U.S. Sen. Mike Braun at an event for Republican candidates for governor in Carmel on Jan. 25, 2024. (Whitney Downard/Indiana Capital Chronicle)
INDIANAPOLIS – U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, the Republican nominee for Indiana Governor, announced Monday that he would participate in two general election debates slated for October.
In a statement, Braun said, “As a Main Street Entrepreneur, I believe in competition and a spirited discussion about the issues facing Hoosiers, and that’s why I have once again agreed to two statewide debates that can be viewed across the state.”
The first debate is on Fox 59/CBS 4 on Tuesday, Oct. 1, followed by a WISH-TV debate on Thursday, Oct. 3. Those stations hosted primary debates, relying on company criteria to winnow down the crowded Republican field.
Those same qualifications, if applied to the 2024 general election, could potentially disqualify a third-party candidate like Libertarian Donald Rainwater, who won a historic 11.4% of the general election vote in the 2020 gubernatorial election.
Braun’s release explicitly acknowledges a “Democrat opponent” but doesn’t mention Rainwater or a Libertarian opponent. Former Superintendent for Public Instruction Jennifer McCormick, who previously ran for office as a Republican, is on the Democratic ticket.
In a statement, Rainwater confirmed that he had been invited to participate in the Oct. 3 debate with WISH-TV and “expect(ed)” to be invited to the Oct. 1 debate. McCormick didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Braun’s campaign said it would only participate in the two TV station debates.
Read the complete Whitney Downard story for the Indiana Capital Chronicle, here.
