Gov. Mike Pence wasn’t on the stage for Monday’s gubernatorial debate, but his tenure set the stage for the two major-party candidates seeking to succeed him.
Repeatedly during the hour-long televised debate, Democrat John Gregg returned to what’s been a theme of his campaign in recent months, painting his Republican opponent, Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb, as the hand-picked replacement of a deeply unpopular governor who quit the race in July to become Donald Trump’s running mate.
“I’d like it if you would imagine a governor that shows respect for all Hoosiers, that doesn’t promote discrimination,” Gregg said. “The kind of governor that focuses like a laser on the economy, on high-wage jobs and attracting jobs, not scaring them away.”
It was a veiled but obvious reference to Pence, whose approval ratings plunged when he signed the controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act last year. The law triggered threats of economic boycotts from critics who saw it as a license to discriminate against gays and lesbians.
While Holcomb opened the debate saying he was proud of the past 12 years of “leadership” of the state, he never once said Pence’s name. He did, though, directly reference his work for former two-term Gov. Mitch Daniels, Pence’s much more popular predecessor, whom Holcomb helped get elected and served as a top aide.
“We need to continue what we’ve been doing – on steroids,” said Holcomb, referencing tax-cutting initiatives and other pro-business policies started by Daniels and continued by Pence.
Holcomb boasted that Indiana has more Hoosiers working than ever, and he promised to follow the path that put the state there.
Gregg countered by saying many people have been left out of the prosperity promised during Pence’s tenure.
“Hoosiers are working harder and harder and getting less and less,” he said. “Talk to your neighbors and you’ll see many of them are working two jobs.”
In a tight gubernatorial contest in a reliably Republican state, the Democrat Gregg and his allies are working to pin on Holcomb the unflattering label of “Pence 2.0.”
It’s a moniker that Holcomb has alternately rejected and embraced since entering in the race in July, when party leaders picked him to replace the one-term governor after Pence's surprising move to the Trump campaign.
Holcomb, a former state GOP chairman never elected to office, was appointed to his current post of lieutenant governor in March, when former Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann opted out of running again with Pence.
In an abbreviated campaign, Holcomb has walked a line between linking himself to Pence and the more popular Daniels. In a new advertisement released in late September, he brags about working with Daniels but, as in Monday’s debate, doesn’t once mention Pence.
That came shortly after a Morning Consult poll that showed Pence’s disapproval ratings in the state at a near-high of 45 percent, making him one of the most unpopular governors in the country.
Gregg has happily tied Holcomb to Pence, running commercials telling voters that Holcomb would continue what he calls Pence’s “disastrous” policies focused on divisive social issues.
Gregg’s allies have taken up the cause, as well. Last week, state Democratic Party Chairman John Zody embarked on what he billed as the “Pence-Holcomb Detour Tour.” Zody repeatedly blamed Pence and Holcomb for taking Indiana in the "wrong direction over the last four years."
Also last week, Pence, on the national campaign trail for Trump, returned to Indiana to stump for Holcomb. Appearing on a stage in Fort Wayne, he lavished praise on Holcomb, calling him the state’s “next great governor.”
Holcomb’s campaign staff dismisses the negativity intended with the Pence 2.0 label.
“John Gregg’s campaign is born of pessimism and fueled by negativity, and the Indiana Democrat Party’s desperate road show is yet another example of that fact,” said Holcomb spokesman Pete Seat.
Still, Holcomb’s challenge to define himself is real.
In an WTHR/Howey Politics Indiana poll released in early September, Gregg was leading Holcomb 40 percent to 35 percent, with Libertarian Rex Bell garnering 6 percent support.
Perhaps more concerning for Holcomb in a race drowned out by the noise of the presidential contest, the poll found him to be largely a “blank slate” with voters, said political analyst Brian Howey, who co-sponsored the survey.
About 44 percent of those asked had “never heard” of him, while 31 percent said they’d never heard of Gregg.
Howey also found Holcomb has “anemic” favorable and unfavorable ratings, with about 17 percent of those polled viewing him favorably and 14 percent viewing him unfavorably.
Gregg, Holcomb and Bell are scheduled to meet again for their final televised debate Oct. 25 in Evansville at the University of Southern Indiana.