Indiana gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2012

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Indiana gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election
Primary Date: May 8, 2012
General Election Date: November 6, 2012
State Executive Elections
State executive official elections in 2012

The Indiana gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 2012, following a primary that was held on May 8, 2012. The governor and lieutenant governor are elected on a single ticket in the general election.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) was prevented by term limits from seeking another term in office. Two Republican candidates, Rep. Mike Pence and Fishers businessman Jim Wallace, submitted signatures and filed to run for their party's nomination. On February 24, 2012, the Indiana Election Commission voted 3-1 to remove Wallace from the May 8 primary ballot. In order to qualify for the ballot, a candidate needed 500 signatures from each of the state's congressional districts. Wallace fell 14 signatures short of that figure. Although he submitted 1,282 signatures, the Marion County Board of Voter Registration rejected 62% of them leaving Wallace with 486 signatures from the district.

On the other side of the aisle, former state House speaker John Gregg ran unopposed in the Democratic primary and faced Pence, along with business owner Rupert Boneham (L) in the general election in November.

Though candidates for governor are elected via primary elections, the two major parties conduct state conventions to confirm candidates for lieutenant governor. Each of the candidates announced their running mates on May 22, so the party nominating conventions were mere formalities for the lieutenant governor seat. The Republican Party state convention took place on June 9 and the Democratic Party state convention was June 16.

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Candidates

• John Gregg / Vi Simpson
• Mike Pence / Sue Ellspermann
• Rupert Boneham / Brad Klopfenstein
• Donnie Harold Harris / George Fish

Governor/Lieutenant Governor of Indiana General Election, 2012
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	John Gregg / Vi Simpson	46.6%	1,200,016
	Republican	Mike Pence / Sue Ellspermann	49.5%	1,275,424
	Libertarian	Rupert Boneham / Brad Klopfenstein	4%	101,868
	Independent	Donnie Harold Harris / George Fish	0%	21
Total Votes				2,577,329
Election results via Indiana Secretary of State

Former candidates

• Jim Wallace, a former Hamilton County Commissioner, filed to run for the Republican nomination but was removed from the ballot on February 24, 2012 by the Indiana Election Commission for failing to gather the requisite 500 valid signatures from each of the state's Congressional districts
• Jonathan Weinzapfel, the Mayor of Evansville, declared his candidacy but announced he was leaving the race on February 19, 2011.
• Thomas Lenfert, a landscape contractor from Georgetown, Indiana, had declared his intention to run but did not gather enough signatures to qualify for candidacy

Key dates

Deadline	Event
Feb 10	Candidate filing deadline for major parties
April 9	Voter registration ends
May 8	Primary election
May 22	Voter registration begins
June 9	Republican Party State Convention
June 16	Democratic Party State Convention
July 2	Candidate filing deadline for third parties
Oct 9	Voter registration ends
Nov 6	General election

Primary election

Governor of Indiana Republican Primary, 2012
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Mike Pence	100%	554,412
Total Votes		554,412
Election results via Indiana Secretary of State.

Governor of Indiana Democratic Primary, 2012
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
John Gregg	100%	207,365
Total Votes		207,365
Election results via Indiana Secretary of State.

Race tracking

2012 Race Rankings - Indiana Governor
Race Tracker		Race Rating
The Cook Political Report		Likely Republican
Governing Politics		Likely Republican
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball		Likely Republican
Rasmussen Reports Gubernatorial Scorecard		No prediction yet
The Rothenberg Political Report		Lean Republican
Overall Call		Republican

Polls

With Rupert Boneham (Libertarian)

Governor of Indiana
Poll	Mike Pence	John Gregg	Rupert Boneham	Margin of error	Sample size
Indiana Chamber of Commerce August 6-9, 2012	50%	32%	3%	+/-4.0	600
Howey/DePauw March 26-28, 2012	44%	31%	5%	+/-4.5	503
AVERAGES	47%	31.5%	4%	+/-4.25	551.5
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Without Rupert Boneham (Libertarian)

Governor of Indiana
Poll	Mike Pence	John Gregg	Undecided	Margin of error	Sample size
Clarity Campaign Labs October 24-26, 2012	47%	44%	9%	+/-3.36	825
Howey/DePauw September 19-23, 2012	47%	34%	16%	+/-3.5	800
AVERAGES	47%	39%	12.5%	+/-3.43	812.5
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Debates

First debate

The first debate in the race for Indiana governor took place on October 10, 2012. Major issues of the night included the economy, education, crime, right to work, and Obamacare.

Regarding economic policy, Gregg expressed a desire for wind turbines in northern Indiana to be manufactured locally, while Boneham advocated for reducing business taxes to draw more companies to the state. Pence, through his proposed "Road Map for Indiana," called for a 10% across-the-board personal income tax cut.

Second debate

The three candidates met for their second debate on October 17, 2012, at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend. Gregg opened the debate with criticism of Pence, saying he took offense at Pence's proposals to promote traditional families, arguing that they overlooked and marginalized single-parent households.

