Gov.-elect Mike Braun lays out transition team, priorities after election win

Sen. Mike Braun holds a post-election press conference one day after winning election for Indiana governor. (IBJ photo/Mickey Shuey)

A little more than 12 hours after he was declared winner in Indiana’s race for governor, U.S. Sen. Mike Braun announced a roster of transition team members and what the next two months will look like before he takes office on Jan. 13.

Despite predictions of a narrowing race, Braun, a Republican, easily defeated Democrat Jennifer McCormick on Tuesday, capturing more than 54% of the vote compared with his opponent’s 41%.

His team largely consists of former members of Gov. Mitch Daniels’ administration and board members of the nonprofit Hoosiers for Opportunity, Prosperity & Enterprise, or HOPE, which partnered with Braun’s campaign to develop policy specifics during the campaign. 

“Whoever we have on the transition team will be people that understand that it’s going to be my vision of being an entrepreneurial governor that’s going to be conservative on the financial side, that’s very entrepreneurial on the problem-fixing side,” Braun told reporters Wednesday morning.

The transition team will immediately begin its work, including developing further policy proposals and conducting state agency reviews, according to a news release. Braun said the team’s work will move “methodically” and “quickly.”

State agencies will hand over a slate of information, likely on the expected 2025 state budget, legislative priorities, management organization, contracts and vendor agreements, legal matters and agency performance. State law requires all agencies and organizations that receive state money to provide the governor-elect with requested information within six days of the election.

Lawmakers have sent Braun and his team tips about agencies that should be working better, he said. The streamlining process, he said, will be “picking out the practicality” of the current structure.

“It’s not going to be hard for me and my team to discern whether [a state agency] needs a major overhaul, minor tune-up, or if it’s working well,” he said.

Following the Wednesday morning announcement, Braun plans to meet with the GOP’s House and Senate caucuses to discuss the upcoming legislative session beginning in January. 

In order to pass his policy agenda spanning “kitchen table issues” from property tax reform to public safety, Braun hopes to establish a healthy working relationship with the Indiana state legislature.

Braun said his margin of victory should help give him leverage in those discussions and offer him “a platter of opportunities.”

The primary focus of his first 90 days in office will be cutting the state budget and injecting more fiscal responsibility into state agencies, he said.

Later Wednesday, Braun is scheduled to meet with Gov. Eric Holcomb at the Governor’s Residence, where Braun plans to live while in office. After the visit, he will return to Jasper to work from home for the remainder of the week.

Who’s in charge

Leading the effort as Braun’s transition chair is Victor Smith, a partner at law firm Bose McKinney & Evans LLP and secretary of commerce under former Gov. Mike Pence. 

Josh Kelley will join as transition director. Kelley was Braun’s campaign manager twice previously and his Senate chief of staff. Several of Braun’s former staff members are following him to the governor’s office.

The transition team’s vice chairs so far:

• Betsy Wiley, president and CEO of Hoosiers for Quality Education and deputy chief of staff under Daniels;
• Jim Bopp, a prominent conservative lawyer with a long legal resume that includes arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court;
• Ryan Kitchell, former chair of the Governor’s Workforce Cabinet under Holcomb and former director of the Indiana Office of Management and Budget under Daniels;
• Jim Purucker, executive director of the Wine and Spirits Distributors of Indiana and president of John Frick & Associates;
• Brad Rateike, founding principal of Bar Communications, deputy press secretary and policy director under Daniels, and former director of cabinet communications under Donald Trump during his first term;
• Randy Head, chairman of the Indiana State Republican Committee;
• Matt Bell, principal at Catalyst Public Affairs Group and former state representative;
• Dan Dumezich, retired partner and tax attorney and former state representative.

HOPE, which seeks to establish a more conservative Indiana, has four of its six board members on the transition team and is credited as a project leader on Braun’s transition website.

Several members were involved in the transition and within the Daniels administration. When asked if that was intentional, Braun said he is convening the best team possible with a mixture of what worked in the past.

Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith will be involved in transition prep, Braun said, and will have specific duties for the office he is assuming.

Organizing the pomp and circumstance of his transition is Anne Hathaway, who will serve as the chairwoman of Braun’s inaugural committee. This committee plans the governor-elect’s inauguration and related events. 

Hathaway was most recently the chairwoman of the 2024 Republican National Convention and stepped back as the chairwoman of the Indiana State Republican Committee earlier this year. She is the founder and leader of  political consulting firm Hathaway Strategies. 

Emily Daniels Spaulding, leader of a consulting and event planning firm, will step in as the inaugural committee director.