AUDIO: Braun claims Indiana Democrats outspend Republicans to try to “brainwash” voters
GOP nominee for governor laments non-existent Democratic spending advantage; Micah Beckwith says left is “gaslighting” and bemoans being called an extremist
According to U.S. Senator Mike Braun, the reason some Hoosier voters are still undecided is that Indiana Democrats can outspend Republicans and are trying to “brainwash” them. (Audio and full transcript below.)
That’s what he told a small crowd at Allen County GOP headquarters in Fort Wayne on Saturday. Braun was joined by lieutenant governor nominee Micah Beckwith, Attorney General Todd Rokita, Indiana GOP chair Randy Head, and Congressional candidate Marlin Stutzman at the event, which kicked off a statewide bus tour the Indiana Republican Party is conducting on the final three Saturdays before Election Day.
In brief remarks he delivered off-the-cuff, Braun laid out what he thinks “it’s going to take to win.”
[Democrats] will try to distort every issue and if we're going to win this, it’s a simple logistical matter. We are right on the issues. But when you can outspend the other side, two to three to one, it gets confusing for the people that have not yet made up their minds.
We have the advantage if we just get our voters to turn out and vote. [Applause]
And if you want a slate of conservative, entrepreneurial, state office holders that will take this state to a place we’ve never seen before, that will benefit even some of the doubters that wonder why they might be against you. Well, that’s because they outspend you and try to brainwash you the other way.
Braun’s assertion that the Democrats outspend Republicans is perplexing, especially considering that Braun — who according to his most recent financial disclosure forms is worth at least $8 million and owns real estate in eight counties – has spent $12.2 million on his campaign so far this year, compared to McCormick’s $1.9 million.
Campaign finance reports filed just last week revealed that in the third quarter of this year, Braun outspent McCormick by approximately $2 million — $3.6 million to $1.6 million — during that period and ended September with $800,000 more in the bank than her.
Media members were not permitted to ask questions of Braun or the other speakers during or after the event. A request made to the Indiana Republican Party — which ran the event — to clarify Braun’s comments about being outspent did not receive a response.
Beckwith, who took the microphone just before Braun, said that Democrats were “gaslighting the American people to make you think and to make America think that common sense Republican values are somehow now extreme.”
He went on to complain that he’d “been labeled an extremist,” and told a story about a female Democrat in Central Indiana who recently approached him and said, “You are far too extreme.”
“And I said, well, ma’am, why? Tell me why. And she didn't have a good reason. She said, well, just, your rhetoric. I said, well, what rhetoric? Give me an example.”
Beckwith told the crowd that the woman “had no reason,” but there are several recent examples where Beckwith made headlines with his words she might have cited.
In September, he described the Democratic ticket — whose candidates for statewide office are all women — as having “the Jezebel spirit,” a term suggesting being under the influence of demons in a battle between good and evil.
He also told a Republican gathering in Bloomington that he would fire or demote any state employee he could who included their pronouns in their email signature.
And just last week, Beckwith said in a radio interview that he thought legal immigrants in Logansport should be removed from the community and that he was going to find and remove anyone who does not assimilate “into the American way of life.”
All three instances were captured on audio or video, but Beckwith laid the blame for his being called an extremist at the feet of the media.
They “will twist your words,” he told the group. “The left is going to say you’re the radicalized ones. You’re not.”
Braun closed the event with a warning to those in the room, once again claiming that McCormick would outspend his campaign in the final stretch.
“It’s very simple. They’re going to outspend us. They’re going to try to persuade the lady that Micah was talking about. We’ve got to talk common sense into them,” he said.
“And if we simply use our own ability to get to the ballot box, drag our neighbors and friends along, we control our own destiny, and it starts right here today.”
Questions or comments? Email feedback@fortwaynepolitics.com
AUDIO: Mike Braun and Micah Beckwith speak at Allen County GOP headquarters on Saturday, October 19
Micah Beckwith
Hey, this is exciting! Thank you all for coming out. Um, listen, we've been up here, I've been up here, this is the third time this week I've been up here. That's how much we believe in Allen County. We know you're going to do a great job sending people out to vote. Um, you know, thank you Steve [Shine] and Lana [Keesling] and your whole team here is fantastic.
Listen, um, you've heard it all. I mean, you know, Mike Braun is going to be a dynamic awesome governor down at the state house. You understand his business prowess. You understand the conservative values that he, that he has. I don't think I have to, I have to say that we get that.
The problem is the left, and this is what I'm seeing around the state.
They are gaslighting the American people to make you think and to make America think that common sense Republican values are somehow now extreme. I have been labeled an extremist. I was talking to a Democrat lady, an older lady down in the central Indiana area where there tends to be more Democrats, unfortunately, in that type of, in that type of environment.
She came up to me and she said, you are far too extreme. And I said, well, ma'am, how, but why? Tell me why. And she didn't have a good reason. She said, well, you're just, your rhetoric. I said, well, what rhetoric? Give me an example. And she, again, she had no reason. She said, well, you're just too extreme.
I said, ma'am, you're the party that thinks boys can play in girls sports. You're the party that thinks boys can use girls restrooms. You're the party that, you think, infanticide actually should be a thing. And look at California, their bill that they passed a couple years ago. Up to 28 days, you can give, you can, you can have a, make a baby comfortable. You have Ralph Northam, the governor of Virginia, literally saying that on a podcast a couple years ago, “Infanticide is okay.”
