Indiana’s four living governors — from left: Eric Holcomb, Mike Pence, Mitch Daniels and Evan Bayh — onstage during a leadership panel at the Indiana State Fair.
(Whitney Downard/Indiana Capital Chronicle)
Indiana’s four current and former governors made a rare appearance together Wednesday evening, cracking jokes and sharing leadership advice at the Indiana State Fair.
Gov. Eric Holcomb and former governors Mike Pence, Mitch Daniels and Evan Bayh headlined the annual Harvest Dinner in an hour-long event moderated by Cindy Hoye, the executive director of the Indiana State Fair Commission.
Former Indiana Gov. and U.S. Senator Evan Bayh address attendees at the annual Harvest Dinner on Aug. 14, 2024. (Whitney Downard/Indiana Capital Chronicle)
Bayh, a Democrat who served as governor from 1989 to 1997 — a time so long ago that “mastodons and wooly mammoths, saber-toothed tigers and even Democratic governors existed here in Indiana!” — said leadership was hard to study academically or abstractly.
“It’s one of those things that you recognize it when you see it,” Bayh said. “… given what’s going on in our country today and in the world today, I guess I would think the most important aspect of leadership … is the ability to build bridges, to bring people together, to reconcile differences for the common good, for practical objectives.”
Following his time leading the state, Bayh spent more than a decade representing Indiana in the U.S. Senate.
For the devout Pence, leadership was a calling. He served only one term — “and I’m a little self conscious about that” — before becoming Vice President of the United States under former President Donald Trump in 2016.
“When you look at scripture, it talks about how there are different gifts that people have,” Pence said. “But I also believe that, like athletic promise, you could be born with natural talent. But if you don’t invest in and discipline yourself and learn and grow and take risks and learn lessons and learn humility along the way that you miss the opportunity to be in leadership.”
Proudest achievements and fair memories
The four men reflected on their time in office, from inaugural ceremonies to their proudest achievements.
For Holcomb, who is term limited and will leave office in January, one of his biggest wins as governor was passing the $225 million investment in public health following the COVID-19 pandemic. Though he didn’t detail the battle to get legislative approval, the proposal faced fierce opposition from some Hoosiers who decried pandemic-era health restrictions.
“One that I’ll always cherish is … post-COVID, we introduced Indiana’s approach to improving local health departments. Not just in funding, but in addressing some of the fronts where we were lagging behind others,” Holcomb said, alluding to Indiana’s poor health metrics.
Six counties opted out of the first year of the program but joined for the second year before the September deadline. Holcomb said he was proud all 92 counties had now joined Health First Indiana.
“We went there when some said, ‘Don’t,’” Holcomb concluded.
Former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels speaks at the annual Harvest Dinner at the Indiana State Fair on Aug. 14, 2024. (Whitney Downard/Indiana Capital Chronicle)
Pence credited Holcomb for further building on his proudest achievement — Regional Cities, now known as READI — to get counties thinking collectively about economic development while Bayh oversaw the launch of 21st Century Scholars. The latter program helps thousands of Hoosier students obtain higher education at a reduced cost.
But for Daniels, Indiana’s oldest living governor who led the state between 2005 and 2013, his proudest achievement was improving Indiana’s economic standing and upward mobility.
“We came at a time when Indiana … was sliding, sliding, sliding. It wasn’t anybody’s fault and manufacturing jobs were fewer,” Daniels said. “(We wanted to) try to once again to make Indiana a place of promise and prosperity.”
Much of that work included reforming the state’s tax structure — now frequently rated as one of the most business friendly in the country — and simplifying regulations.
“I always said, ‘We’ve got to build the best sandbox in America so people will come here and invest in us,’” Daniels said.
When it came to fair memories, Daniels received some hearty chuckles when he recalled taking his wife on a hot air balloon trip that had a landing mishap — meaning, his “stock (with wife Cheri) was pretty low for roughly … five years.”
And Pence recounted his first date with his wife Karen at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum on the fairgrounds during the winter, when it transformed into an ice skating rink.
“It’s been 39 years this summer,” Pence said.
Advice for future generations
The lighthearted event turned serious toward the end of the hour, with Daniels and Bayh both offering advice for the youth.
Bayh, who currently serves on the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, said he was familiar with the threats to America posed by Venezuela, China, Iran and Russia by nature of his appointment. The autocracy and dictatorship of those countries and the contrast with the freedom of America, he said, would be a struggle that would shape the younger generation.
“The first thing I would say to the next generation is stand for freedom. Because no one is happier … than the Chinese, the Russians and Iran than when we are fighting against ourselves,” Bayh said. “They cannot possibly defeat the United States of America. But it is possible that we can defeat ourselves… (but) we have a lot more in common than some folks would have you believe.”
Daniels spent the decade after leaving office leading Purdue University, a role that frequently put him in contact with the next generation. He said that while a conflict was coming to America, as it so happens every few generations, that the nation’s youth would be ready to assume a leadership role.
“They’re going to be up to it. And I think they’re going to do, in some ways, a better job than their predecessors,” Daniels said. “I do think that today’s young people are going to be at the plate when history throws the United States its next curveball and I think they’ll hit it out of the park.”
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