COLUMBUS, Ind. – Candidates for Indiana governor from both the Republican and Libertarian parties pitched their campaigns to business leaders at The Commons in Columbus on Friday, during the annual meeting of the Greater Columbus Economic Development Corporation.
The six candidates did not debate, instead individually introducing themselves and responding to questions from moderator and longtime journalist Gerry Dick.
The candidates included Republicans — U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, former Secretary of Commerce Brad Chambers, Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, Fort Wayne businessman Eric Doden, and former Attorney General Curtis Hill — plus Libertarian Donald Rainwater.
An event brochure introducing the six candidates noted that all “substantive candidates” had received an invite, including Democrat frontrunner Jennifer McCormick, “who declined to appear due to a schedule conflict.”
As expected due to the nature of the event, questions focused on economic policies for the candidates and what choices they’d make as governor to help areas like Columbus prosper.
Hill painted himself as someone who would defend personal liberties while both Braun and Chambers highlighted their entrepreneurial background as founders of their respective businesses. Crouch continued to push her plan to “ax” the state income tax and Doden promoted the ability to revitalize smaller communities like Columbus and his Fort Wayne hometown.
Rainwater called for shrinking the size of the state government, similar to his 2020 candidacy which won him a historic 11.4% in the general election as a third-party candidate. He repeatedly decried state-led efforts like the LEAP district in Boone County and the READI program, which devoted $1 billion in federal and state funds to local quality-of-life efforts.
“I think the role of the governor should be to keep government out of your way, to reduce the regulatory burden on local economic development efforts,” Rainwater said. We’ve got to get rid of this idea that big government is going to fix things.”
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