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Postal information Journal Courier, USPS is published 6 days per week excluding Saturday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving (observed), Christmas Day (observed) and New Day (observed) by Gannett Media 300 Main Suite 314, Lafayette, IN 47901. Periodicals postage paid at Lafayette, IN 47905. Postmaster: Send address changes to Customer Service, PO Box 1387, Fort Smith, AR 72902. Many establishment Republicans are feeling fairly Braun's weight will carry the day. But they also know that delegates, who tend to lean more conservative and activist than even pri- mary voters, have been known to upset the status quo and surprise people as recently as 2022, when they chose Die- go Morales for Secretary of State over Gov.
Eric Holcomb's choice, Holli Sulli- van. always hard to tell," said Pete Seat, a former communications director for the state party and Holcomb's 2016 campaign. "The delegates are unpre- dictable." Plus, while Braun pulled out an early win on election night, he faced a con- stant barrage of attacks from his Repub- lican opponents and a divided party throughout the cycle something that most Republican gubernatorial nomi- nees haven't had to bounce back from in years past. (That's primarily because there's usually a clear favorite or only one candidate by primary Election Day.) His opponents, mainly Lt. Gov.
Suzanne Crouch, shared a steady stream of en- dorsem*nts from local Republican lead- ers, the types of people Braun now likely needs to court. There's been a lot of rhetoric from the gubernatorial campaigns about unify- ing behind Braun a signal to some that a McGuire victory isn't guaranteed without some work. Braun and whomever his running mate is will face Democratic nominee Jennifer McCormick and Libertarian Donald Rainwater in the fall. Beckwith's unusual campaign Beckwith is not a no-namer. He's an outspoken, ultra socially conservative pastor in Hamilton County who, as a political newcomer in 2020, placed third out of 15 candidates for the 5th Congressional District primary race.
He made a name for himself lambasting Holcomb's COVID-19 lockdowns, and later, promoting an anti-transgender, anti "woke" platform. He made head- lines when he joined the Hamilton East Public Library board as it was embroiled in strife over some books in its chil- dren's sections. After playing an instru- mental role in passing a controversial book-relocation policy that was later re- scinded, he resigned from the board to, he said, focus on his lieutenant governor campaign. Beckwith estimates he's reached out to around 3,000 past and present dele- gates, from meet-and-greets to Lincoln Day dinners to dates to phone banking. And he's still going: On May 20, he's holding a fundraiser for his campaign that delegates have free entry to, with special guests Rob Kendall and Casey Daniels from WIBC.
He wants delegates to have an actual choice in the matter when they choose the lieutenant governor nominee who will appear on the November ballot, as state law gives them the power to do. Rarely is there competition; typically, the gubernatorial nominee's endorsed candidate runs unopposed. "We been honoring the sys- tem for years in Indiana. been telling the delegates who to vote for," Beckwith told IndyStar. "I think wise that we see the lieutenant governor not being the employee of the governor and being the employee of the people." In addition to speculation about competition for the attorney general race should Todd Rokita be if his license is suspended from the pending disciplinary complaints, the competition in the lieutenant governor's race has drawn out a staggering number of candidates interested in serving as del- egates: About 2,750 for Tuesday's primary, compared to about 2,300 in 2022.
In Hamilton County, where Beck- with lives, some townships drew more than 50 candidates to 10 or so delegate seats three times as many as in 2022. For his city, Noblesville, 67 candidates to run for 10 seats. a lot of people that applied to run for delegate because of the con- tested nature of this convention," said Hamilton County GOP chair Mario Mas- sillamany. "It creates more energy, ex- citement." In the hours since Tuesday's primary results were Beckwith's team has been tallying up how many of the roughly 1,800 successful candidates he counts among his supporters. Having looked at nearly 1,400 of them as of Wednesday afternoon, he said he's up to 330.
And he feels good about that. "I think we got a good shot," he said. Does Braun have enough sway? Braun and McGuire, meanwhile, have one month to catch up in terms of campaigning. Braun doesn't see himself as starting from scratch, though: He argues that he's been molding relationships with delegates in all 92 counties during his six years as a senator. "I don't mind the competition at all," Braun told IndyStar.
