Indiana
A down-ballot candidate from the right throws a wrench into the Indiana governor's race
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-proclaimed Christian nationalist who finessed his way onto next month’s ballot.
Micah Beckwith, a podcaster from the Indianapolis suburb of Noblesville, where he leads Life Church, secured enough delegate support to upend the lieutenant governor nomination process at this year’s state GOP convention and become Braun’s running mate. His brand of conservatism has complicated the race by forcing Braun to discuss Beckwith’s views.
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 dynamics on the Republican ticket plus strong campaigns from the Democrats have caused forecasters to hedge on their certainty that both seats will stay Republican.
“The race is more competitive relative to expectations,” said Greg Shufeldt, a University of Indianapolis political science professor.
Who is Micah Beckwith?
Usually, gubernatorial candidates select who they want as running mates and count on party delegates to usher their choices in during party conventions. But Beckwith started courting delegates over a year in advance and pulled a major upset at the GOP 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 air views that have stirred up trouble. In addition to declaring 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 spent recent weeks fielding the fallout.
At a debate earlier this month between McCormick and Braun, she pressed Braun to apologize for the “Jezebel spirit” comment from his running mate.
“I don’t like that,” Braun replied. “You don’t see that out of 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 lists 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 there’s pronouns needed when we’re talking to one another, 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 delivering 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 limits haven’t stopped Beckwith from wading into topics he likely wouldn’t encounter on the job.
Mike Murphy, a former Republican state lawmaker and political commentator, said Beckwith represents the socially conservative side of the party.
“I’d say that Micah Beckwith is a product and a symbol of a lot of unrest in the Indiana Republican Party,” Murphy said.
Braun, who led an auto parts distribution company and has run campaigns aligned with Trump, may be able to unite business-oriented Republicans and the social conservatives, Murphy said.
In an interview, Braun said all campaigns have their ups and downs. He believes voter turnout for Trump will have a positive impact down the ballot.
“When I ran for Senate six years ago — we’re in better shape now than we were then,” he said.
Who are Braun and Beckwith running against?
Braun, a one-term senator, has represented Indiana in Congress since 2018. His campaign has focused on high healthcare costs and property taxes, as well as criticizing the federal government on southern border policy.
Braun handily won a five-way gubernatorial primary in May with nearly 40% of the votes.
But that means 60% of the state’s primary voters didn’t back him. McCormick and Libertarian Donald Rainwater are looking to peel away some of those Republican voters.
McCormick has cited Beckwith’s views in labeling the GOP ticket as extremist. She’s built her appeal to moderate voters around the restoration of abortion rights in a state that enacted 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 state school superintendent. A new ad released Monday depicts a Republican man vowing to support her.
“We’ve got great momentum, and that momentum is really Republicans and Democrats and independents,” McCormick said in an interview.
Indiana does not allow for citizen-led ballot initiatives like those in other red-leaning states that have abortion on the ballot this year. Even if McCormick defies the odds, Republicans hold a supermajority in both chambers of the legislature, and reversing the state’s ban would be difficult if not impossible.
But the response from the Braun campaign shows he isn’t assuming he’ll win. Earlier this month, Braun aired an ad attacking McCormick as a liberal, tying her to Hillary Clinton and President Joe Biden. The ad drew attention both for its negativity in a race that was supposed to be easy for Braun and for its use of a doctored image.
The ad claims McCormick supported banning gas stoves, an idea that became a culture war flashpoint in 2023. It featured an image that had been manipulated to depict people standing behind McCormick holding signs that said “no gas stoves.” It was a digitally altered version of a photograph taken by a South Bend Tribune journalist in May 2023.
Indiana lawmakers passed a law this year banning the use of artificial intelligence in election materials without a disclaimer. Braun’s campaign said the ad was mistakenly given to TV stations.
Rainwater, the Libertarian candidate who is running again, has concerned the state Republican Party enough that they sent a mailer out criticizing him, according to the Indiana Capitol Chronicle. He won 11.4% of votes when he ran for governor in 2020 after pandemic lockdowns riled up Indiana voters. A similar turnout for him could siphon votes away from Braun.
“I think people are very dissatisfied with the status quo from both federal and state and really local government as well,” Rainwater said in an interview.
Braun has trumped McCormick in advertising overall, spending more than $13 million this year on ads, which includes the time period of the GOP primary, according to data from AdImpact, which tracks campaign spending. He’s spent more than three times what McCormick has on advertising.
According to campaign finance reports, Braun raised almost $4.87 million from July through September. McCormick lagged but has made gains since earlier in the year, raising over $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’s the first significant investment in an Indiana governor’s race since 2016, when Mike Pence stepped down to run for vice president.
