Brace yourself: 2024 Indiana governor's race already underway with lots of TV ads

The 2023 municipal election is barely over, but the 2024 election is already well underway.

For the Indiana governor's race, it's no ordinary campaign season. This is the first truly open Republican gubernatorial primary in a generation ― one where there are multiple well-funded and well-known candidates, rather than one shoo-in for whom the party clears the field.

Television ads for the May 2024 primary started as early as August this year ― something Hoosiers are not used to for a governor's race. Now that the 2023 election is out of the way, the 2024 race can heat up, and voters are likely going to field a bombardment of ads and messaging like they've not seen before.

"This will be the most vigorous campaigning we have seen for the nomination in a long time, maybe ever," said Andy Downs, professor emeritus at Purdue University.

Ads start early, will keep coming

The day after the 2023 municipal elections, U.S. Sen Mike Braun hit the airwaves with his first television ad promoting himself for Indiana governor as part of a $1.5 million ad buy. In the ad, airing statewide, he calls himself an outsider and a businessman and prominently displays his recent endorsement from former President Donald Trump.

Braun isn't the first ― or even the second or third ― gubernatorial candidate to blast his message out.

Fort Wayne businessman Eric Doden, the earliest entrant to the race and a candidate with significant ground to cover in terms of name recognition, was the first to launch a digital ad campaign just after the 2022 election.

Doden was also the first to get on television: In August, he launched a $2 million ad buy with a TV spot in the Fort Wayne and South Bend markets; a month later, he released a second TV ad and expanded his reach to the Indianapolis, Terre Haute and Lafayette markets.

September saw a flurry of new ad spots. Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch's campaign launched an ad both introducing herself and highlighting her specific proposal to cut the state's income tax, a pitch she's calling "axe the tax." The campaign spent six figures on this ad buy, but declined to be more specific.

Brad Chambers, the former IEDC president, also launched his first TV ad campaign, backed by a "seven-figure" ad buy.

Former Attorney General Curtis Hill has yet to release a TV ad, but it's only a matter of time.

Downs estimates that by February, any primary candidate who is serious will have commercials up. For now, candidates are resume-building: putting out positive messages about themselves, defining themselves before their opponents try to do it for them.

Money keeps flowing into the race

A campaign season this expensive should be thought of in terms of years, not months. By mid-July 2023, the candidates had already collectively raised more than $5 million for their 2024 race with just a few months of campaigning under their belts.

The next campaign finance reports won't be due until the end of the year, which will give a sense of where the campaigns stand after having both raised and spent money. But in between reports, campaigns do report contributions of $10,000 or more in real time.

In large contributions, Chambers has led the pack in a big way ― thanks in large part to a $5 million loan to himself.

He joined the race after the last campaign finance reporting period, so there's no sense yet of how much he has in his coffers. Aside from his personal loan, from just the large contributions, Chambers has raised more than $1.3 million, including some major support from corporate executive types from Central Indiana, particularly Carmel.

Those include $100,000 donations from Michael Petrie, CEO of Merchants Bank of Indiana; David Ricks, CEO of Eli Lilly; and Jeff Kittle, executive vice president of Herman & Kittle Properties.

Braun may compete with Chambers on attracting the deep pockets of the business class, though his previous campaign finance records also show a diverse array of support from Main Street and individuals both large and very small. He ended the last reporting period with $4.6 million in the bank, and since then has raised nearly half a million in large contributions from both individuals and industry groups. Some notable names include James Cornelius, board chair at MBX Biosciences Inc., and Jeffrey Stoops, CEO of SBA Communications Corporation, who each donated $50,000.

Crouch ended the last campaign finance reporting period with $3.9 million in the bank. Since the period ended in July, she's raised another quarter million in large contributions from mostly individuals.

Doden last reported $3.8 million cash on hand. He's raised about $85,000 in large contributions since then, the highest being $25,000 from investment company Black Gold Ventures.

Hill also joined the race after the last campaign finance reporting period. He's reported about $120,000 in large contributions so far, from individuals and businesses both in Indiana and other states.

Primary is the real race

It makes sense that campaign season started even before the 2023 election was over, because in deep-red Indiana, the next governor is likely going to be decided in the primary. That takes place May 7, 2024.

With so many candidates and so much money flowing, Hoosiers are in for a doozy that's just barely begun.

Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Kayla Dwyer at kdwyer@indystar.com or follow her on Twitter @kayla_dwyer17.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana 2024 governor race: Expect lots of TV ads, for a long time