Hoosier Gov. Mike Braun is weeks away from wrapping up his first year as Indiana’s top leader and took time this week to dissect his successes and failures.
In a Tuesday sit-down interview with the Capital Chronicle, Braun pointed to big changes in property taxes, education, public safety, economic development and more.
An estimated two-thirds of homeowners will pay less in property taxes next year than they do this year under an immense local government finance bill Braun signed into law in April.
“That’s significant,” he said of the changes.
“The lesson to be learned was that the Senate gives you Senate Bill 1 and then completely guts it. You know, where it had to be rebuilt was in the House,” Braun said. “… It took three months to get it back to record property tax relief.”
The final product remained very different from Braun’s original plan, which he acknowledged faced greater opposition from cash-strapped units of local government.
“I don’t think we ended up too far from where we would have been anyway,” he said.
But his tussle with the Senate presented a “fairly similar dynamic” to another major test of the new governor’s power: fulfilling President Donald Trump’s demand for a congressional redraw benefiting Republicans ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
The 50-member Senate rejected the new maps last week on a vote of 31-19, with 21 Republicans joining all 10 Democrats in opposition. The defeat came despite threats of primary competition from Trump, Braun and spendy political groups.
“It will have consequences, most likely, and the White House has said that they’re not going to forget it,” Braun said. But it “doesn’t define what happens going forward” on other topics.
“I wouldn’t try to extrapolate on more of a federal issue — redistricting — in terms of what that means on all the kitchen table issues,” he said.
Beyond redistricting
Braun touted a wide range of wins:
- Education: entry-level teacher pay increased; public colleges and universities froze tuition; income limits on state-funded private school vouchers were removed.
- Public safety: Indiana inked cooperation agreements with federal immigration officials; state police seized more illicit drugs.
- Economic development: The state’s economy is growing faster than neighbors and the U.S. average; cost per incentivized job is down; average incentivized job wages are up.
“We did a forensic audit to get to the bottom of what was going on,” Braun said of the controversial Indiana Economic Development Corp.
The analysis identified lackluster oversight and questionable spending from 2022 through 2024, emphasizing a need for greater transparency.
“What they did do may have had merit, but it can’t be cloaked in opaqueness so you can’t see what the heck you’re doing. We’ve turned all that around,” Braun said.
His remake of the quasi-public agency has included an entirely new board of directors.
Braun has also overhauled the state panel that oversees utility companies, naming three new “ratepayer-conscious” commissioners last week.
Braun, a businessman who owns Meyer Distributing, additionally highlighted fiscal progress.
Amid slower revenue growth, he led the push to slash state spending. Agencies have cut staff, contracts and more to comply, although some nabbed exemptions.
“We got hit with an austere budget forecast, and our cash flow’s already exceeding it,” Braun said, “meaning things I was asking for — in terms of running government more leanly, more efficiently — has paid off.”
His reorganization of government, featuring verticals led by cabinet secretaries, has made it “easier to do business with the state.”
“It’s been surprising how much we’ve been able to do through executive orders and just better management,” he said.
It was through an executive order that agencies completed an exhaustive review of “diversity, equity and inclusion,” or DEI, initiatives throughout state government, complete with plans to remove certain programs, positions and more.
Another executive order kicked off major changes to government food assistance.
A recent statewide poll, however, found that Hoosiers aren’t enamored with Braun’s job performance so far. About 32% approved and 50% disapproved.
Looking forward
Braun indicated administration members “weren’t able to craft, really, any of our own legislation” in the 2025 session. The Legislature reconvened before he was even inaugurated.
The administration hasn’t yet unveiled a specific legislative agenda, even though lawmakers have already spent two weeks of the 2026 session on redistricting. They also have pledged to cut work next year short by two weeks to avoid extra expense to taxpayers.
“Even though it won’t be very long or extensive,” Braun said, “we’ll still maybe work forward” and “buil(d) upon what we did in the first year.”
He said lowering health care costs remains a top priority along with education and utilities.
“I’m really looking at anything that’s going to take the kitchen table issues, whether it comes from the Senate or the House, and see what we can do to make that better for Hoosiers,” Braun said. “And I’m holding nothing against anyone when it comes to what we do collectively there.”
Dozens of bills have already been filed. Lawmakers gather again beginning Jan. 5.
Asked what he’s looking forward to in the interim, Braun said he fishes and hunts — including for mushrooms — and manages timber grounds.
“I didn’t give up the things I really like,” he added, despite the demands of public office. “I love nature.”
His favorite foraged fungi are shelves of oyster mushrooms.
“You can find them all throughout the year. They’re not near as particular as a morel would be,” Braun said. “Most years, (morels) decide just not to come up due to it being too warm or not moist enough, and they say, ‘See you maybe next year.'”
Indiana Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Indiana Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Niki Kelly for questions: info@indianacapitalchronicle.com.
