A down-ballot candidate from the right throws a wrench into the Indiana governor's race

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A down-ballot candidate from the right throws a wrench into the Indiana governor's race

2024-10-26 12:45 Last Updated At：12:50

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Republican U.S. Sen. Mike Braun's bid to become governor of Indiana seemed fairly straightforward until he got the running mate he didn't want: a pastor and self-proclaimed Christian nationalist who finessed his way onto next month's ballot.

Micah Beckwith, a podcaster from the Indianapolis suburb of Noblesville, where he leads Life Church, secured enough delegate support to upend the lieutenant governor nomination process at this year's state GOP convention and become Braun's running mate. His brand of conservatism has complicated the race by forcing Braun to discuss Beckwith's views.

Friction between the running mates and a series of negative ads have given an unexpected boost to Democratic nominees Jennifer McCormick and Terry Goodin, the overwhelming underdogs in a state that hasn't elected a Democrat to statewide office since 2012. The dynamics on the Republican ticket plus strong campaigns from the Democrats have caused forecasters to hedge on their certainty that both seats will stay Republican.

“The race is more competitive relative to expectations,” said Greg Shufeldt, a University of Indianapolis political science professor.

Usually, gubernatorial candidates select who they want as running mates and count on party delegates to usher their choices in during party conventions. But Beckwith started courting delegates over a year in advance and pulled a major upset at the GOP convention in June. Delegates blessed his nomination and rejected Julie McGuire, a freshman state representative chosen by Braun, even after Braun helped her secure Donald Trump's endorsement.

Beckwith, who did not respond to multiple requests for comment, has used his social media platform to air views that have stirred up trouble. In addition to declaring that God sent the people who rioted at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, he was criticized last month for saying his Democratic opponents have a “ Jezebel spirit.”

Braun has spent recent weeks fielding the fallout.

At a debate earlier this month between McCormick and Braun, she pressed Braun to apologize for the “Jezebel spirit” comment from his running mate.

“I don’t like that," Braun replied. “You don’t see that out of me, and he’s been pretty good at avoiding that.”

Earlier this month, Beckwith was seen on video at a local Republican Party meeting saying he would fire any employee in his office or the agencies he oversees who lists their pronouns in emails. The story was first reported by the Advocate, an LGBTQ+ publication, and the video was uploaded by The Bloomingtonian.

“If you think that men can be women and women can be men and there’s pronouns needed when we’re talking to one another, you don’t understand the basics of even reality,” Beckwith said.

Braun denounced the statement, saying he would hire and fire employees based “solely on their merit and commitment to delivering efficient, effective state government to make life better and more affordable for Hoosiers, period.”

The lieutenant governor is first in the line of succession under Indiana law. Lieutenant governors oversee four state agencies but have no real legislative power. Those limits haven't stopped Beckwith from wading into topics he likely wouldn't encounter on the job.

Mike Murphy, a former Republican state lawmaker and political commentator, said Beckwith represents the socially conservative side of the party.

“I’d say that Micah Beckwith is a product and a symbol of a lot of unrest in the Indiana Republican Party,” Murphy said.

Braun, who led an auto parts distribution company and has run campaigns aligned with Trump, may be able to unite business-oriented Republicans and the social conservatives, Murphy said.

In an interview, Braun said all campaigns have their ups and downs. He believes voter turnout for Trump will have a positive impact down the ballot.

“When I ran for Senate six years ago — we’re in better shape now than we were then,” he said.

Braun, a one-term senator, has represented Indiana in Congress since 2018. His campaign has focused on high healthcare costs and property taxes, as well as criticizing the federal government on southern border policy.

Braun handily won a five-way gubernatorial primary in May with nearly 40% of the votes.

But that means 60% of the state’s primary voters didn't back him. McCormick and Libertarian Donald Rainwater are looking to peel away some of those Republican voters.

McCormick has cited Beckwith's views in labeling the GOP ticket as extremist. She's built her appeal to moderate voters around the restoration of abortion rights in a state that enacted a near total ban in 2022.

The candidates themselves reflect some recent shifts in Indiana politics. Braun voted as a Democrat until 2012; McCormick switched parties in 2021 after breaking with Republicans over education policy when she was state school superintendent. A new ad released Monday depicts a Republican man vowing to support her.

“We’ve got great momentum, and that momentum is really Republicans and Democrats and independents,” McCormick said in an interview.