The Republican Governor’s Association responded quickly, giving Braun $1.5 million this month — a clear sign the race has gotten their attention.
Shufeldt, the IU-Indianapolis professor, said the DGA money could help Democrats rebuild in Indiana even if McCormick falls short, and “might pay dividends down the road.”
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Volmert reported from Lansing, Mich.
Safety and preparation are the keys to staying safe this winter
Officials talk about winter preparedness, safety, tips. Safety and preparation are the keys. Here are some tips.
At least 50 Indiana counties are under a travel advisory, and 20 counties were issued a travel watch for Dec. 14, following an overnight snow storm.
The Indiana Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) travel advisory map has each county shaded in red for a travel warning, orange for a travel watch, yellow for a travel advisory and gray for a county without an elevated status report on it’s current travel conditions.
Here’s how you can check your county to see where it lands on the map.
Travel advisory
According to DHS, a travel advisory is the lowest level of a related advisory.
“Routine travel or activities may be restricted in areas because of a hazardous situation, and individuals should use caution or avoid those areas,” the department says on its website.
Watch advisory
According to DHS, a watch advisory is issued when conditions are threatening to a county’s safety.
“Only essential travel, such as to and from work or in emergency situations, is recommended, and emergency action plans should be implemented by businesses, schools, government agencies and other organizations,” the department’s website states.
Warning advisory
According to DHS, a warning advisory is the highest level of a related advisory, where people may be told not to travel at all.
“Travel may be restricted to emergency management workers only,” the department’s website states.
Here’s the winter weather info you need
🚨 Indiana Weather Alerts: Warnings, Watches and Advisories.
⚡ Indiana power outage map: How to check your status.
💻 Internet outages: How to track them.
🚫 What you should and shouldn’t do when the power is out.
🐶 Your neighbor left their pet outside. Who you should call.
Indianapolis weather radar
Jade Jackson is a public safety reporter for the Indianapolis Star. You can email her at Jade.Jackson@IndyStar.com and follow her on X, formerly Twitter @IAMJADEJACKSON.
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Indiana basketball coach Darian DeVries and senior forward Tucker DeVries met with reporters after the Hoosiers’ 72-60 loss to Kentucky on Saturday night at Rupp Arena in Lexington.
Here’s what the DeVries duo said during their near-seven-minute press conference.
Q: I guess, Darian, it’s sort of another night where it feels like it just kind of gets difficult to really break down an opponent off the dribble, kind of get that inside-out sort of paint touch to three looks you want, just like what, I guess, are you guys, what’s not happening there, what’s just kind of sort of failing at the source offensively when that’s not working?
DD: Yeah, I thought the first half, you know, we got some pretty good action, pretty good movement, I thought the second half, Kentucky certainly turned up the pressure and was able to get into us and we didn’t respond well enough and we turned the ball over too much and live ball turnovers against them are really hard because now they’re out in transition playing in space, so the turnovers and the offensive rebounding, I mean, that flipped the game around that second half.
Q: On Kentucky’s long run, what was the problem there?
Yeah, I thought the turnovers, it was a combination of things, I thought, you know, we left our feet a few times, I thought we just, you know, got on our heels a little bit and didn’t play as disciplined as we needed to, you know, as that, you know, the crowd got cranked up and things, that’s the time where you got to really dig in a little bit more, your screen’s got to be better, you got to play off of two feet more, and then the offensive rebounds, you know, they just went and got them and, you know, we didn’t do a good enough job of creating space and getting bodies and going and securing the ball.
Q: What do you think you need to improve on, the team needs to improve on against ball pressure at the point of attack?
DD: Yeah, the number one thing when you get at ball pressure is everything from an execution standpoint and a movement standpoint, it’s just got to be done with more force, you can’t continue just to get pushed out and everybody stands, so you have to find ways to give yourself up with a back hook, give yourself up with a screen, set up those screens with more force, you know, and get some movement to, you know, even as, you know, they had gotten ahead and we started to break it off a little bit, once we got movement again, we were able to get those clean looks or better looks, so it’s something we got to get better at, there’s no question.
Q: Tucker, your individual line tonight was really great, I mean, your effort was fantastic, 15 points, 7 rebounds, a lot of the three point shots tonight didn’t go down like they normally do for the Hoosiers, what do you think that is, was it just not seeing the basket as well, was it the defense, was it not in the offense where you were getting clean looks?
