Mike Braun and Micah Beckwith were sworn into Indiana’s governorship and lieutenant governorship at a ceremony starting 11 a.m. Monday, the culmination of a three-day ceremony and hard-fought campaign.
Braun is now the state’s 52nd governor, solidifying four more years following two decades of Republican rule. Alongside Braun and Beckwith was Todd Rokita, who has begun his second term as attorney general.
"I am optimistic that in the next four years, we see a transfer of power not only between states, but from the federal government back to the states," Braun said at the ceremony.
Who is Mike Braun?
Before pursuing politics, Braun was a businessman under his father’s wing down in Jasper who married his high-school sweetheart. He grew the 15-person Meyer Body Company into Meyer Distributing, which employs hundreds in 105 locations in the U.S. and Canada. In 2018, Braun’s assets were valued between $35 and 96 million.
Braun’s first stint in politics came in 2015 as he began representing Jasper in the Indiana State House until 2017. He ran for U.S. Senate against incumbent centrist Democrat Joe Donelly in 2018 and won as the crashing blue wave failed to push many of the old-guard blue dogs — apart from West Virginia’s Joe Machin — over the finish line.
When their terms overlapped, Braun voted in line with Trump’s position 90.9% of the time. According to the Center for Effective Lawmaking, Braun was the sixth most effective Republican senator in introducing and passing substantive legislation.
Braun trounced over his Democratic opponent Jennifer McCormick and Libertarian candidate Donald Rainwater in November’s election, amid a national red shift in the electorate.
Perhaps his hardest challenge to reaching the governor’s office was an incredibly crowded Republican primary against five opponents, including Suzanne Crouch, then-lieutenant governor.
What will he bring to Indiana?
Indiana’s governor is its chief executive officer, able to issue executive orders and sign or veto legislation passed by the state legislature. He’s the commander-in-chief of the Indiana armed forces and appoints six of the nine members of IU’s Board of Trustees.
Beckwith, as lieutenant governor, is the president of the Indiana Senate, much like the Vice President is to the nation’s Senate, and would assume office if Braun becomes unable to fulfill the office’s duties.
Braun wants to lower taxes, in particular property taxes, with a plan to limit those increases to 2-3% annually. He also wants to halt taxes on retirement income and implement tax holidays for things such as back-to-school shopping.
He supports Indiana’s near-total abortion ban and has called for the legalization of medical marijuana. He has also proposed universal school choice and banning gender-affirming care for minors.
Beckwith, who has called himself a “Christian nationalist,” has taken positions farther right, including firing state officials who use pronouns in email signatures and deporting legal Haitian immigrants from the state.
