Indiana Republican Party Attack Ads on Libertarian Donald Rainwater Another Sign Republicans are Running Scared in Governor’s Race

Reporting today by Abdul Hakim-Shabazz on X showed the Indiana Republican Party is paying for political ads that directly attack Libertarian nominee Donald Rainwater, who is becoming a thorn in the side of Mike Braun’s chances to be governor.

“It is never a good sign when a campaign resorts to attack ads against a third-party candidate. Braun and state Republicans are worried about Jennifer McCormick’s momentum and will try anything to slow it down, even attacking a third party candidate who has little chance of winning,” said Indiana Democratic Party Chair Mike Schmuhl.

“Dirty tricks like this do little except deceive voters and distract from the real issues that people face. Rather than running a campaign on his vision for the state, Mike Braun has instead leveled over-the-top attacks against his opponents. The bottom line is that Republicans know Mike Braun is not a likable politician. He can’t escape his miserable polling numbers and less-than-inspiring campaign. This is the move of a desperate campaign, and it’s also another sign that Republicans are running scared. Every vote will count and matter in this increasingly competitive race.”

Rainwater took over 11 percent of the vote statewide in his 2020 run for governor, and has consistently been polling in the high single-digits in this year’s race.

Team Braun-Beckwith and their extreme allies must be worried about Rainwater’s appeal to a good number of Republican voters. Rainwater has shown himself to be even more conservative than Braun on a number of issues, including public health and taxes.

Rainwater has even called for a full repeal of Indiana’s property tax law, effectively abolishing that tax in Indiana.