INDIANAPOLIS — Gov. Mike Braun on Wednesday said Senate Republicans should consider changing leadership after this week’s primaries, though he did not call out anyone by name.
The governor’s comments came a day after six Republican state senators who had voted against redrawing Indiana’s Congressional district maps mid-decade lost their primaries. A seventh, Sen. Spencer Deery, R-West Lafayette, is in a statistical tie with Paula Copenhaver, leading by just three votes.
Braun’s first year and a half in office has been marked by repeated clashes with Senate Republicans over key agenda items. Besides the redistricting issue, Senate Republicans significantly rewrote Braun’s original property tax proposal during the 2025 session, arguably the governor’s top issue during his 2024 campaign.
The Senate is currently led by Senate President pro tempore Rod Bray, R-Martinsville. Braun did not name Bray specifically but said he wants legislators who are willing to take on cost-of-living issues. He said he does not want the legislature to be a place “where good ideas go to die.”
“I said all along that, if you’re not doing things in a way that is going to make lives for Hoosiers better, that you can’t stick with the same old game plan,” he said. “So, I’ll let them work that out on their own, and after last night, I think it gives them the option of having new leadership if they choose to get it.”
Bray’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
