Jennifer McCormick stopped in Evansville during her candidacy announcement press tour Thursday afternoon at the Vanderburgh County Democratic Headquarters.
McCormick is a former teacher, principal and the final elected Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction before the position became an appointed one.
She hails from New Castle, Indiana.
She says "education" would be her first priority if elected.
“No matter what the issue is, it typically leads back to education,” she said. “So I think it's incredibly important that we finally have someone in that office that has a background, and what does that actually mean as a system.”
She also says she wants to end the "divisiveness" of Indiana politics by leveraging her voice as governor and making smart cabinet picks.
The election is in 2024. So far the only other democrat listed to run is Bob Kern. Republicans include current Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, Mike Braun and Eric Doden. Donald Rainwater is running as a Libertarian.
Democrats and Republican candidates will first need to succeed in the party primary prior to the general election.
Locally, her tour has also taken her to Spencer County where she heard about infrastructure concerns from residents.
McCormick is a former Republican. She said her values didn’t align with Republicans at the state level when she was elected Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction, “so I switched parties,” she said.
If elected, she would be the first Democrat Governor of Indiana since 2004.