Gregg criticized Pence's family proposals, saying, "He has a program focused on families, but it only recognizes married couples — a mom and dad. I'm a single parent too, and I take offense that his plan doesn't consider me and my boys a family. Maybe he doesn't think you and your kids are a family either." Pence stated that he understood the experience of being raised by a single parent and referred to his wife's upbringing as an example.

Gregg talked up his record, saying he had balanced the state budget when he was speaker of the Indiana House of Representatives, while Pence voted for congressional budgets that increased the national debt. In the debate, Pence also discussed how Indiana had experienced year-to-year deficits before Governor Mitch Daniels' tenure and argued that the state could not afford Gregg's proposals for new programs and tax cuts.

Third debate

The third and final debate took place in Fort Wayne on October 25. Like in the earlier debates, Gregg kept targeting Pence, which caused Pence to change his usual approach and respond more directly to Gregg.

Gregg criticized Pence's plan to promote traditional two-parent families, stating, "I'm running for governor, not the state's matchmaker. This focus on defining families is misguided." He also pointed out Pence's opposition to federal aid for the auto industry in 2009, while noting Pence campaigned using a Chevy truck.

Pence, in turn, criticized Gregg for overseeing unbalanced state budgets during his time as Speaker of the Indiana House of Representatives, stating, "We've got to have honestly balanced budgets." Gregg responded that the budgets complied with the requirements of the state Constitution and had been approved by the Republican-controlled Senate.

Campaign finance

Campaign finance is overseen by the Elections Commission within the Elections Division, part of the Office of the Secretary of State.

Key types of reports include:

• CFA-1 Candidate’s Statement of Organization and Designation of Principal Committee or Exploratory Committee, DUE TWO DAYS AFTER FILING

• CFA-4 Receipts and Expenditures Report of a Candidate’s Committee, filed three times a year, for the primary, general, and annual reports

• CFA-11 Supplemental "Large Contribution" Report by a Candidate’s Committee, applicable to donations exceeding $1,000 and due within 48 hours of receipt

Role of Super PACs

While Indiana law sets campaign contributions by corporations at $5,000, a loophole between federal and state election laws allows corporations to work around that limit by contributing to Super PACs. For example, Pence received a $1 million check from RGA Right Direction, which was funded solely by the Republican Governors Association. An Indiana gambling company, which under state law cannot give directly to candidates, contributed to the RGA, which in turn sent the large check to Pence.

Candidates

John Gregg

John Gregg Campaign Finance Reports
Report	Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Total Contributions for Reporting Period	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
First Quarterly Report	April 13, 2012	$1,241,223.56	$584,570.61	$(313,746.53)	$1,512,047.64
Second Quarterly	July 16, 2012	$1,512,047.64	$1,795,663.31	$(452,263.33)	$2,855,447.62
Third Quarterly	October 15, 2012	$2,855,447.62	$1,003,815.23	$(3,360,338.85)	$498,924.00
			Running totals
			$3,384,049.15	$(4,126,348.71)

Mike Pence

Mike Pence Campaign Finance Reports
Report	Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Total Contributions for Reporting Period	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
First Quarterly Report	April 16, 2012	$3,698,878.95	$1,801,837.02	$(570,868.54)	$4,929,847.43
Second Quarterly	July 16, 2012	$4,929,847.43	$3,040,033.71	$(2,424,346.05)	$5,545,535.09
Third Quarterly	October 15, 2012	$5,545,535.09	$2,900,634.22	$(6,634,752.53)	$1,811,416.78
			Running totals
			$7,742,504.95	$(9,629,967.12)

Rupert Boneham

Rupert Boneham Campaign Finance Reports
Report	Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Total Contributions for Reporting Period	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
First Quarterly Report	April 15, 2012	$4,527.71	$14,080.43	$(13,146.14)	$4,000.00
Second Quarterly	July 16, 2012	$5,462.00	$16,987.87	$(20,377.41)	$2,072.46
Third Quarterly	October 15, 2012	$2,072.46	$15,380.58	$(15,057.09)	$2,395.95
			Running totals
			$46,448.88	$(48,580.64)

Campaign media and sites

Campaign advertisements

John Gregg
The Pence Plan for Indiana

Mike Pence: Out of State, Out of Touch

Priorities

John Gregg: Hobo

John Gregg: Clip'NCurl

John Gregg: Two Kinds

John Gregg: Rainy Day

John Gregg: Fast Talk

Mike Pence
Service and Sacrifice

Hoosier Heartland

First TV Ad: Mike for Governor

Hoosier Way

Campaign sites

• Rupert Boneham
• John Gregg
• Mike Pence
• Jim Wallace

News

• Indiana GOP gubernatorial candidate removed from ballot February 27
• State executive primary preview: No surprises in Indiana tomorrow May 7

See also

• Governor of Indiana
• Lieutenant Governor of Indiana
• Indiana lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2012
• Indiana state executive official elections, 2012
• Indiana down ballot state executive elections, 2012
• State executive official elections, 2012

Additional reading

• Indianapolis Star, "Election 2012 Voter Guide: Where the gubernatorial candidates stand on the key issues," October 27, 2012

External links

Suggest a link

• Indiana Election Commission
• Indiana Elections at 'The Green Papers'
• Candidate for Indiana State Office at 'Project VoteSmart'
• Indiana at 'Follow The Money'