McCormick, a Democrat and career educator who pledged to focus on school funding and academic freedom, lost by a wide margin — — with 92% of precincts reporting. 

Braun, 70, will succeed Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb, who was unable to run again because of term limits. 

A former school board member who cited faith, family and community as his central concerns, Braun said Tuesday that serving in government is far easier than running a business, as he had for decades: He was founder and CEO of Meyer Distributing, an auto parts and equipment company he built in his hometown of Jasper. 

“In government, you just have to be smart enough to not spend more than you take in,” he told supporters. 

Braun served as a state representative from 2014 to 2017. He resigned in November 2017 to concentrate on his run for U.S. Senate. 

His multi-point plan for education focused on expanding the state’s popular school voucher program, which grew to encompass more than — a 31% increase from the year before.

Braun is also a staunch supporter of parents’ rights and has, in the past, . He said parents should be informed if their child seeks to use a different name or pronouns and that transgender girls — whom he calls biological males — should not compete in girls’ sports. 

His new lieutenant governor, pastor Micah Beckwith, co-hosts a podcast called “Jesus, Sex and Politics.” He raised ire when he said in 2021 that God had . Beckwith wasn’t Braun’s first choice: Indiana’s GOP delegates chose him in a stunning vote at the party’s convention in June, rejecting Braun’s pick, first-term . 

Despite the shakeup, the pair trounced McCormick and running mate , a former school superintendent and state representative. 

Among his many pledges, Braun has vowed to create an Indiana Office of School Safety to streamline several departments and implement age-appropriate cyber safety training for students. 

He also said the state should limit cellphone use in schools and favors curtailing some speech in classrooms.  

“We need to protect our children by making sure divisive theories like [critical race theory] or discussions about sexual orientation and gender identity have no place in our public schools,” his campaign website said. 

Braun also wants to increase the base salaries for Indiana’s public school teachers and financially reward educators whose students perform well. 

Indiana has not elected since 2000. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump won the state handily over Democrat Kamala Harris 58.9% to 39.4%. 

Polling released this week by the Democratic Governors Association shows Braun just three points in front of McCormick, 44% to 41%. That’s a dropoff from the Sept. 17 results of an that had Braun with roughly 45% of the vote and McCormick with 34. Libertarian candidate Donald Rainwater also picked up more support but less dramatically so, going from 5.8% to 8%.

Indiana has not elected since 2000 and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump holds a comfortable 14 percentage point lead, 57% to 43%, over Democrat Kamala Harris, according to an

If elected to succeed Gov. , Braun and his running mate, pastor, podcaster and far-right , have pledged universal school choice for every Indiana family while focusing on parental rights and school safety. 

McCormick, a career educator, was the last person elected to the superintendent of public instruction’s office before it became an appointed position in 2021. She seeks to expand affordable child care, fight what she believes is excessive state-mandated testing and call for an equitable school funding formula. 

She also wants to place limits on the state’s private school voucher initiative: The grew to encompass more than , a 31% increase from the year before. The state allocated $439 million in tuition grants to private parochial or non-religious schools last year — up from nearly $312 million the year before.

McCormick said the program, which might have been intended for lower-income children, is often utilized by white suburban families and is too expensive. 

“We can’t afford it,” she told Â鶹ľ«Ć·, “and it is sucking the resources out of our traditional schools.” 

Braun, 70, wants to expand school choice by annual family income cap from the voucher program, known as the Choice Scholarship Program, and allocated to the state’s Education Scholarship Account Program. The program, which has also in participation, gives special education students and their siblings funds for tuition and support services. 

Braun did not make himself available for an interview and attempts to reach various supporters were not successful.

“School choice programs put parents in the driver’s seat, allowing them to choose schools that prioritize their children’s needs,” he states in his education plan. “Providing universal school choice will ensure every Hoosier family has the same freedom to choose their best-fit education.”

A former school board member, Braun also wants to create an Indiana Office of School Safety to streamline the efforts of several departments, including the state police — and implement age-appropriate cyber training for students regarding online safety. He said, too, that the state should limit cellphone use on campus. 

Braun wants to increase Indiana’s public teacher base salary — and financially reward educators whose students perform well. 

Keith Gambill, president of the Indiana State Teachers Association, said his group , 54, because of her commitment to funding traditional public schools. 

He noted she did not have the group’s endorsement when she initially ran for the state superintendent’s office as a Republican. But, Gambill said, after filling the role and understanding the state’s educational needs, and her values more closely aligned with the union’s. 

