U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, R-Indiana
U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., appears to be planning to forgo a 2024 reelection bid and instead will run for Indiana governor.
The first-term Hoosier senator filed paperwork at the Indiana Election Division on Tuesday establishing a state campaign committee.
The one-page document indicates Braun is seeking the Republican nomination for governor.
The senator did not immediately confirm his plans to run for governor, and he has yet to formally announce a gubernatorial campaign.
But the idea Braun might depart the Senate for a chance to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb has long been rumored in Indiana political circles, and those rumors grew in intensity after Democrats retained the Senate majority in this year's elections.
Though Braun is no sure bet to win the GOP nomination even if he uses the personal fortune he amassed through his auto parts businesses to boost his prospects, as the former two-term Jasper state representative did in his 2018 bid for U.S. Senate.
Fort Wayne businessman and former Indiana Economic Development Corp. President Eric Doden, a Valparaiso University Law School graduate, has been running for governor since May 2021, and records show he's raised more than $2.5 million from supporters.
Other potential GOP gubernatorial candidates include Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, who also has about $2.5 million in her campaign account; U.S. Rep. Trey Hollingsworth, R-Jeffersonville; Attorney General Todd Rokita, a Munster native; retiring Purdue University president and former Gov. Mitch Daniels; and any number of state senators, state representatives and local elected officials.
At the same time, Braun exiting the Senate is likely to set off a separate scramble in GOP circles to succeed him as the party's nominee.
U.S. Rep. Jim Banks, R-Fort Wayne, has previously expressed interest in succeeding Braun if the incumbent senator opted to run for a different office. U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Noblesville, also reportedly has her eye on a seat in the Senate.
In addition, Holcomb may consider a Senate bid since that's the office he originally was running for in 2016 when an unlikely set of political dominoes fell and he ended up first becoming Indiana's lieutenant governor and then winning election as governor.
On the Democratic side, former State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jennifer McCormick, who was elected statewide in 2016 as a Republican, repeatedly has hinted at her interest in seeking the 2024 Democratic nomination for governor.
Democratic Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. also could follow in the footsteps of Indiana's longest-serving U.S. senator, Republican Dick Lugar, and make a second run for U.S. Senate just two years after falling short in his first campaign for the office, or McDermott might instead stay closer to home and run for governor.
No matter who ends up running, Indiana Democratic Party Chairman Mike Schmuhl said any Democrat would be better than Braun as Indiana's chief executive.
"As a so-called businessman, Mike Braun has done very little to improve Indiana as a U.S. senator and he surely won't do it as governor. Braun's half-hearted efforts have been ineffective, and he's been more likely to be spotted on national cable TV shows than talking to Hoosiers in real life about solving real problems," Schmuhl said.
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