Businessman and former Indiana state Rep. Mike Braun defeated Republican Reps. Todd Rokita and Luke Messer for the GOP Senate nomination Tuesday night after a nasty primary battle.
Braun successfully ran an outsider campaign to snag the nomination over the two GOP lawmakers. He’ll head into a general election fight against Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., who Republicans believe is among the most vulnerable Democrats up for re-election this year.
During the primary, Braun, a former Democrat, self-funded his campaign to the tune of over $6 million and branded Rokita and Messer as the “Swamp Brothers.” He also has pitched himself as a key ally of President Trump, having supported building a border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and repealing the Affordable Care Act.
Additionally, he has embraced the “Drain The Swamp” message Trump introduced in his 2016 campaign, having announced he will decline a pension if elected and has supported term limits.
In recent days, Braun has specifically come under attack for being a former Democrat, including his being labeled as a “hard Democrat” as recently as December in the Republican National Committee’s voter files. Braun’s campaign pushed back hard against the accusation, saying he is a “lifelong Republican” and that the attacks were lies emanating “from his failing opponents and their losing campaigns.”
The race quickly turned into a race to see who could be the most Trump-like, especially in the final weeks of the race despite the president’s decision against weighing in on the race. Last Wednesday, Messer released a letter signed by 18 House conservatives nominating Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. On the same day, Rokita introduced a resolution to end the ongoing probe by special counsel Robert Mueller.
Unlike fellow outsider Don Blankenship in West Virginia, Braun is expected to receive the full backing of Republicans in Washington, including Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., as he takes on Donnelly in the fall. Donnelly is one of six Democratic incumbents Republicans have on their target list, most sitting in states where Trump won in 2016 and remains popular.
Additionally, Trump is set to appear in Elkhart, Ind., alongside Vice President Mike Pence for a rally on Thursday, just two days after the primary election.
