INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Political passions are high after the only live, televised debate featuring all three candidates for Governor of Indiana.

Libertarian Donald Rainwater, Republican Mike Braun, and Democrat Jennifer McCormick squared off in the WISH-TV studio. The conversation featured several sharp exchanges on key campaign issues.

Two of our All Indiana Politics contributors then offered their takes on the debate during a lively, conversation on Daybreak.

We asked Democrat Dana Black and Republican Tom John about the questions, the candidates’ answers, and how the inclusion of Rainwater helped drive the conversation.

Education

Braun and Rainwater largely agree on the question of school vouchers, calling for an expansion of the program to offer charter and private schools as an option for more students.
McCormick is calling for a rollback of the program to prevent the weakening of public schools.

Dana Black:
“When we talk about vouchers and when we talk about education, rural Indiana are the groups of individuals who are suffering most under this voucher program, because they don’t have choice. They have one school corporation, maybe two, but they are not running around with choice. And these charter private schools are not running to counties where there’s only 800 to 1,000 people to set up shop, because there’s not gonna be enough students to put in those schools. So rural Indiana is suffering from these voucher programs.”

Tom John:
“Senator Braun made the point that he grew up in Jasper. He said they didn’t need the choice because Jasper had good schools. And what the point of choice is that when you need an alternative, you have an alternative. Not everybody needs an alternative. And in our education system, we’ve sought to give people alternatives for what it is, whether they live in rural, urban or other areas.”

Abortion

Braun underscored his support of Indiana’s current near-total ban on abortion and said it’s an issue for states to decide. Rainwater has stated he personally agrees with most restrictions but would support the decisions of lawmakers. McCormick supports a return to abortion access, saying she trusts women.
The conversation took a contentious turn when Rainwater said that McCormick implied that ‘all men are evil’. McCormick lashed back, saying “I never said that I would never make that accusation ever. But what I will say is I trust women. And when I trust women, if that equates to the people on the stage that I said that men are horrible people that should tell you something.”

Tom John:
“At the end of the day, they should be forward conversations. You want to have very vigorous debate, but you don’t want to take shots at people. I was troubled by that. I was also troubled by, I’m not sure what she was saying… I truly don’t understand why he did it or exactly what she was saying.

Dana Black:

“I think she was clear and forcefully clear. What she was saying was when, when you acknowledge her womanhood, when she acknowledged her womanhood and she was the only person on that stage to have given birth. And they decided that when she said that that she was implying that all men are evil, then you are deducing the fact that she was elevating herself as a woman and as a mother meant that somehow she was diminishing men.”