Photo by Tony Valainis
The end is in sight. How do you feel?
It’s bittersweet. I’m very proud of how this administration has conducted our affairs and been focused and disciplined. I’ll really miss place-making [helping communities create public spaces, including plazas, creative use of old buildings, community gardens, pop-up retail, and murals] and watching people come together and build up a community. I always tell people it’s like that ’70s TV show Eight Is Enough. Turns out, eight is enough for a politician, too. I think it’s good to refresh with new energy, new eyes, and a new team.
What do you consider your top accomplishments?
In general, the way we’ve built connections. That includes roads, rails, broadband internet, and trails, and also just how residents are interacting with their neighbors. And we can include READI [Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative] in that. It’s a whole new way of thinking regionally.
Any regrets?
I regret not trying to do our health initiative sooner. [Health First Indiana passed in 2023. It divvies up $263 million over two years to county health departments to address core health issues, such as heart disease, maternal and child health, obesity, and tobacco cessation.] If we have healthier, smarter citizens, game over, and we win. The same can be said about any other state, or country for that matter. Healthier states had a head start. When Covid happened, people said, ‘Do not go there,’ but I’m a Taurus. I’m stubborn. I doubled down because I was running out of time. I thought, If we don’t go there now, then when? We were lagging in many multiple health metrics. Health First Indiana is a good start, but we have a lot of catching up to do before it becomes a strength.
What will you miss most about being governor?
I’m the kind of person who likes to be on this side of the desk, not that side [behind it]. Whenever I travel and meet people, I quote a great philosopher—Indiana Jones—who said if you want to be a good archaeologist, you’ve got to get out of the library, do your research, and really get your hands dirty. I will miss being out on the road, number one, and number two, I’ll miss the learning. There’s so much Hoosier ingenuity, so many new ideas and innovations that come off of the family, factory floor, or field that end up at Inari Agriculture, at Beck’s Hybrids, and at Corteva Agriscience. To get to meet those individuals who are blazing trails … I’ll really miss that.
And not so much … ?
I’m not looking for sympathy, because after all, I ran for this job. But when you’re in it, if you’re an empathetic soul, you tend to personalize other people’s tragedies or challenges. That can come in the form of an evening news report that says severe weather is coming. You sleep differently when you wonder if a tornado is going to rip through Logansport, or Wabash, or Henryville. Or when there has been a shooting or another tragic death in a family, and there’s nothing you can do about it other than show up, be there for them.
Do you think you’ll pine for the governor’s mansion?
I’d be going downstairs with my dog and thinking, You have bedhead, and you better put a hat on because the public may be downstairs, and they’d love to get a picture of this. So, no.
What’s next?
I’ll have to find something I can wake up to and be excited about and still have an impact. But I am going to take two months off. My wife Janet said, ‘This has been eight years. I want two months to watch you deprogram before my very eyes. Fair?’ Folks have approached me with opportunities, but I’ve said, ‘If you need an answer now, I’m not your guy.’ I promised my wife two months. I’m sure she’ll get sick of me in two weeks, but I’m sticking to it.
Do you and Janet plan to stay in Indianapolis?
I think Indiana will always be home. We are looking for a place to lay our heads, but we’re very patient. We’ve looked in multiple counties. We may rent, but we won’t be nomads. I’d like to be within an hour of an international airport. I have a lot of clutter. I’m a hoarder, so I’ll be looking for the perfect place to display my flea market. Or a storage facility if someone else has her way! I have lived abroad, so I will be fine whether it’s Fort Wayne or Stockholm.
The state police drive you everywhere. Now you’ll drive your own vehicle?
Yes, and that’s something I’m looking forward to. I was one of the kids in high school who loved to drive, and it wasn’t just because I wanted to play my own music. I just like to drive. I miss that a lot. I’ve kept my truck, a 2013 Tundra with 48,631 miles on it. It hasn’t been driven in eight years.
Do you still have a valid driver’s license?
I’m in good standing, and I very much look forward to listening to Bob Seger, with “Roll Me Away” on maximum volume with the windows down and the sunroof open.
Anything you’re thinking about trying? Maybe pickleball?
Janet recently hosted a pickleball tournament, but no. I’m looking forward to more pleasure reading. I’m trying to get through an older book on Ulysses S. Grant. I’m a history buff. I love biographies and autobiographies, but I’m slow in finishing them because I’ve had to read so much other material every day. So I’m eagerly anticipating devouring pleasure reading again.
Any series you binge watch?
That is my guilty pleasure, if anything, usually late at night, so I can’t do more than one episode at a time. Janet and I like to glob onto something that’s not the Hallmark Channel. Right now, we’re watching Prison Break, which I had zero idea had been out for so long. We’ve barely scratched the surface.
What are people surprised to find out about you?
The comments I get everywhere I go are: ‘You’re taller than I thought you were,’ or, ‘You’re younger than you look on TV.’
How old, and how tall?
I’m 56 and 6-foot-4.
Is that without the cowboy boots you’re known to wear?
Yes! And right, I wear boots six days a week, if not seven.
How many pairs do you have?
I’m not telling. Janet doesn’t know.
More than five?
Double digits, but not triple … and I never throw them away, ever.
Will you run for office again?
Phew. … That was a fastball right down the middle! After I’ve walked out, I will be interested in policy—but not politics. I’m not looking to be politically active, but I will be focused on and hopefully contributing toward good policy in whatever it is I wind up doing. That might be something around life sciences, whether plant, animal, or human health, or it could even be in defense or in advanced manufacturing.
Any thoughts on the current political climate?
I sat in a meeting with other governors on the subject of immigration. I listened to Democratic governors talk about it, as well as other Republican governors. There was broad agreement among both on the need to prevent illegal immigration, as well as the need to encourage legal immigration. And I said in that meeting that I would go anywhere, to any state … I’d stand in Times Square … and say, ‘We agree on 80 percent. We only disagree on 20 percent. Let’s agree to disagree. It’s our duty to pursue progress, not some perfection.’ I will gladly take the arrows from the left and the right. We need more people to do that.
Do you have advice for your successor?
They may not ask … but if they do, I will say, first and foremost, be true to yourself. Spend time trying to advance the ball, but don’t let the job change you, because it can. You’re here to serve people who both agree and disagree with you. Be accessible by getting around the state. Show up for all of them.
