Mitch Daniels supporting anti-redistricting GOP candidates
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Former Indiana Gov. and former president of Purdue Mitch Daniels. Photo: Arika Herron/Axios
Mitch Daniels is stepping back into politics, seeking to balance the scales for lawmakers who opposed redistricting and now face primary challenges.
Why it matters: Governor from 2005 to 2013, Daniels is considered an architect of the Indiana GOP and is highly respected among conservatives.
State of play: Daniels has been mostly absent from Republican Party politics for more than a decade — most of that time as president of Purdue University — but he could influence the May primary races.
- "People who are fine public servants … who stood up for a principle here and showed bravery in so doing ought to be rewarded — not punished," Daniels told Axios.
- "And certainly not … by people from several hundred miles away who couldn't find Indiana with a road map."
Catch up quick: Daniels was an early and outspoken opponent of last year's redistricting fight, calling it the "bipartisan national embarrassment of mid-decade gerrymandering."
- The state lawmakers who stood against it were subject to intense public pressure, including swatting, threats and other forms of harassment.
- National groups and even President Trump pledged to support primary challengers to Republicans who opposed redistricting.
Zoom in: State Sen. Spencer Deery (R-West Lafayette) is one of 21 Senate Republicans who voted against Indiana's redistricting bill.
- Trump has endorsed his primary challenger, Paula Copenhaver.
- Daniels recorded a video for Deery's reelection campaign.
What he's saying: Daniels said he's been glad to support candidates who've have requested his support.
- "We saw people under brutal pressure from outside Indiana, being threatened, cursed at … just things I think don't belong in our politics," he said.
- "And now, a few of those people, simply because they stood on a principle that says we don't believe in rigging the game at halftime here in Indiana, people are trying to punish them, spending millions of dollars, all from out of state."
- "And I do believe that if Hoosiers in those districts catch on to who it is that's slandering their local senator … will say, 'No, we prefer to make our own decisions here in Indiana.'"