INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana Republican delegates are set to gather at the party convention Saturday to nominate a candidate for lieutenant governor, and in a decidedly unconventional situation, they will have several choices this time.
Traditionally, delegates accept the choice of candidate for governor, and senator. Mike Braun is State Certified representative Julie McGuire to be his running mate. But she is challenged by an ultra-conservative Christian pastor, Micah Beckwith.
Braun, who is leaving the US Senate, announced his choice In May, a day after winning the primary election with around 40% of the votes. Braun had been endorsed by former President Donald Trump and campaigned extensively on domestic issues such as immigration.
Trump made a surprise endorsement Thursday night for McGuire ahead of the convention, indicating that Beckwith’s campaign has teeth. The endorsement is a major victory 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 she knocked down a representative which had angered other Republicans Partly by repeatedly insisting on a complete ban on abortion. Current Indiana law allows exceptions in rare and limited circumstances.
Braun said he chose McGuire for his strongly conservative legislative and policy record despite his short time in office. If she is ultimately elected by voters in November, she would be the last in a series of women to reach the second highest office in a state that has never seen a female governor.
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The lieutenant governor heads four state agencies, ceremonially presides over the Senate and would break a tie there, if it ever happened in a chamber where the Republican Party enjoys a supermajority.
Beckwith, who unsuccessfully ran 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 positions 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 schools’ efforts to support the LGBTQ+ community.
The delegates sometimes go against the choices of their leaders: in 2022, they challenged the Republican government. Eric Holcomb’s support for outgoing Secretary of State for a second term and elected instead Diego Moraleswho won the general election.
Whoever wins that nomination will run with Braun against Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jennifer McCormick, the state’s former education chief, and Libertarian candidate Donald Rainwater. Democrats have not won a statewide office in Indiana since 2012.