KEVIN TRACY: Good morning. I know this wasn't the endorsement you all were expecting, as I have been leaning towards another candidate until recently. I assure you a TON of research was done into all of the candidates running for Governor in the State of Indiana by the KTracy.com team and it made it pretty clear who deserved our support: Mike Braun!

This endorsement was not made lightly. As you will see, I will likely only be endorsing fewer than ten candidates, possibly fewer than five candidates, this election year. My reasons for endorsing Braun are three fold:

Authentic Faith in Action

Mike Braun has a long record of supporting life, defending the sanctity of marriage, and trying to hold politicians in Washington, D.C. accountable. We believe him to be a very authentic man of faith and worthy of our support. He's never waivered in his support for these causes, even as they've become less popular since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

As you know, I have a ton of respect for Mike Pence and his Christian conservative values, and I don't doubt his authenticity in anyway. However, it never sat right with me that Pence abandoned his Catholic faith before he decided to run for office. Politically, it makes a ton of sense. There are a lot of blatantly anti-Catholic denominations, congregations, and fraternal organizations here in Indiana today, and the problem was much worse back then. Despite this, Mike Braun has leaned into his Catholic faith and those issues, even though there are some people in his core faction of the Republican Party who will never vote for him because of it.

Suzanne Crouch, who is my second choice for Governor, does have some pro-life endorsements; but she seems to be running away from the issue a little too much for my liking. There's also disturbingly little information about her Christian faith. The generic "Christian" title that most politicians use today is too often abused by Republicans (like Donald Trump) as a synonym for "Agnostic" or "Atheist." That's not a deal breaker necessarily, but when there's a candidate with authentic faith in the field, he deserves extra consideration for it.

Staying the Course in Indiana

Brad Chambers has been running a lot of ads saying "It's time for a change" and "We need another outsider like Mitch Daniels." In fact, he's spent a ton of time comparing himself to Mitch Daniels. He's not actually Mitch Daniels. Furthermore, this isn't 2004 (when Mitch Daniels was elected). At best, Chambers is simply trying to play the same anti-establishment rhetoric that is so popular among Trump's supporters who hate the swamp in Washington. At worst, Chambers actually believes it.

Indiana made this mistake in 2012 when we elected Mike Pence. Like Chambers, Mike Pence promised to cut spending, cut taxes, and shrink the size of the state government. The problem was that Mitch Daniels was a REALLY good governor. "My Man Mitch" had already cut spending as far as it could be cut, cut (and constitutionally capped) taxes as far as they could be cut, and shrunk the size of government as much as possible. When Pence cut taxes and spending, schools had to start laying off teachers, some of our infrastructure wasn't being maintained appropriately, and local governments had to cut their already tight budgets as grants from the state dried up. It's my honest belief that Mike Pence wanted to run for President in 2020 and knew he needed to prove he cut taxes, spending, and the size of government in Indiana for him to have a chance in the Republican Primary. "I didn't drop the football" just isn't exciting enough to win primary goers.

After Mike Pence joined the Trump ticket in 2016, Governor Holcomb has done a PHENOMENAL job! He helped Indiana recover from Mike Pence's leadership and got us back on the fiscal path laid out by Governor Daniels. However, while Mitch Daniels wanted a truce on social issues, Governor Holcomb has directed his team to defend life and Indiana was the first state in the nation to ban abortion in the Post-Roe era! They even did this after the pro-life cause suffered an embarrassing loss in Kansas. Indiana doesn't need change after eight years of Governor Holcomb's leadership.

Indiana needs a candidate who won't drop the football. Mike Braun won't drop the football.

Mike Braun Listens to Input

When Mike Braun began his political career, he was a free trade politician. However, when it became apparent to him that China was abusing this to weaken the United States, he joined President Trump's push to create tariffs and protect American jobs.

After the killing of George Floyd, Mike Braun sponsored legislation that would make it easier to sue police officers for possible abuses of constitutional rights. However, after hearing from police unions about the impact of his legislation, he pulled it off the docket and did a complete 180 on the topic.

A lot of politicians have a real difficult time admitting when they're wrong. This country would be a better place if more politicians had the courage to do that. Mike Braun has that humble courage.

VOTE!

Indiana has a primary fast approaching on Tuesday, May 7th and the polls are now OPEN for early voting! Get your Republican ballot today and cast your vote for Mike Braun: Indiana's next great Governor!