INDIANAPOLIS — While there were many issues discussed during the first debate between Indiana’s top two gubernatorial records, much of the debate served as attacks on each other’s records, as well as their respective running mates.

On Wednesday evening, U.S. Senator Mike Braun, R-Ind., and the Republican candidate for governor, and Jennifer McCormick, the state’s former superintendent for public instruction and the Democratic candidate for governor, met at the FOX59/CBS4 studios for Wednesday’s debate.

Fireworks occurred midway through the debate when Braun’s edited political ad was mentioned. Earlier this week, Braun’s campaign released a political advertisement that attacked McCormick’s record and included a digitally altered image. In the initial version of this advertisement, the campaign did not disclose that they had digitally altered the image.

The campaign has since corrected the ad – providing a digital manipulation disclaimer that would have the ad abide by that state law – with the rest remaining the same.

In response to this question, Braun backed his advertisement, stating that he was “amplifying a point.” The only thing that was wrong with it was that the disclaimer was not there – something that he stressed was fixed within the day.

“When I saw that, I immediately corrected it,” he said. “No campaign is going to be perfect, but you do need to get at the underlying substance. And that ad was to point out that my opponent is embracing some of the liberal policies. I don’t know that Hoosiers are quite ready for that.

Overall, Braun said that McCormick is embracing “liberal policies” that he believes Hoosiers as a whole do not embrace. Braun also accused McCormick of doing the same thing in an abortion-related advertisement against Braun, manipulating images without providing a disclosure.

“The point is still there, if you want to espouse those policies, be clear about it. Have your website say you’re not for that,” he said. “My opponent was the first one who put contrast advertising out there on the issue of abortion. That had manipulation to it as well. So, that is something that, if you do do it, which happened, and we took it down immediately, and that, to me, closes the case.”

McCormick vehemently denied manipulating the abortion-related advertisement.

“We didn’t manipulate anything. We used his voice and his message. It was not manipulated. Using artificial intelligence to put other words on and purposefully mislead is a whole other ballgame,” she said.

Regarding Braun’s advertisement, McCormick said that Braun’s response was “so rich,” stressing how disheartening it was to see a political candidate mislead Indiana residents as Braun did with that ad. McCormick said that Braun’s ad was “unnecessary and quite frustrating,” stating that she believes Indiana deserves better from elected officials.

During that conversation, McCormick also brought up a recent comment made by Braun’s lieutenant governor candidate Micah Beckwith in a recent interview that has gone viral on social media.

“If you look at the Republican ticket versus the Democrat ticket, it’s strength and Godly boldness versus what I would say is the Jezebel spirit and this idea of… boldness for immorality,” Beckwith said during an interview captured on social media earlier this week.

McCormick said that was a comment she called on the campaign to apologize for along with the advertisement.

“And again, we never even addressed your ticket referring to me as a Jezebel Spirit, which is beyond the Hoosier values,” she said. “That is why people are tired of extremism.”

As part of the running mates’ portion of the debate, McCormick continued to stress how dangerous she believes Beckwith is to Indiana, stating that he is a “white Christian nationalist” and a “book banner.”

As for her own lieutenant governor pick, former State Rep. Terry Goodin, who has also come under fire for some of his previous votes on women’s rights and gay marriage, McCormick said that he is “not a problem.”

McCormick said the entire Democratic Party is behind Goodin and he has “bipartisan support.” She said that she picked Goodin based on his character and has no issues with him whatsoever.

Braun said his running mate, Beckwith, is completely on board with Braun’s overall agenda, something that Braun said he believes can get done with a supermajority in the Indiana Statehouse.

While Braun did say that he has said some things that he wished Beckwith did not say, stressing there are “things that you could pick out on anybody,” but did not provide specifics. Braun said Beckwith has mostly been in line with faith, family and community, as well as freedom and opportunity.

Later in the debate, Braun said that he continues to support former President Donald Trump in his bid for reelection. However, when asked about the 2020 election, Braun initially said that it had “irregularities to it,” but ultimately said that Trump did lose the election in 2020.

As a former Republican, McCormick said that her priorities are aligned with the party’s priorities. McCormick said that while she is running a bipartisan campaign, she is “proud to be a Democrat.”

What other issues were spoken about during the debate?

During the debate, McCormick took the chance to attack Braun’s record on wages, touting her own economic development plan that she said would help increase the state’s economy, including helping increase the state’s talent pool and decreasing healthcare and utility costs.

In regards to wages, Braun said that he was proud of the record he has as an entrepreneur, stating that he has increased wages for his workers. He said he would take this “practical experience” and apply it to the state as a whole.

When asked about raising the minimum wage, both McCormick and Braun said they would be willing to have a conversation about raising it.

Another topic that both candidates had strong opinions on was abortion and Indiana’s near-total abortion ban. According to previous reports, Indiana’s near-total abortion ban was implemented in August 2023. It prohibits all abortions in the state except for three exceptions: 

• When reasonable medical judgment dictates that performing the abortion is necessary to prevent death or a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function, or the “health or life exception.”
• When the pregnant person receives a diagnosis of a lethal fetal anomaly
• When the pregnant person is a victim of rape or incest.

This law is seen by many Hoosiers as “too restrictive,” according to a poll in June. However, when asked about the bill, Braun said that Indiana is a “right to life” state, stressing that the bill as a whole “sanctifies life” with “reasonable exceptions.”

McCormick said that she was the only person on that debate stage who had given birth and had first-hand knowledge of pregnancy. McCormick stressed that she believes in the standards set by Roe v. Wade, a law that the Supreme Court recently overturned and a law that she said many Hoosiers believe in.

Much of the debate was also focused on Indiana’s approach to marijuana, something that has been legalized in part by every state surrounding it.

McCormick, who had released a plan on marijuana legalization, said that it was time for the state to have a “well-regulated” marijuana industry and bring law enforcement to the table and help with that.

McCormick said that marijuana would be a huge “economic boost” to the state of Indiana, starting with medical marijuana and transitioning into adult use.

Similar to his response during the Republican primary debate, Braun said that he would listen to law enforcement about this particular topic, but stressed that medical marijuana is something that the state needs to look at. Medical marijuana is “something that makes sense” in Braun’s view.

According to the Indiana Secretary of State’s office, Hoosiers are able to register to vote for the 2024 General Election through Monday. For more information on how Indiana residents are able to register to vote, click here.