“She really stood up to members of — at that time — her own party in working toward what was best for our schools,” he said, speaking of her time in office. “And, of course, as soon as they were challenged, they didn’t like that. She realized that if she was going to make a difference in public education, she would have to move in a different direction.”

McCormick aims to secure a minimum base salary of $60,000 for pre-K-12 educators, and adjust veteran teacher salaries to reflect their non-educator peers. She wants to increase academic freedom, safeguard university tenure and protect the ability of teachers unions to collectively bargain for wages and benefits. 

Her running mate, , a former state representative, was a teacher, assistant principal and public school superintendent at Crothersville Community Schools.

Braun, in his education plan, said he wants schools to notify parents about their child’s request to change their name or use different pronouns on campus. He has for minors and opposes . Braun has the backing of Americans for Prosperity and CPAC — and maintains high ratings from the NRA. 

Braun was endorsed in 2023 and won his party’s nomination for governor in May after beating out a crowded field of GOP contenders. He acknowledged last month, that Harrris’s presence at the top of the presidential ticket has complicated down-ballot races, including his own.

“I think that’s had an impact,” he said, “but I’m going to plow through that because this is a lot about kitchen table issues once you’re starting to run for governor.”

Democrat Joshua Shapiro will be the next governor of Pennsylvania, beating out opponent Doug Mastriano by a wide margin, winning 56% of the vote compared to 42% for his opponent. Shapiro has said he would better fund public education and support abortion rights while his opponent pledged the opposite. “Tonight, voters from Gen Z to our seniors, voters from all walks of life, have given me the honor of a lifetime, given me the chance to serve you as Pennsylvania’s next governor,” Shapiro told supporters Tuesday night in suburban Philadelphia. Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville Wednesday identified Shapiro as the candidate to watch coming out of the 2022 election cycle.

The Pennsylvania governor’s race — a face-off between a well-funded ambitious young climber already eyed as a future presidential contender and a radical right-wing election denier whose own GOP party leaders refuse to support — is among the most watched in the nation for its 2024 implications. 

The winner could wield significant power over how votes are counted in the next presidential election, one in which Donald Trump seeks to like Republican Doug Mastriano, in a key battleground state.

Education is a leading issue in political contests across the country with Republicans pushing to remove discussions of race and gender from the classroom while leaning into greater parental control. But the script has flipped somewhat in Pennsylvania, with Mastriano’s stance so extreme he’s mobilized school board opponents to take unusual steps to block him while Democrat Josh Shapiro has embraced a school choice avenue usually reserved for conservatives. Both advocate stronger parent influence in schools. 

Mastriano, a 58-year-old retired Army colonel who joined the state Senate in 2019, has pledged to , — which — clamp down on teachings around race and privilege and ban transgender athletes from playing on the teams with which they identify.

Shapiro, the state’s attorney general since 2017, has said he will continue Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s mission to . Shapiro, 49, has for those school districts engaged in a multi-year legal battle with the state for g and called a Republican-backed bill to curb transgender athletes’ rights

But Shapiro favors ,” which would allow children attending the state’s poorest-performing schools to access money to pay for tutoring or tuition at a different public or private campus. The pending scholarship bill would 191,000 children — a vast majority are low-income students of color — in 382 schools across 76 of the state’s 500 school districts. 

Shapiro is leading in several polls and has raised more than $50 million for his campaign, the largest war chest in state history for that office. While Mastriano’s coffers are — and some Republicans wish they’d selected another candidate — the state lawmaker has at least one influential backer: . 

The former president said recently Mastriano would curb crime, bolster the state economy and work to ensure a fair election — but Shapiro said the candidate is motivated by a different objective. 

“For Doug Mastriano, this isn’t about the people of Pennsylvania — it’s about a victory for Donald Trump in 2024,” the attorney general wrote on Sept. 30. “He knows that the key to a presidential win is by winning Pennsylvania, and he’ll use whatever means necessary to make it happen.”

Mastriano, who recently announced in the lead up to the Nov. 8 election to somehow improve his chances, said he is the right candidate to put the state in order. Known for his extreme views, he’s from a 2019 assertion that women who violate abortion restrictions should be charged with murder. The candidate also has pledged to toughen voting laws, a notion that could gain support in the state’s Republican-controlled legislature.  

