INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Republican U.S. Sen. Mike Braun’s bid to become governor of Indiana seemed fairly straightforward until he got the running mate he didn’t want: a pastor and self-described Christian nationalist who successfully talked his way into next month’s elections.
Micah Beckwith, a podcaster from the Indianapolis suburb of Noblesville where he leads Life Church, has garnered enough support from delegates to upend the nomination process for lieutenant governor at this year’s GOP convention and win Brauns to become a running mate. His conservatism has complicated the race by forcing Braun to debate Beckwith’s positions.
Friction between the running mates and a series of negative ads have given an unexpected boost to Democratic nominees Jennifer McCormick and Terry Goodin, the overwhelming underdogs in a state that hasn’t elected a Democrat to statewide office since 2012. The momentum on the Republican ticket plus strong Democratic campaigning has caused forecasters to hedge their certainty that both seats will remain Republican.
“The race is more competitive than expected,” said Greg Shufeldt, a political science professor at the University of Indianapolis.
Who is Micah Beckwith?
Typically, gubernatorial candidates select who they want as running mates and rely on party delegates to herald their choices at party conventions. But Beckwith began courting delegates more than a year in advance, causing a stir at the Republican convention in June. Delegates blessed his nomination and rejected Julie McGuire, a freshman state representative chosen by Braun, even after Braun helped her secure Donald Trump’s endorsement.
Beckwith, who did not respond to multiple requests for comment, has used his social media platform to express views that have sparked trouble. In addition to his statement that God sent the people who rioted at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, he was criticized last month for saying his Democratic opponents have a “Jezebel spirit.”
Braun has been dealing with the fallout in recent weeks.
During a debate earlier this month between McCormick and Braun, she urged Braun to apologize for his running mate’s “Jezebel spirit” comment.
“I don’t like that,” Braun replied. “You can’t tell from me, and he’s been pretty good at avoiding that.”
Earlier this month, Beckwith was seen on video at a local Republican Party meeting saying he would fire any employee in his office or the agencies he oversees who mentions their pronouns in emails. The story was first reported by the Advocate, an LGBTQ+ publication, and the video was uploaded by The Bloomingtonian.
“If you think that men can be women and women can be men and that pronouns are necessary when we talk to each other, you don’t understand the basics of even reality,” Beckwith said.
Braun denounced the statement, saying he would hire and fire employees “based solely on their merit and commitment to providing efficient, effective state government to make life better and more affordable for Hoosiers, period.”
The lieutenant governor is first in the line of succession under Indiana law. Lieutenant governors oversee four state agencies but have no real legislative power. Those limitations haven’t stopped Beckwith from delving into topics he probably wouldn’t encounter in his work.
Mike Murphy, a former Republican state lawmaker and political commentator, said Beckwith represents the socially conservative side of the party.
“I would say Micah Beckwith is a product and a symbol of a lot of unrest in the Republican Party of Indiana,” Murphy said.
Braun, who led an auto parts distribution company and ran campaigns aligned with Trump, could potentially unite business-oriented Republicans and social conservatives, Murphy said.
In an interview, Braun said that all campaigns have their ups and downs. He believes that the turnout for Trump will have a positive effect on the vote.
“When I ran for Senate six years ago, we are in better shape now than we were then,” he said.
Who are Braun and Beckwith up against?
Braun, a one-term senator, has represented Indiana in Congress since 2018. His campaign focused on high health care costs and property taxes, and criticized the federal government over southern border policies.
Braun handily won a five-way gubernatorial election in May with nearly 40% of the vote.
But that means 60% of the state’s primary voters did not support him. McCormick and libertarian Donald Rainwater are trying to peel away some of those Republican voters.
McCormick has cited Beckwith’s views in labeling the Republican ticket as extremist. She has built her appeal to moderate voters around restoring abortion rights in a state that passed a near-total ban in 2022.
The candidates themselves reflect some recent shifts in Indiana politics. Braun voted as a Democrat until 2012; McCormick switched parties in 2021 after breaking with Republicans over education policy when she was a state school superintendent. A new ad released Monday shows a Republican man promising to support her.
“We have a lot of momentum, and that momentum is really Republicans, Democrats and independents,” McCormick said in an interview.
Indiana does not allow citizen-led ballot initiatives like those in other red-leaning states where abortion is on the agenda this year. Even if McCormick defies expectations, Republicans have a supermajority in both chambers of the Legislature, and overturning the state ban would be difficult, if not impossible.
But the Braun campaign’s responses show he doesn’t expect to win. Earlier this month, Braun aired an ad attacking McCormick as a liberal and linking her to Hillary Clinton and President Joe Biden. The ad attracted attention both for its negativity in a race that should have been easy for Braun, and for its use of a doctored image.
The ad claims that McCormick supported banning gas stoves, an idea that became a flashpoint of the culture war in 2023. It featured an image manipulated to depict people standing behind McCormick holding signs saying “no gas stoves.” It was a digitally altered version of a photo taken by a South Bend Tribune journalist in May 2023.
Indiana lawmakers this year passed a law banning the use of artificial intelligence in election materials without a disclaimer. Braun’s campaign said the ad was mistakenly passed on to TV stations.
Rainwater, the Libertarian candidate running for office again, has so concerned the Republican Party that they sent out a mailer criticizing him, according to the Indiana Capitol Chronicle. He won 11.4% of the vote when he ran for governor in 2020 after pandemic lockdowns angered Indiana voters. A similar turnout for him could siphon votes away from Braun.
“I think people are very dissatisfied with the status quo of both federal and state and local government,” Rainwater said in an interview.
Braun has overall outpaced McCormick in advertising, spending more than $13 million on ads this year, including the Republican Party primary period, according to data from AdImpact, which tracks campaign spending. He has spent more than three times what McCormick has spent on advertising.
Braun raised nearly $4.87 million from July through September, according to campaign finance reports. McCormick lagged behind, but has turned a profit since earlier this year, raising more than $2 million in the same period.
McCormick received $1.65 million from the Democratic Governor’s Association in October, according to campaign finance reports. That marks the first significant investment in an Indiana governor’s race since 2016, when Mike Pence resigned to run for vice president.
The Republican Governors Association responded quickly, giving Braun $1.5 million this month — a clear sign that the race has captured their attention.
Shufeldt, the IU-Indianapolis professor, said the DGA money could help Democrats rebuild in Indiana even if McCormick falls short, and “may pay dividends down the road.”
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Volmert reported from Lansing, Michigan.