TUCKER DEVRIES: To be honest, making and missing shots, I thought tonight, honestly, wasn’t a problem, I know, certainly, I did not shoot it great, as a team we didn’t shoot that great either from three, but, you know, even with that being said, I think there were certainly areas that we needed to be a lot better at, as a group, and if we were able to, you know, especially in the second half, execute in those areas, I think that would have made up for some of those, you know, shooting habits and miscues, but, you know, making them missing shots sometimes is basketball, but I thought in the other areas, if we could just, you know, execute there a little bit.
Q: On that, if shots maybe weren’t the problem, what kind of was, do you think?
TUCKER: I mean, he hit on it pretty good, the turnovers and obviously the offensive rebounds they had, especially in the second half. I mean, I take full responsibility for both of those areas. Obviously, four turnovers is far too many. As a group, I think when they pick up the pressure, I think we just need to really focus on our execution a little bit more on every possession. But good thing is we get a good week here before we play again to really dial in on some of those areas that we’ve maybe lacked in the beginning.
Q: When Lamar picked up his fourth foul and missed nearly nine minutes, what went wrong offensively?
DD: Yeah, I don’t remember the exact sequences there, but, you know, not having Lamar out there is certainly a big part of our offense, and, you know, his foul trouble tonight certainly limited him with only the 21 minutes because he was, again, he’s, you know, a big focal piece of what we try to run our offense through, so, you know, I believe during that little stretch that he wasn’t out there, that’s when the turnovers started to happen and
we weren’t able to get into, you know, maybe some of our actions the way we needed to.
Q: Darian, you mentioned Kentucky’s offensive rebound and kind of flipping that game. Was that just their physicality, their effort out beating you guys or something else that you saw going on?
DD: Yeah, I thought their effort, their physicality in the second half was, you know, really good. I mean, they certainly cranked it up a notch in that second half and we needed to respond to it, but, you know, I thought their aggressiveness defensively, their aggressiveness in the offensive glass, you know, was ultimately the factor.
Q: Darian, you mentioned Lamar, but how much did the foul trouble for not just him, but other guys, affect you tonight?
DD: I mean, foul trouble is foul trouble. You have it every night, so you’ve got to figure out a way to deal with it and, you know, we just didn’t do a good enough job with that.
Q: Just to follow up on that, with this team, and you’ve talked about sort of where you are with the two bigs and things like that, like does foul trouble become sort of a compounding problem when it disrupts rotations? It felt tonight like maybe guys were just not either on the floor long enough to find the rhythm or maybe had to be on the floor too long because other guys were in foul trouble.
DD: Again, our guys, you know, their numbers are called, they’re ready to go. You know, certainly, you know, a guy like Lamar, you want him out there, but when he’s not out there, I feel very confident that the guys that are coming in are going to do their part and do their job and, you know, we certainly have a lot of faith in them, so, you know, unfortunately it just didn’t work out the way we wanted it to tonight.
Kentucky basketball’s Mark Pope sees pride-worthy potential in squad
Kentucky basketball coach Mark Pope says he’s done a poor job of getting the competitive spirit out of his team despite a 103-67 win over NC Central.
Basketball icons Dick Vitale and Charles Barkley headline the broadcasting crew for Indiana vs. Kentucky on Saturday, Dec. 13.
Vitale, a longtime ESPN analyst, and Barkley, a Basketball Hall of Famer-turned analyst, are teaming up to call two games this season, with the first coming between a pair of blue bloods in a nonconference matchup. Dave O’Brien will handle play-by-play duties.
Vitale and Barkley will broadcast together for the second time this season during TNT and CBS Sports’ First Four coverage of the men’s NCAA Tournament in March.
Watch Dick Vitale, Charles Barkley call Indiana vs. Kentucky live with Fubo (free trial)
The humorous duo will be appointment viewing for many college basketball fans, as both are known for their larger-their-life personalities. The team-up became possible after TNT lost its broadcasting rights for NBA games, moving TNT’s “Inside the NBA” to ESPN.
Vitale is returning to regular broadcasting in 2025 after battling multiple forms of cancer since 2021. He has called over 1,000 games for ESPN since joining the network in 1979.
Barkley, an 11-time NBA All-Star, averaged 22.1 points and 11.7 rebounds across his 16-year career. He was drafted No. 5 overall out of Auburn in the 1984 NBA Draft.
How to watch Indiana vs Kentucky today with Dick Vitale, Charles Barkley
Indiana-Kentucky will air live on ESPN, with streaming options available on the ESPN app or Fubo, which offers a free trial.
Indiana vs Kentucky time today
- Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
- Date: Saturday, Dec. 13
- Location: Rupp Arena (Lexington, Kentucky)
Indiana vs. Kentucky is set for a 7:30 p.m. ET tipoff on Saturday, Dec. 13, from Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky.
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