You have all of these radical, extremist ideas on the left, and they're somehow saying because we want less government, we want lower taxes, we want parental rights in education – things that have been common sense for generations – now all of a sudden we are the extremists.
Don't buy into it.
The media will twist your words. The left is going to say you're the radicalized ones. You're not. Donald Trump, he's a common sense Republican. Mike Braun, common sense Republican. Micah Beckwith, common sense. Todd Rokita, common sense. Marlin [Stutzman], common sense. Jim Banks, common sense.
It's very common sense what we're laying out there.
Unfortunately, what's happened is our culture has gone so far off the leftist extreme. They've gone so far off the cliff of nonsense. That now somehow they're saying what was once considered normal for generations upon generations is now somehow wrong.
And I asked this lady, I said, ma'am, if I would have told you 10 years ago that you would be supporting men using girls bathrooms, you would have said that that is crazy. Would you have not, just be honest with me, would you have not thought that that was a little insane 10 years ago? And you know what her response was? She said, yeah, I probably would have thought that was a little far fetched. And I said, well, what changed? And she said, well, we've learned more.
I said, no, I feel like what you're learning is wrong. And I think most people would agree with me.
But again, that's what's happening.
So I believe this November 5th, common sense is going to win the day. I believe God is doing something amazing in our nation. I think he's waking people up. I think people are coming back to the truth, and we all know that John 8:32 says it the best: you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. And that's why we're here.
So go out, tell people the truth, make them free, and we're going to see great outcomes on November 5th.
I love you guys. It is a distinct honor and privilege now to get to welcome the leader of our party and our state for many years to come. Would you give it up, Mike Braun, your future governor!
[Applause]
Mike Braun
It's always a problem. When your partner lacks enthusiasm. [Laughter] So you've heard what this is about. I want to thank this man back here, because when I came off the pavement as a Main Street entrepreneur, and I thought I could win this race, it was based upon one thing.
I figured out what the hell Donald Trump meant when he cleared the field back in 2015. Won it in ‘16. That was half the country fed up with business as usual, and we are now litigating that again.
So I'm not going to do a better job of talking about the issues, but I'm going to tell you what it's going to take to win. I come from the logistics business. I know how to get from here to there.
This is the fourth rodeo in terms of sticking my neck out from the comfort zone, which I encourage all the rest of you to do, because the other side of the aisle, the passion that we exude here, let me tell you, the federal government and government is their growth business and their cathedral wrapped into one. If you want to understand the pattern.
And they'll take all the values we believe in and out resource it two to three to one. And then be sanctimonious that they don't even believe in that kind of finance and do it anyway. Generally faster footed than we are. And we don't want any of that to encroach here in Indiana. You with me on that subject? [Applause]
They will try to distort every issue and if we're going to win this, it's a simple logistical matter. We are right on the issues. But when you can outspend the other side, two to three to one, it gets confusing for the people that have not yet made up their minds. We have the advantage if we just get our voters to turn out and vote.
And if you want a slate of conservative, entrepreneurial, state office holders that will take this state to a place we've never seen before that will benefit even some of the doubters that wonder why they might be against you. Well, that's because they outspend you and try to brainwash you the other way.
Imagine what an entrepreneurial governor can do with a super majority that believes in nothing more than freedom and opportunity. [Applause] Freedom and opportunity doesn't mean that you pick winners and losers through government. It doesn't mean that government runs your life. Or that educators are more important than parents. Parents should be in the driver's seat when it comes to educating their own kids.
And the beauty of where I've been spending the last six years in the big crazy house where you get the advantage of interviewing some of our favorites like Dr. Fauci or the Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona, who I got to ask him before the Virginia election and Youngkin made it the issue that turned around a state where he was the 10 point underdog. I said, Secretary, who should be the most important stakeholder in our own kids education? Gave him five minutes to do it, and he could not get parents out of his mouth. Well, after the election, he came back again, and I asked the same question. And finally, begrudgingly, he said that.
So when it comes to education, when it comes to all the issues, we want to make sure that our state gets to where we're not putting government first, putting woke ideology first, to where we have, in our state government, folks that are going to be voiceful on the things that we know the founders said were important.
They risked their lives. They never imagined a bloated, deep state, bureaucracy-led government, where I work, that's got a lot of pain to endure. Marlin [Stutzman], when you get there, you've been there before, be ready. That place is entrenched in ways that if it would envelop the rest of the country, we're all in trouble. Good luck there. I'm not going to forget the six years I spent there.
And all I can tell you, is this is where it started for me. Five people showed up I think on that first engagement here and it's like this ever since because we know freedom and opportunity are what count and we are going to have a slate of candidates running this state with a legislature that knows what it's about. And we're going to take Indiana to a place where freedom and opportunity have never thrived anywhere else in the U. S. like it's going to be done here. [Applause]
So, it's very simple. They're going to outspend us. They're going to try to persuade the lady that Micah was talking about. We've got to talk common sense into them. And if we simply use our own ability, to get to the ballot box, drag our neighbors and friends along, we control our own destiny, and it starts right here today.
Make sure we are not derelict of our duty to make sure that this whole slate of candidates gets elected. And we're going to have a lot of fun after that happens.
Thank you so much.