Two big economic impacts to Indiana were announced last week, and Republican candidate for Indiana governor Brad Chambers played a role in making them happen.
On Thursday, Amazon Web Services announced plans to invest an estimated $11 billion in Indiana, creating at least 1,000 new jobs and marking the largest capital investment in the state’s history.
In January, Google had announced a data center for Northeast Indiana was planned. In a follow-up announcement on Friday, Google announced it was investing $2 billion to build the data center. It’s also expected to create up to 200 new jobs.
During a one-on-one interview Saturday at Wire & Steam Coffee Co. in Warsaw, Chambers said, “I’m a 40-year business guy, and I worked for a dollar a year as commerce secretary, and during that two years, (I) broke every record in state history for economic development. That was my job.”
He said the Amazon and Google announcements last week were on his watch.
“(I) not only got the ball rolling, but I took it to the red zone, and the team - because I stepped out of the commerce department back in August - they just finished it. So I was directly steering those projects,” Chambers said. “So that’s why I’m running for governor, because I think we need to continue to grow our economy. We need to make sure that economic growth ends up in everyday Hoosiers’ pockets, and I think that there’s enormous potential for that but it’s going to take someone like me to do it and I don’t think the other four candidates offer that. I don’t think they have a vision for Indiana’s economic growth that I do. So I think I’m a unique candidate in that way.”
This election is a crossroads election, he said, because the state is either going to continue the momentum he started as commerce secretary or it’s not.
There’s other economic development announcements that are yet to come, he said, but unfortunately he couldn’t talk about it at this juncture.
“But, two years ago I was in Seoul, South Korea, talking to the chairman of a company called SK Hynix. Two weeks ago, I was in West Lafayette at Purdue, announcing a $4 billion investment by SK Hynix in a semiconductor plant. That was my transaction because I was two years ago in Seoul, South Korea, and two weeks ago we’re announcing a $4 billion plant,” Chambers stated.
He traveled to 15 countries over 24 months as Indiana’s commerce secretary, telling the state’s story with confidence in how great Indiana is, he said.
“That worked. It delivered close to $70 billion worth of new investment,” Chambers said. “To give you some comparison, that $70 billion in a little bit over close to 30 months, (former Indiana governor) Mitch Daniels did $48 billion in eight years. That’s unprecedented growth what I was able to do as commerce secretary, and I believe we can bring more of that if I’m governor.”
He likes to say that Indiana is great, but it can be even better.
“And why wouldn’t we want even better? And so, I think politicians tend to think good and great is fine. I don’t believe that. I think ‘even better’ is the objective because ‘even better’ touches everybody,” he said.
Indiana is known for being business-friendly, having a stable government, a great workforce and great people, great communities and low taxation, Chambers said.
“We have this great place I call Indiana, but I proved it can be even better economically, and when you have a growing economy, you have increasing revenues. You get to use those revenues to fix things, like education and support police and firefighters. And to deal with the mental health and childcare challenges that are in the state. And we have a growing economy that ends up in people’s pockets, Hoosiers pockets. And when people feel secure, their life is better - their kids are better, their health is better, their housing is better, their quality of life is better. When you have a growing economy and feel it, people’s quality of life is better and you’re fixing problems, that’s why government can be smaller because crime goes down, unemployment goes down, welfare goes down, Medicaid use goes down and government actually shrinks,” he explained.
Having started a company from nothing and being in business for 40 years, Chambers said he’s uniquely qualified to help make that happen.
“And there’s more to do. I’m passionate about Indiana. I’m grateful for my journey in Indiana,” he stated.
The Indiana General Assembly will have its budget session in 2025 to plan the 2026-27 biennial budget. Whoever is governor will have to sign off on that budget.
“My priorities as governor would be cutting property taxes, addressing property taxes. I hear that from all Hoosiers, and so I’d go to work on that right away. There’s a lot of work to do to get ready for a budget session, and so I’d have to get up to speed on that, but I want to make sure we’re continuing to invest and grow our economy because I think that’s a virtuous cycle,” he said.
Chambers also would reevaluate all of the state’s government infrastructure.
“I think it’s time. It’s been 20 years since Mitch Daniels was in office. I think it’s time for an outside business guy with fresh eyes, and I’m a fresh-eyes guy. I don’t come from government, and I think it’s time to look at everything and see if we can make it run better and smaller. I think that’s what Hoosiers want. They want a smaller government that runs better, and that would be my objective,” he said.
In the first budget session, Chambers wants to go to work on property taxes and improving government function and efficiency at a lower cost.
With less than 10 days before the Indiana primary, Chambers said he’s starting to get people coming up to him and telling him they voted for him already in early voting.
“It’s super humbling for me to hear that. It’s somewhat emotional, to be honest with you, because I’ve never ran for office before and this is all new to me. But I run this campaign like I’m really trying to earn votes. I’m trying to earn people’s votes. I’m trying to tell them my background, roll out policy, I’m doing it for the right reasons. So when people actually come up to me and say they voted for me, it’s very humbling and I’m increasingly hearing that from everybody,” he said, adding that he’s very optimistic.
He said he’s not a career, politician, he’s running for governor for the right reasons - it’s a service job, not a career change - and people want that. The people want a different direction for the state and not “business as usual.”
He acknowledged the governor’s race is a very competitive one. In the Republican primary, he’s up against Sen. Mike Braun, Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, Eric Doden, former attorney general Curtis Hill and Jamie Reitenour. Others seeking the governorship are Democrat Jennifer McCormick, Libertarian Donald Rainwater and Independent Christopher Stried.
“I think people are tired of politics. I think people are tired of political talking points, and talking and not doing,” Chambers said. “I am not a politician. I’m a career business guy. I started a company when I was 20 years old, I’ve been running that business for 40 years. This is a service job for me, not a career change. I think it’s time for fresh eyes in state government.”