"I think win the day." Competition has been more common among the other state like secre- tary of state and attorney general. These have a history of being unpredictable the 2022 convention being a major re- cent surprise. Having multiple lieutenant governor candidates at a Republican state con- vention is far more rare. Political ob- servers think 1996 is the last time: There were six people vying to be Republican gubernatorial nominee Stephen Gold- smith's running mate. Goldsmith didn't even try to sway the delegates: He opted not to make an endorsem*nt and to let the delegates decide.
Part of his reasoning was there were so many candidates and no clear fron- trunner. But it was also because the pri- mary was so contentious, not unlike Braun's. Goldsmith defeated his oppo- nent by nearly 20 percentage points, but that opponent was state party chair Rex Early, around whom many county party chairs coalesced their support that "it made the most sense to defer to the party in the selection, in order to show respect for their views and to bring about more reconciliation," Gold- smith told IndyStar via email. So while convention goers have a his- tory of voting with the gubernatorial nominee's choice, they also haven't been truly tested in recent memory. Still, former delegate Brad Rateike, also a former Donald Trump and Mitch Daniels thinks Braun's base of support among delegates is strong enough.
Other party insiders tend to agree. "They know that partnership mat- ters," he said. "Sen. Braun's support from former and future GOP delegates should give you every reason to believe 2024 delegates will warmly welcome his selection and give that person the chance to talk about how they would be a strong partner in leading our state. Never confuse noise with progress and never believe that the desire to create chaos will result in chaos." While Braun's of the vote is the smallest voter mandate of any guberna- torial nominee since Indiana's governor seat began holding primaries in 1976, it still wasn't a close election he beat second-place Crouch by 18 percentage points.
And it's likely that, had there been fewer candidates, some more of the vote share would have gone to Braun. Goldsmith's leaving his running mate choice entirely up to the delegates wasn't entirely advantageous in the view of Mike McDaniel, who was the state party chair at the time. Running as a real team is important, he said. "He was never really considered to be person," McDaniel said, re- ferring to George Witwer, a publisher whom the delegates chose. Goldsmith later lost the general election to Frank O'Bannon.
That Braun named his running mate preference clear so quickly indicates his campaign is aware of how important it is to start getting McGuire's name in front of delegates. McDaniel doesn't see Braun having an issue getting McGuire nominated. He thinks the more important task ahead for Braun is building rapport with state legislators, whose whims are far more powerful than the governor's weak veto. (The supermajority Republican legisla- ture can easily override the governor, and has even when Republicans con- trols the executive branch.) McGuire, who is well-respected among legislative leadership, could help with that. McGuire's newness to the political scene, however, may add a wildcard ele- ment to the convention, Seat said.
It could be positive if delegates choose to trust Braun's judgment, or a negative if they don't and have no idea who she is. "The winds of politics are at times," he said. "If something done or said that people thrilled about, they will send a message when they have the opportunity." (In 2008, for example, delegates bucked Gov. Mitch Daniels' pick for attorney general as conservative bloggers accused the gover- nor's campaign of being "abrasive" and "divisive" during the process.) Should Braun be forced by democra- cy to work with Beckwith instead of McGuire, Braun says he'll of course ac- cept it as a longtime business owner and now a senator, he's no stranger to working with people who he might wish had "done it a way." "I think that we'll win that competi- tion, and if by chance that doesn't work, which I think is very slim," he said, "I'll deal with it." Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Kayla Dwyer at or follow her on Twitter Braun Continued from Page 1A Diego Morales, above, was the GOP choice for Secretary of State over Gov. Eric choice, Holli Sullivan, in 2022.
ROBERT FILE ABOVE: U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, who on Tuesday won Indiana's Republican gubernatorial primary, poses Wednesday with Rep. Julie McGuire, R-Indianapolis, his recommendation for the state's next lieutenant governor. MYKAL Hamilton East Public Library Board Member Micah Beckwith speaks during a HEPL board meeting on Thursday, Aug.
24, 2023, in Noblesville, Ind. MICHELLE.
