Indiana candidates desperate for votes in 2 tight races
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Candidates dashed around Indiana Monday desperately seeking votes in two tight races that will determine whether the scion of a political dynasty returns to the U.S. Senate and if a Democrat will emerge victorious from a contest for governor transformed by Gov. Mike Pence's decision to join the Republican presidential ticket.
The Senate race looked this summer like a walkover for Evan Bayh, whose family has been active in Indiana politics for decades. But it has turned into one of the closest in the nation amid revelations about Bayh's lucrative jobs and how little time he spent in Indiana since leaving the Senate six years ago. Outside groups poured nearly $40 million into the two sides in Bayh's race against Todd Young, a little-known, three-term congressman from southern Indiana.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Young said he had no regrets about going on the attack against Bayh.
"We haven't refrained from making sharp and fair distinctions where they exist," said Young, who has hit Bayh over his residency, his vote in favor of President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, as well as the work Bayh has done for a Washington D.C. lobbying firm since leaving the Senate.
"This campaign is, by a large measure, about trust and who Hoosiers can trust to take their values to Washington D.C.," Young said.
Bayh's campaign did not respond to an interview request from the AP. He was first elected Indiana's secretary of state in 1986 and has never lost an election.
Young started Monday with a visit to an Evansville veterans' hall, while Bayh was meeting campaign volunteers in Bloomington.
In the governor's race, state Republicans had to scramble after Pence dropped his re-election bid in July to become Donald Trump's vice presidential running mate. They picked Holcomb, who has never been elected to public office but was Pence's hand-picked successor.
He became lieutenant governor in March after Pence's previous lieutenant governor stepped down, and he has rushed to introduce himself to voters around the state. He said he wants to continue policies of the past 12 years of Republican governors that he says have led to a $2.4 billion state budget surplus and lower unemployment levels.
On Monday, Gregg was scheduled to be in Fort Wayne, New Albany and Evansville, and Holcomb's stops included Elkhart, West Lafayette and Indianapolis.
"We need them to keep the pedal to the metal down this final stretch," Holcomb said in an interview Monday. "We want to take no vote for granted and leave no stone unturned."
Gregg - a former Indiana House speaker who narrowly lost to Pence in 2012 - has attacked Holcomb as a "rubber stamp" for Pence, pointing out Holcomb's support for the religious objections law that the governor signed last year. Opponents of the law said it sanctioned discrimination against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
The Democrat also dismisses Holcomb's talk of maintaining recent Republican policies, saying they haven't addressed issues such as the state's stagnant average wages and poorly rated highway system. He has also hit Holcomb for not providing specific policy ideas or being vague on details.
"We've actually got plans," Gregg said in an interview Monday. "You can say anything you want to, but you need to have some plan, some vision."