INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana’s Republican delegates are set to meet Saturday at the party convention to nominate a candidate for lieutenant governor, and in a decidedly unconventional situation, this time they will have multiple choices.
Traditionally, delegates agree on the choice of candidate for governor, and Senator Mike Braun has endorsed the state Representative Julie McGuire to be his running mate. But she is being challenged by an ultraconservative Christian pastor, Micah Beckwith.
Braun, who is leaving the U.S. Senate, announced his choice in May, the day after winning the primary election with around 40% of the votes. Braun was endorsed by former President Donald Trump and campaigned primarily on national issues such as immigration.
Trump made a surprise endorsement Thursday night of McGuire before the convention, indicating that Beckwith’s campaign has momentum. The endorsement is a big win for McGuire in a state where Trump won the 2020 election by 16 points.
McGuire, of Indianapolis, was a political analyst for Senate Republicans until 2022, when removed a representative who had angered other Republicans in part by repeatedly pushing for a total ban on abortion. Current Indiana law allows exceptions in rare and limited circumstances.
Braun said he chose McGuire for his staunchly conservative legislative and political record despite his short time in office. If she is finally elected by voters in November, she will be the last in a series of women reaching the second highest position in a state that has never seen a female governor.
The lieutenant governor runs four state agencies, ceremoniously presides over the Senate and would break tie votes there if it happened in a chamber where the Republican Party enjoys a supermajority.
Beckwith, who ran unsuccessfully for Congress from central Indiana in 2020, actively campaigned for lieutenant governor for a year, courting delegates months before the convention. He co-hosts a podcast called “Jesus, Sex and Politics” and is known for his far-right views on gender, sexuality and abortion. He presented himself as a political outsider who would keep the governor’s office in check, limit property taxes and oppose school efforts to support the LGBTQ+ community.
Delegates sometimes go against their leaders’ choices: in 2022, they defied Republican Governor Eric Holcomb’s support for the incumbent Secretary of State for a second term and instead elected Diego Moraiswho won the general election.
Whoever wins this nomination will run Braun against Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jennifer McCormick, the former state education chief, and Libertarian candidate Donald Rainwater. Democrats have not won statewide office in Indiana since 2012.
