republicans did not do enough nationally to address affordability issues.
“We had issues at the national level that had people burdened and I’ve been the loudest voice of any governor on affordability,” he said. “Here, where you’ve got a political dynamic that’s different, it would beg the question, why didn’t you do more before? And I view what occurred there as a wakeup call and an opportunity.”
Braun said he did not consider the results a referendum on his first two years in office. He pointed to steps he has taken on affordability, including suspending the gas tax in response to the war with Iran and signing property tax legislation in 2025.
“If you weren’t seeing that the lower third of the economy, which was clear to me, their incomes weren’t catching up with inflation from the prior administration,” he said. “They were cranky, irritable and we did not read that well.”
Democrats have said Republicans’ narrower majorities will require more bipartisan policymaking. House Minority Leader Phil GiaQuinta, a Fort Wayne Democrat, said Wednesday he believes that could lead to better legislation.
Braun said Thursday he is willing to work with Democrats if they bring forward ideas he considers worthwhile on property taxes, utility bills, affordable housing and health care.
“I’m going to take all good ideas. Hopefully, we’re taking this opportunity and we’re doing more with it, to where, where we were before, politically, I think actually, the supermajorities may have hurt us there,” he said. “We’re the state that came through it the best, I think nationally, when you look at the carnage across the landscape.”
Braun also endorsed Secretary of State-elect Beau Bayh’s plan to order an outside audit of the secretary of state’s office. The proposal follows controversies involving outgoing Secretary of State Diego Morales.
Asked whether he supported Bayh’s plan, Braun said, “A hundred percent.”
“Whenever it comes to audits and transparency, I’m going to be for them,” Braun said. “Remember, again I replaced the entire (Indiana Economic Development Corporation) board. Then we had to do a forensic audit, most of which we incorporated.”
State lawmakers will meet at the Statehouse on Nov. 17 for Organization Day, when they will be sworn in and elect a House speaker and Senate president pro tempore. They will return to the Statehouse in January for the legislative session.
