EDITOR'S NOTE:  This article is part two of a three part series based on sit downs with candidates from all three political parties. This article features the Micah Beckwith, stories featuring the Libertarian candidates and Democratic candidates can be found online. The Ball State Daily News and NewsLink Indiana reached out to the Republican Party of Indiana and various contacts related to Mike Braun for Indiana and Mike Braun for Senate teams. After working for nearly two months to get in touch with Braun, he ultimately rejected the opportunity to interview with the Ball State Daily News and NewsLink Indiana. His team said he would be unavailable due to a “busy schedule.” 

The upcoming gubernatorial race has been one of much anticipation for Hoosiers, due largely to the close nature of the election. Recent polls from Activote, a nonpartisan political education app, show the Republican Party only has an eight-point lead over the other candidates — a closer margin than the last election cycle in 2020. 

The Ball State Daily News and NewsLink Indiana sat down with candidates from all three political parties represented in the race to answer questions on topics facing students and community members that related to their campaign plans, past statements and personal stances.

Mike Braun, the Republican candidate for governor, calls himself a “conservative outsider,” according to his website.

Braun has been a U.S. Senator since 2018 and serves as the lead Republican on the Aging Committee. He also serves on the Agriculture Committee, Budget Committee, and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP), according to his senate website. 

Running with Braun is Noblesville pastor Micah Beckwith, who was narrowly nominated in a vote of 891 to 828 over Trump-endorsed and Braun’s first pick, Representative Julie McGuire, according to the Indiana Capital Chronicle. 

Outside of his pastoral and small business entrepreneurial work, Beckwith’s political career includes 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, according to the Indiana Capital Chronicle. 

“I got kicked out of the Hamilton County Republican Party in 2021 because I was very critical of the republican leadership. I'm not just a ‘Republicans are best because that’s just what it is,’” Beckwith said. “If you are not fully true to republican principles, I’m going to call you on it.”

For Beckwith, the key points of his campaign include creating a “more conservative state,” embracing a limited government and providing solutions. 

“I believe Ronald Reagan when he said, ‘The nine most scary words in the English language are, ‘I'm with the government, and I'm here to help,’” Beckwith said. “I really think sometimes the government trips over itself. And if we just kind of get government out of the way and let people be able to do what [they want] with their God given gifts … that is what government really needs to be focused on saying.”

Regarding reproductive rights, Beckwith asserts he believes that the term should be “abortion issues,” citing his long standing beliefs in medical freedom, such as a right to not be vaccinated but believes “abortion is killing a human life.” 

“​​I think that where the left is very inconsistent on this issue [with] when does life begin? You can talk to a Democrat, somebody on the left, and they can't give you a specific time,” Beckwith said. “Some say three weeks, some say three months, some say third trimester; some say after the baby's born, and some say not even after the baby's born.”

Beckwith’s claim that laws allow for the killing of a baby after birth likely refers to the 2022 myth that a California bill would allow mothers to kill their babies up to seven days after birth, which the Associated Press (AP) reported to be untrue.

Braun says that he would consider abortion for instances like rape or incest, if a baby was conceived by rape and was then aborted, the rapist would be charged for rape and homicide, deterring other rapists from committing rape. 

“If there's an abortion due to that rape, then that person who committed the rape should be charged with with murder as well because you caused an infant life to lose its life because of what your actions did,” Beckwith said. “… If you're going to abort the child because of what the man did in this evil act, punish the man for both the rape and the murder, and I think that then government has done its job.” 

Beckwith also shares that the idea of “pro-life” is a core value of Indiana. 

“Indiana has always been a very pro-life and pro-liberty state. We were always a free state. We never had slaves,” Beckwith said. “We stood up to the South when the South was saying they wanted slaves, and we said, ‘No, we're not going to do that, because we believe God gives us the right to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’”

The Indiana State Historical Bureau reported that the 1800 federal census recorded “135 slaves and 163 free blacks in the territory. The 1810 census recorded 237 slaves and 393 free blacks.”

Similar to his running mate Braun, Beckwith agrees with the campaign’s proposed plan to make marijuana legal for medical usage. 

Beckwith said he embraces and believes in conservation to help ensure farmers' security. 

“Conservatives conserve because we know we have to protect what God has gifted us,” Beckwith said. “Farmers have a duty to steward what they have been given.”

Beckwith points to things like cover crops, agrivoltaics and protecting small, family-owned farms as ways he plans to continue to support agriculture in the state. 

Beckwith said his campaign with Braun is embracing a “parent-first” education approach, which he said counters the “teachers and teachers-union” approach that he believes Democrats are taking. 

“I think Republicans will say, ‘Hey, parents have to be the driving force of education,’” Beckwith said. “They are the ones that are given the authority by God to raise up children. It's not the state's job, it's not the teacher's job — it's their job to come alongside parents and help.” 

Beckwith and Braun also have a campaign plan to lower property taxes. According to the Braun For Indiana website, their campaign plans to “Overhaul the homestead deduction to allow every homeowner with an assessed value over $125,000 to deduct 60 percent of their home’s assessed value from their tax bill. Homeowners with assessed value below $125,000 would be allowed to take the standard deduction of $48,000, in addition to a 60 percent supplemental deduction.”

All three candidates for governor will meet for a debate hosted by the nonpartisan Indiana Debate Commission on Oct. 24, which will be televised by WFYI.

Contact Olivia Ground via email at olivia.ground@bsu.edu.

NewsLink Indiana Members Abby Urban, Gavin Smith, Brooke Follrad and Sophie Schick contributed to this article. 

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