McCormick hopes to bring ‘focus on real issues’ to Indiana governor’s race

As she walked into Golden Hour Books in Indianapolis, Katie Marlowe had a mental list of topics for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jennifer McCormick to address: Reproductive rights, low wages, the cost of housing and child care. 

“I have two children in their late 30s, and I’ve been watching them struggle to get a foothold in this state,” Marlowe, of Indianapolis, told State Affairs at the early evening campaign stop. 

Maryann Ruegger, also of Indianapolis, brought concerns about the state’s water quality and educational outcomes to the campaign stop. “Educated people are our infrastructure,” she said. 

Both women watched as McCormick, fresh from a candidate forum opposite U.S. Sen. and Republican nominee Mike Braun, stepped onto her proverbial stump at the front of a room crowded with about 40 people.

Without the benefit of a microphone, stage or notes, the former Republican state superintendent of public instruction talked about restoring abortion rights, reforming education and lowering health care costs. 

Ruegger and Marlowe began to tick topics off their lists. 

“I like that she addresses issues that a governor can impact,” Marlowe said after McCormick had finished. “She’s not talking about the border. She talks about issues Hoosiers care about.”

McCormick, 54, is campaigning to lead the state she has called home for her entire life. The former special education teacher faces long odds, as no Democrat has been elected to statewide office in Indiana since 2012. 

At the bookstore, she acknowledged some of her challenges: She needs to energize the Democratic voter base, especially young people, while also appealing to moderate Republicans and rural voters. 

And she needs to raise money to bolster what she called a “lean” campaign operation that will need to stretch across the state.  

In an interview with State Affairs, McCormick said her campaign seeks to return Indiana to a less partisan political climate. 

“I really believe in the [former U.S. Sen. Richard] Lugar times and the [former Gov. and U.S. Sen. Evan] Bayh times, where you had bipartisan, common sense attempts at governance,” McCormick said. “You had people doing it to move all Hoosiers forward.”

McCormick said she’s running to bring a focus to key issues. 

“Hoosiers want [politicians] to focus on things that impact our daily lives,” she said. “They’re worried about their child care, their jobs, their road and their sewers. People are wanting us to focus on real issues.”

The heavy campaigning will begin after Labor Day, McCormick said. For now, she’s hoping to hear from as many voters as possible as she crisscrosses the state. 

Rural, urban and suburban Indiana

McCormick was born in Scottsburg, Indiana, and moved to New Castle, Indiana, at a young age. 

She went to New Castle High School and stayed in-state for a few college terms, earning her bachelor’s degree from Purdue University, a master’s degree and school principal certification from Ball State University and her educational doctorate and Ph.D. from Indiana State University. 

“I’ve lived in rural, urban and suburban Indiana,” McCormick said of her travels. 

After a decade as a teacher, McCormick became a principal and eventually rose to become superintendent of Yorktown Community Schools. After she and some of her fellow superintendents felt a lack of support from Indiana’s Department of Education, they decided someone should run for state superintendent of public instruction. 

For the first — but not the last — time, McCormick said she looked around the proverbial room and didn’t see any hands raised, so she volunteered to run for the statewide office in 2016. 

Partisan concerns as superintendent

McCormick campaigned on cutting down on school testing, removing bureaucracy and politics from the Department of Education and expanding the state’s voucher program. She eventually defeated incumbent Democrat Glenda Ritz by about seven percentage points. 

Ritz, along with former U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly, is the last Democrat to hold statewide office in Indiana. 

Public office was not what McCormick expected it to be. 

“I was pretty naive,” she said. “I really thought once you’re elected, you represent all people. I assumed there would be a bipartisan spirit.”

Republicans and Democrats in the Statehouse were beginning to refuse to work with one another, McCormick said. 

“I found that incredibly difficult,” she said. 

McCormick said she attempted to reorient the Department of Education towards children’s needs but ultimately couldn’t accomplish everything she hoped. 

Kelly Wittman first met McCormick two decades ago, when Wittman served as principal of Yorktown High School and McCormick held the same position at Yorktown Elementary. 

Wittman would eventually follow McCormick to the Department of Education, where she served as chief of staff. She is now running McCormick’s gubernatorial campaign — Wittman’s first time managing a political candidate. 

Wittman recalled a listening tour McCormick embarked on with then-state Sen. Eddie Melton, a Democrat, near the end of her term. Republican leaders were not pleased with the events, and McCormick was removed from a party website, Wittman said. 