Indiana does not allow for citizen-led ballot initiatives like those in other red-leaning states that have abortion on the ballot this year. Even if McCormick defies the odds, Republicans hold a supermajority in both chambers of the legislature, and reversing the state's ban would be difficult if not impossible.

But the response from the Braun campaign shows he isn't assuming he'll win. Earlier this month, Braun aired an ad attacking McCormick as a liberal, tying her to Hillary Clinton and President Joe Biden. The ad drew attention both for its negativity in a race that was supposed to be easy for Braun and for its use of a doctored image.

The ad claims McCormick supported banning gas stoves, an idea that became a culture war flashpoint in 2023. It featured an image that had been manipulated to depict people standing behind McCormick holding signs that said “no gas stoves." It was a digitally altered version of a photograph taken by a South Bend Tribune journalist in May 2023.

Indiana lawmakers passed a law this year banning the use of artificial intelligence in election materials without a disclaimer. Braun's campaign said the ad was mistakenly given to TV stations.

Rainwater, the Libertarian candidate who is running again, has concerned the state Republican Party enough that they sent a mailer out criticizing him, according to the Indiana Capitol Chronicle. He won 11.4% of votes when he ran for governor in 2020 after pandemic lockdowns riled up Indiana voters. A similar turnout for him could siphon votes away from Braun.

“I think people are very dissatisfied with the status quo from both federal and state and really local government as well,” Rainwater said in an interview.

Braun has trumped McCormick in advertising overall, spending more than $13 million this year on ads, which includes the time period of the GOP primary, according to data from AdImpact, which tracks campaign spending. He's spent more than three times what McCormick has on advertising.

According to campaign finance reports, Braun raised almost $4.87 million from July through September. McCormick lagged but has made gains since earlier in the year, raising over $2 million in the same period.

McCormick received $1.65 million from the Democratic Governor's Association in October, according to campaign finance reports. That's the first significant investment in an Indiana governor's race since 2016, when Mike Pence stepped down to run for vice president.

The Republican Governor’s Association responded quickly, giving Braun $1.5 million this month — a clear sign the race has gotten their attention.

Shufeldt, the IU-Indianapolis professor, said the DGA money could help Democrats rebuild in Indiana even if McCormick falls short, and “might pay dividends down the road.”

Volmert reported from Lansing, Mich.

Israel strikes Iran as payback for missile attack, risking escalation of Mideast wars

2024-10-26 12:48 Last Updated At：12:50

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel pounded Iran with a series of airstrikes early Saturday, saying it was targeting military sites in retaliation for the barrage of ballistic missiles the Islamic Republic fired upon Israel earlier in the month.

Explosions could be heard in the Iranian capital, Tehran, though the Islamic Republic insisted they caused only “limited damage.”

The attack risks pushing the archenemies closer to all-out war at a time of spiraling violence across the Middle East, where militant groups backed by Iran — including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon — are already at war with Israel.

Saturday marked the first time Israel's military has openly attacked Iran, which hasn't faced a sustained barrage of fire from a foreign enemy since its 1980s war with Iraq.

Israel's hourslong attack ended just before sunrise in Tehran, with the Israeli military saying it targeted “missile manufacturing facilities used to produce the missiles that Iran fired at the state of Israel over the last year.” It also said it hit surface-to-air missile sties and “additional Iranian aerial capabilities.”

Israel offered no initial damage assessment.

Initially, nuclear facilities and oil installations all had been seen as possible targets for Israel’s response to Iran’s Oct. 1 attack, but in mid-October the Biden administration won assurances from Israel that it would not hit such targets, which would be a more severe escalation.

“The regime in Iran and its proxies in the region have been relentlessly attacking Israel since Oct. 7, … including direct attacks from Iranian soil,” Israeli military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a prerecorded video statement early Saturday. “Like every other sovereign country in the world, the state of Israel has the right and the duty to respond.”

Iran’s military said the strikes targeted military bases in Ilam, Khuzestan and Tehran provinces and caused “limited damage,” without elaborating.

The United States warned against further retaliation, indicating that the overnight strikes should end the direct exchange of fire between the Israel and Iran.

Israel’s military said explosions have been heard over northern Israel following its activity in southern Lebanon, but there “is no indication of a security incident.”

Iran’s state-run media acknowledged blasts that could be heard in Tehran and said some of the sounds came from air defense systems around the city.

But beyond a brief reference, Iranian state television for hours offered no other details and even began showing what it described as live footage of men loading trucks at a vegetable market in Tehran in an apparent attempt to downplay the assault.

A Tehran resident told The Associated Press that at least seven explosions could be heard in the first wave of attacks, which rattled the surrounding area. The resident spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

As explosions sounded, people in Tehran could see what appeared to be tracer fire light up the sky. Other footage showed what appeared to be surface-to-air missiles being launched.

Iran closed the country’s airspace early Saturday, and flight-tracking data analyzed by AP showed commercial airlines had broadly left the skies over Iran, and across Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

Iran's move to quickly downplay the attack may offer an avenue for it not to respond, which could risk a further escalation.

“The Israel Defense Forces has fulfilled its mission,” Hagari said in a later video. “If the regime in Iran were to make the mistake of beginning a new round of escalation, we will be obligated to respond.”

Iran fired a wave of missiles and drones at Israel in April after two Iranian generals were killed in an apparent Israeli airstrike in Syria on an Iranian diplomatic post. The missiles and drones caused minimum damage, and Israel — under pressure from Western countries to show restraint — responded with a limited strike it didn't openly claim.

Iran launched at least 180 missiles into Israel on the evening of Oct. 1, sending Israelis scrambling into bomb shelters but causing only minimal damage and a few injuries. Iran said the barrage was retaliation for attacks in recent months that killed leaders of Hezbollah, Hamas and the Iranian military. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately said Iran had “made a big mistake.”

Before Iran’s October attack, Israel had landed a series of devastating blows against Hezbollah, which has been firing rockets into Israel near-daily for over a year — ever since the deadly Hamas attack against Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.

Dozens were killed and thousands wounded in September when pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah exploded in two days of attacks attributed to Israel. A massive Israel airstrike the following week outside Beirut killed Hezbollah’s longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several of his top commanders.

Israel then ratcheted up the pressure on Hezbollah by launching a ground invasion into southern Lebanon. More than a million Lebanese people have been displaced, and the death toll has risen sharply as airstrikes hit in and around Beirut.

Israel has said it will continue to strike Hezbollah until it is safe for Israeli citizens displaced from their homes near the Lebanon border to return. Hezbollah has vowed to keep firing rockets into Israel until there is a cease-fire in Gaza.

The White House indicated that Israel’s strikes on Iran should end the direct exchange of fire between the two enemy countries, while warning Tehran of “consequences” should it respond.

A senior White House official said the administration believed the Israeli operation should “close out” the direct military exchange between Israel and Iran, and said other allies were in agreement.

United States President Joe Biden was updated throughout Israel's operation, the official said, while underscoring that the U.S. had no involvement in the attack.

The official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House, said the Israeli operation “was extensive, it was targeted, it was precise.”

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, about Israel’s strikes on military targets in Iran, Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said late Friday.

Austin reiterated that the U.S. was committed to its ally’s security and that Israel has a right to defend itself, though Washington was determined to prevent the conflict from expanding, the Pentagon press secretary said in a statement.

When Hamas and other militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, they killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took some 250 hostages into Gaza. In response, Israel launched a devastating air and ground offensive against Hamas, and Netanyahu has vowed to keep fighting until all of the hostages are freed. Some 100 remain and roughly a third are believed to be dead.

More than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to local health officials, who don’t delineate between civilians and combatants but say more than half of the dead are women and children.

Israel and Iran have been bitter foes since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Israel considers Iran to be its greatest threat, citing its leaders’ calls for Israel’s destruction, their support for anti-Israel militant groups and the country’s nuclear program.

During their yearslong shadow war, a suspected Israeli assassination campaign has killed top Iranian nuclear scientists and Iranian nuclear installations have been hacked or sabotaged, all in mysterious attacks blamed on Israel.

Meanwhile, Iran has been blamed for a series of attacks on shipping in the Middle East in recent years, which later grew into the attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on shipping through the Red Sea corridor.

Since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, the shadow war has increasingly moved into the light.

Associated Press writers Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran; Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv, Israel; Abby Sewell in Beirut; and Lolita C. Baldor, Farnoush Amiri and Zeke Miller in Washington; and Aamer Madhani in Wilmington, Delaware, contributed to this report.