Lieutenant governor candidate Micah Beckwith chats with Republicans at the Indiana GOP’s convention on Saturday, June 15, 2024. (Leslie Bonilla Muñiz/Indiana Capital Chronicle)
Indiana’s GOP delegates narrowly named Noblesville pastor Micah Beckwith as the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor in a shocking vote at the party’s convention Saturday.
The GOP’s 1,719 delegates rebuffed Republican gubernatorial nominee Mike Braun’s handpicked choice for the role — first-term Rep. Julie McGuire — in a vote of 891 to 828.
That’s despite McGuire nabbing a last-minute endorsement from former President Donald Trump. It was the first competitive race for the state’s second-highest office in decades.
Micah Beckwith supporters cheer at the Indiana GOP’s convention on Saturday, June 15, 2024. (Leslie Bonilla Muñiz/Indiana Capital Chronicle)
“I want to tell you one thing, the Republican Party should be incredibly excited around the state of Indiana right now,” Beckwith said to cheers after the vote was announced.
“I want to say this about our next governor, Mike Braun. I’m excited to work with that man. He’s going to do great things for our state,” Beckwith continued. “I have said my job as lieutenant governor will be to do everything in my power to make him the most successful conservative governor in the entire United States.”
Braun said he’d move forward with Beckwith.
“I love competition. And Micah, even though I chose someone else to be my partner, you and I have known one another and everything you believe in, I have as well,” Braun told Beckwith on stage.
“I’m a guy that knows how to get from here to there. I’ll handle it well even when it doesn’t go your way. We will take Indiana to that next level,” Braun added. “Everything you’re interested in, and you’ve been disappointed with, recently, that’s going to change.”
Beckwith thanked Braun, saying, “Never once did he ever try to push me out of this race” — and thanked McGuire, adding, “Julie worked her tail off, just like I did.”
Term-limited Gov. Eric Holcomb and senior U.S. Sen. Todd Young did not attend Saturday’s convention.
Beckwith has pitched himself as both the prospective governor’s cheerleader and a check on his power.
Race for GOP lieutenant governor nomination nears finish line
His upstart campaign began as a rebuke of Holcomb: the state’s pandemic-era shutdown, plus a veto on a transgender girls sports ban. Beckwith says his motivation is unchanged, even as Braun promises a more socially conservative approach to the governor’s office than the economy-minded Holcomb.Beckwith is a pastor at Life Church’s Noblesville campus and co-hosts a podcast called “Jesus, Sex and Politics” with another pastor. He also operates a small business — a music school — and remains involved in his family’s dairy company.
He has additionally spent about five years doing policy work with the Indiana Family Institute and was prominent in a Hamilton County public library effort to relocate allegedly inappropriate books.
Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jennifer McCormick’s campaign has said an announcement about her lieutenant governor pick is on the way.
The lieutenant governor position is second in line to the governor and has an additional 26 statutory roles, alongside other duties.
Delegates also nominated incumbent Attorney General Todd Rokita, by voice vote, to the ballot. He ran unopposed.
This story will be updated.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
The post Hoosier GOP insiders spurn party establishment, nominate Beckwith for LG appeared first on Indiana Capital Chronicle.