“[The tour] truly gave her an opportunity to hear what was important to Hoosiers on a very basic level,” Wittman said. “I think that clearly shaped a lot of the perspective she’s now taking with her in the governor’s race.” 

Wittman believes McCormick’s experience at the Department of Education, which accounts for about half of the state’s budget, prepared her for the governorship. 

“We can’t unlearn what we learned in the four years we were at the Statehouse,” Wittman said. “There was a lot of waste and a lot of one-sidedness about politics and policy that did not serve Hoosiers well, and that has fueled her desire to advocate for better.”

McCormick’s time as an educator is also helping her on the campaign trail, Wittman said. 

“She has that teacher gene. She’s good at listening. People who spend time with her feel energized … she’s very sincere in wanting everyone to be successful. That comes from that classroom experience.”

Switching parties

After leaving office in 2021, McCormick said she began to realize her values more closely lined up with Democrats.

“They were worried about kids. They were worried about child care and education and jobs and infrastructure and women’s reproductive rights,” McCormick said. 

McCormick knew she wanted to stay in public service and began seriously weighing a run for governor in spring 2023 to combat what she called “extremism” from state Republicans. 

“I refused to surrender Indiana to extremism,” McCormick said. “You can be part of the solution, or you can sit back and let it happen.”

McCormick easily secured the Democratic nomination for governor, running unopposed in the May primary. She will take control as the party’s de facto leader at the state Democratic convention this weekend. 

Her campaign platform calls for restoring abortion access, lowering health care costs, supporting labor unions and responsible spending. 

Perhaps her most thorough plan revolves around education. She is still seeking to limit state testing of students, but she’s added universal pre-K and a $60,000 salary minimum for teachers to her goals. Teacher salaries averaged out at $58,531 in the 2023 fiscal year, according to the Indiana Education Employment Relations Board. 

She also calls for pausing the state’s voucher program, saying the flow of public money into private schools “has gone way too far.” 

McCormick said the voucher program has become “a subsidy” for white, wealthy suburbanites. She wants to see more money invested in public schools. 

“It’s no different than if we started taking away our state parks to pay for country clubs,” McCormick said. “Because a small group of people want to go to a country club, our state parks should die? Public dollars should go to public services.”

Campaign challenges

Laura Merrifield Wilson, an associate professor in the Department of History and Political Science at the University of Indianapolis, said McCormick has taken a moderate stance in her campaign. 

“She’s positioned herself about as far right as you can be as a Democrat, but that feels like what the party needs to be successful [in campaigning for] the statewide executive office,” Wilson said. 

However, McCormick will still have to convince many party-line voters, Wilson said. 

“When you look at the state being so red, so Republican, she really has to overcome the party label and be able to connect with voters as a candidate and not necessarily as the Democratic nominee,” Wilson said.

McCormick has pushed for former state Rep. Terry Goodin, a conservative Democrat who voted against protecting gay marriage in 2011, to be her running mate in part to continue to make an appeal to moderate and rural voters. 

Money is also an issue. 

Although Braun spent more than $7 million during the primary election season, the Republican nominee still maintains a fundraising advantage over McCormick. 

Braun ended March with nearly $1 million in his campaign account and has received more than $500,000  in large contributions since. 

McCormick had about $222,000 in her account as of April 1. She’s pulled in nearly $300,000 in large donations in recent months. 

When asked how many staff members she has hired, McCormick declined to give a specific number. Wittman, her campaign manager, told State Affairs the campaign had amassed more than 1,000 volunteers — about a quarter of whom identify as Republicans. 

Wilson said national Democratic donors tend to ignore Indiana, but she believes McCormick may be able to convince some more moderate Republican donors who are dissatisfied with either Braun or his lieutenant governor nominee, Micah Beckwith — both of whom are avowed conservatives. 

McCormick must compete with a variety of other races, including presidential and U.S. Senate contests, for local fundraising dollars, Wilson said. She’ll also need to keep Democratic voters motivated while making her push to the middle. 

“This feels like it could be a race worth watching,” Wilson said. “It’s hard to say whether it’ll be a really exciting race in Indiana yet, but she has potential as a candidate.”

Contact Rory Appleton on X at @roryehappleton or email him at rappleton@stateaffairs.com.

By Rory Appleton Jul 08, 2024