'Serious threat': Why Dems may have opening in this deep red state

Indiana, home of former Vice President Mike Pence, is a deep red state that former President Donald Trump carried by 17 percent in the 2020 election. Democrats in Indiana typically struggle in statewide races.

But the New York Times' Michelle Goldberg, in her June 17 column, explains why Democrats may have an unlikely opening in the state's 2024 gubernatorial race.

Ordinarily, Goldberg notes, the GOP gubernatorial nominee in that race, Sen. Mike Braun, should have a major advantage.

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But conservative attorney James Bopp Jr., in a confidential memo obtained by Politico, warned that Braun is facing a "serious threat" because Republican primary voters chose far-right conspiracy theorist Micah Beckwith — a Pentecostal minister and self-described "Christian nationalist" — as Braun's running mate.

"Democrats will have plenty of material to work with," Goldberg explains. "The day after the January 6 insurrection, Beckwith said that God had told him: 'Micah, I sent those riots to Washington. What you saw yesterday was my hand at work.' He's said that the 'progressive left has taken over the Republican Party in Indiana,' and promised that if he wins, he'll be a thorn in the side to the governor."

Beckwith also has a history of attacking fellow Republicans as "communists" — even if they're quite conservative.

"Braun, wrote Bopp, will be 'made to answer' for every statement Beckwith has ever made," Goldberg observes. "Beckwith's elevation is the latest sign of a conflict splitting Republican parties nationwide, as GOP activists demand ever greater levels of purity and belligerence from their leaders."

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Michelle Goldberg's full New York Times column is available at this link (subscription required).