6/23/26 - Greg Ballard's BIG Announcement, Braun lashes out at IURC, Tucker bails on Republicans

Today’s episode of The Rob Kendall Show focuses on Greg Ballard’s independent campaign for Indiana Secretary of State and Rob’s belief that Ballard should not be underestimated. Rob says Republicans spent years treating Ballard as the gold standard when he was mayor of Indianapolis, only to turn on him once he launched an independent statewide run. He argues Ballard’s likely success in collecting nearly 37,000 verified signatures would be a major political achievement because Indiana’s ballot access rules are designed to protect Republicans and Democrats from serious independent challengers. Rob says Ballard could reshape the Secretary of State race even if he does not win. He argues Ballard will likely pull voters from Republicans, independents, and even Beau Bayh’s Marion County base, making the race more competitive and forcing the major-party candidates to work harder. Rob says Ballard’s presence would make the election more serious because candidates would no longer be able to coast through a weak, predictable Republican-versus-Democrat contest. The show also covers Governor Braun removing Andy Zay as chairman of the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission after Zay voted for an AES rate increase. Rob says the move is mostly symbolic because Zay remains on the board and only loses part of his salary. He argues Braun owns the problem because he appointed Zay in the first place, despite Zay being an insider and former state senator who helped create the same utility system Braun now claims to oppose. Rob says Braun’s outrage over utility rates rings hollow because he never required his IURC picks to pledge against rate increases and previously signed legislation allowing utilities to recover costs for small modular reactor development. He argues Indiana’s utility system is bought and sold by powerful companies, and that Braun keeps responding to public anger with gestures that look tough but do not actually change the structure causing higher bills. Another major topic is Buc-ee’s proposing its first Indiana location in Greenwood near I-65 and Worthville Road. Rob says the local pushback is more reasonable than it may sound because residents are not simply rejecting development; they are questioning whether a massive travel stop serves the community or mostly benefits transient traffic. He says Greenwood residents are right to ask about traffic, rezoning, local businesses, tax impact, and whether a big-name project actually improves life for the people who live there. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices