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Indiana Senate Race: Republican Mike Braun Could Unseat Democratic Senator Joe Donnelly | National Review
That is looking like 55 to 45 !!!!!
Wooooo Freaking Hoooooooooooo
Republican Mike Braun has captured the attention of the red stateās Trump voters ā and his lack of political experience might give him an edge.
Jasper, Ind. ā Itās not easy to get out to Jasper. The closest airport, Louisville International, is in another state, and itāll take an hour or two on a series of winding two-lane highways before you find yourself crossing the railroad tracks in the 15,000-person Indiana town.
But thatās how Mike Braun likes it. He was born and raised in Jasper, heās still here, and if he leaves his hometown itāll only be because heās off to represent Indiana in the U.S. Senate. With Election Day approaching, less than three weeks away now, that outcome is looking more and more likely.
Donald Trump in 2016, so Democrats may be in for a tough night on November 6.
Itās a stroke of luck for Braun, a long-time small-business man, that heās running against Democratic senator Joe Donnelly, whoās spent most of the campaign trying to induce voters to forget about the āDā next to his name. Indiana is a red state and a Trump state, and in his single term in the Senate, Donnelly hasnāt done much to convince his constituents that he fits the mold. Meanwhile, in many ways, Braun is more Trump than Trump himself ā and heās got the pulse of the voters in his state, he says, because as an entrepreneur and small-business owner he thinks just like them.
office at Meyer Distributing, the company he founded more than three decades ago. āIād be hunkered down in southern Indiana, trying to survive over the next two years.ā
'Trumpās Midterm Pitch'
WATCH: 0:34
Trumpās Midterm Pitch
Itās a sentiment he assures me Hoosiers share, and he knows his chance to steal the Senate seat out from under Donnelly is vastly improved by the fact that thereās a Republican in the White House, a man who talks with more passion about farming and manufacturing than he does about most things, and who captured the state by nearly 20 percentage points in 2016.
home to his customers. When asked about the Affordable Care Act, another big issue for Indiana voters, he says he pioneered a health-care plan for his employees that kept premiums stable and affordable ā despite fluctuations in the market and the negative ramifications of Obamacare.
kids and your grandkids? Not much of a message,ā Braun says. Itās when he talks like this that heās at his best.
On trade, Braunās no-nonsense style makes him inclined to face the facts: The presidentās policies have yet to bear fruit for Hoosiers, the stateās farmers especially. But the businessman has an excellent grasp of the issue ā a much better grasp than Trump does, in fact ā and he intends to put it to good use.
āIām a guy that believes in free trade and unfettered competition,ā he says, before going on to explain that tariffs can be useful as a tool to incentivize other economies to cooperate, and he thinks itās fair to say Trump has had some success on this front. āBut thereās collateral damage that comes along with it, farmers particularly here in Indiana,ā he admits. āThe Chinese are smart. They knew right where to aim the tariffs: at Trumpās most loyal support bloc. If tariffs donāt work against the Chinese ā and my prediction is they wonāt ā youāve got to pull them back.ā
Braun says if he makes it to Washington, trade is one of the top issues he hopes to address. āThe first opportunity I have to chat with the president would be to say, āLetās find some other approaches, because the Chinese are not going to fix the issues.āā In other words: Tariffs started the conversation, now letās finish it in a way that stops hurting people in my state. Itās a way of acknowledging that the presidentās āAmerica Firstā instinct on trade is popular with Indiana voters while still insisting that trade policy must actually help them long-term. If heās been able to effectively convey that message on the road, Braun will be hard to beat.
Thereās been little polling of the Senate race in Indiana ā in large part because of state legislation forbidding pollsters from robo-calling or even auto-dialing voters ā but the few surveys that have been done give the advantage to the incumbent. Thatās to be expected. But itās not nearly enough of a reason to write off Braun. Just the āRā next to his name will likely be enough for many voters, even if they havenāt heard of him before they enter the voting booth.
And dissatisfaction with Donnelly will only make matters worse. Even though he voted to confirm Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court last year, Donnelly ended up voting against Brett Kavanaugh earlier this month, after much equivocation. As one close observer of the race told National Review, the senator has yet to give a compelling explanation for why he voted the way he did, something that will matter among voters who believed there wasnāt proof of the allegations against Kavanaugh.
COMMENTS
Democrats across the country donāt seem to be too concerned about this race. In fact, they donāt talk about it much at all. But they ought to be worried. The Democratic senator has managed to avoid outraging his conservative constituents ā but thatās mostly because he hasnāt done much at all. A study last fall rated him the least effective Democrat in the Senate. When youāre running in a red state on borrowed GOP talking points, and facing an opponent with a knack for channeling the rhetoric that allowed President Trump to capture Indianaās rural and Republican voters, having done little to rock the boat for six years isnāt a promising platform.
Braun himself has little political record to speak of. But in Indiana, being an outsider aligned with President Trump gives the businessman from Jasper an edge.
That is looking like 55 to 45 !!!!!
Wooooo Freaking Hoooooooooooo
Republican Mike Braun has captured the attention of the red stateās Trump voters ā and his lack of political experience might give him an edge.
Jasper, Ind. ā Itās not easy to get out to Jasper. The closest airport, Louisville International, is in another state, and itāll take an hour or two on a series of winding two-lane highways before you find yourself crossing the railroad tracks in the 15,000-person Indiana town.
But thatās how Mike Braun likes it. He was born and raised in Jasper, heās still here, and if he leaves his hometown itāll only be because heās off to represent Indiana in the U.S. Senate. With Election Day approaching, less than three weeks away now, that outcome is looking more and more likely.
Donald Trump in 2016, so Democrats may be in for a tough night on November 6.
Itās a stroke of luck for Braun, a long-time small-business man, that heās running against Democratic senator Joe Donnelly, whoās spent most of the campaign trying to induce voters to forget about the āDā next to his name. Indiana is a red state and a Trump state, and in his single term in the Senate, Donnelly hasnāt done much to convince his constituents that he fits the mold. Meanwhile, in many ways, Braun is more Trump than Trump himself ā and heās got the pulse of the voters in his state, he says, because as an entrepreneur and small-business owner he thinks just like them.
office at Meyer Distributing, the company he founded more than three decades ago. āIād be hunkered down in southern Indiana, trying to survive over the next two years.ā
'Trumpās Midterm Pitch'
WATCH: 0:34
Trumpās Midterm Pitch
Itās a sentiment he assures me Hoosiers share, and he knows his chance to steal the Senate seat out from under Donnelly is vastly improved by the fact that thereās a Republican in the White House, a man who talks with more passion about farming and manufacturing than he does about most things, and who captured the state by nearly 20 percentage points in 2016.
home to his customers. When asked about the Affordable Care Act, another big issue for Indiana voters, he says he pioneered a health-care plan for his employees that kept premiums stable and affordable ā despite fluctuations in the market and the negative ramifications of Obamacare.
kids and your grandkids? Not much of a message,ā Braun says. Itās when he talks like this that heās at his best.
On trade, Braunās no-nonsense style makes him inclined to face the facts: The presidentās policies have yet to bear fruit for Hoosiers, the stateās farmers especially. But the businessman has an excellent grasp of the issue ā a much better grasp than Trump does, in fact ā and he intends to put it to good use.
āIām a guy that believes in free trade and unfettered competition,ā he says, before going on to explain that tariffs can be useful as a tool to incentivize other economies to cooperate, and he thinks itās fair to say Trump has had some success on this front. āBut thereās collateral damage that comes along with it, farmers particularly here in Indiana,ā he admits. āThe Chinese are smart. They knew right where to aim the tariffs: at Trumpās most loyal support bloc. If tariffs donāt work against the Chinese ā and my prediction is they wonāt ā youāve got to pull them back.ā
Braun says if he makes it to Washington, trade is one of the top issues he hopes to address. āThe first opportunity I have to chat with the president would be to say, āLetās find some other approaches, because the Chinese are not going to fix the issues.āā In other words: Tariffs started the conversation, now letās finish it in a way that stops hurting people in my state. Itās a way of acknowledging that the presidentās āAmerica Firstā instinct on trade is popular with Indiana voters while still insisting that trade policy must actually help them long-term. If heās been able to effectively convey that message on the road, Braun will be hard to beat.
Thereās been little polling of the Senate race in Indiana ā in large part because of state legislation forbidding pollsters from robo-calling or even auto-dialing voters ā but the few surveys that have been done give the advantage to the incumbent. Thatās to be expected. But itās not nearly enough of a reason to write off Braun. Just the āRā next to his name will likely be enough for many voters, even if they havenāt heard of him before they enter the voting booth.
And dissatisfaction with Donnelly will only make matters worse. Even though he voted to confirm Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court last year, Donnelly ended up voting against Brett Kavanaugh earlier this month, after much equivocation. As one close observer of the race told National Review, the senator has yet to give a compelling explanation for why he voted the way he did, something that will matter among voters who believed there wasnāt proof of the allegations against Kavanaugh.
COMMENTS
Democrats across the country donāt seem to be too concerned about this race. In fact, they donāt talk about it much at all. But they ought to be worried. The Democratic senator has managed to avoid outraging his conservative constituents ā but thatās mostly because he hasnāt done much at all. A study last fall rated him the least effective Democrat in the Senate. When youāre running in a red state on borrowed GOP talking points, and facing an opponent with a knack for channeling the rhetoric that allowed President Trump to capture Indianaās rural and Republican voters, having done little to rock the boat for six years isnāt a promising platform.
Braun himself has little political record to speak of. But in Indiana, being an outsider aligned with President Trump gives the businessman from Jasper an edge.