“With record high inflation, increased crime, burdensome taxes, and indoctrination of our kids under failed Democrat policy, it’s time for a bold leader to get our state back on track,” he wrote Sept. 29. “I’ll unshackle our energy sector, restore law and order, slash taxes, and ban CRT.”

But it was Mastriano’s early statements about how he would approach school funding that aligned forces across several fronts to thwart him. Mastriano said in March he’d like to and would allow students to attend a school of their choosing, including public, private, religious, cyber or homeschool.

“This extreme proposal would be devastating to Pennsylvania’s public schools and 1.7 million students,” according to a statement from the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union. “Imagine a public education system with half the teachers, counselors, nurses, and support staff who teach and serve our students.”

The Republican — 70 school board members from across the state signed an condemning the strategy, calling it “out of touch with the vast majority of Pennsylvania families” — but no new plan has been unveiled. 

Chris Lilienthal, spokesman for the 178,000-member teachers association, said Mastriano never responded to an invitation to discuss pressing educational issues either through a survey or live interview with the union’s political action committee.

Shapiro did meet with the group — and . 

“We sat down with Attorney General Shapiro and walked away thinking he listens to the concerns of educators,” Lilienthal said. “He talked about reducing the overuse of standardized testing … and, in this age of teacher shortages, he talked about just how important that issue will be if elected governor. We have not heard Mastriano even talk about that.” 

David Lapp, director of policy research at , a Philadelphia-based nonprofit, said equity should be the new governor’s top priority concerning education. 

“Whether it is in access to school facilities, teachers and staff, challenging curriculum, or a positive school climate, the Pennsylvania public school system is defined by inequity,” said Lapp, whose group uses research as the basis for improving education for traditionally underserved students. “Virtually no other state’s public schools provide so much to its white students and wealthy students while providing so little to its students of color and its low-income students.” 

A member of the Senate Education Committee, Mastriano said he would, if elected, crack down on teachings about race and privilege — , saying they are “detrimental” and can lead to bullying. He called policies to protect transgender students “bat crap crazy” — he’s likened ” — telling supporters this summer that they won’t have to worry about “male domination” on women’s athletic teams. 

He’s also called out his opponent for attending and sending his children to ” Jewish schools. Mastriano paid $5,000 in consulting fees to the far-right social media platform Gab, which embraces QAnon conspiracy theories, misinformation and . Its founder is a known anti-Semite from whom Mastriano has recently attempted to . 

Neither candidate returned calls for comment.

Deborah Gordon Klehr, executive director of the tax-exempt Education Law Center, a key player in the years-long equitable school funding case, wouldn’t comment on either contender but said parents — and all Pennsylvanians — should pay close attention to their positions on education.

“The state’s role is especially important in Pennsylvania’s less affluent communities that are unable to raise sufficient funding locally to provide students with a high-quality education,” she said. 

Tony B. Watlington Sr., superintendent of The School District of Philadelphia, agreed that the outcome is critical.  

“Regardless of who is elected, it is my hope that they will ensure that the commonwealth finally meets its constitutional obligation to adequately and equitably fund our schools, solve our educator pipeline issues so that every student has access to a high-quality teacher, and invest again in our school facilities,” he said. 

Shapiro, a state representative from 2005 to 2011, has won wide support, including from a number of , some of whom have called Mastriano dangerous. 

Mastriano, in his current role, has promoted legislation to access and review all instructional materials used throughout the school year — and to opt out of curriculum they find objectionable.

Shapiro, a father of four, also has promised by giving them two seats on the state’s Board of Education.

“Right now, there are more seats reserved on the board for politicians than parents,” he wrote. “That needs to change.”

Mastriano made a name for himself by railing against mask mandates and business closures at the height of the pandemic and for promoting the Big Lie. He has faced calls for resignation for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection: Records show his campaign paid for buses headed to Washington, D.C. days before the deadly attack. 

He’s said he did not enter the Capitol building and has not been charged with a crime. But he has testified before the congressional committee investigating the assault. He cut short the interview after questioning its authority and later . 

Unlike his Democratic opponent, who’s received big money from outside the state, including deep-pocketed donors from California — and his wife, Kate Capshaw, among them — Mastriano’s campaign is funded mostly by small donations from within Pennsylvania. 

The candidate, who rarely grants interviews to mainstream news outlets, in May but has done little to campaign of late, leaving many questioning his wider voter appeal. His supporters include ” who says she speaks directly with God and espouses QAnon conspiracy theories.