Braun, opportunity could prompt Senate run

By August, State Representative Mike Braun will know whether he’ll be adding his name to the Republican Senate primary race that is heating up for 2018.

Over the past couple weeks, Braun has been “kicking the tires” about the idea of facing off against GOP Representatives Todd Rokita and Luke Messer—both are expected to declare their intent to run soon—in a race for the nomination.

For the second term Indiana District 63 representative, the moment is now or never. The Jasper native sees an opportunity with the current swing of voters that favored Donald Trump by 19 percent in Indiana.

Braun is hoping his business career building Meyer Distributing and Meyer Logistics from a local small business into a national company will place him in a better light with Indiana voters disenfranchised with career politicians—especially considering the tide-turning change in the presidential office last year.

“They are both attorneys who have been involved in politics in one form or another their entire careers,” Braun said about his two potential adversaries.

Moreover, the business experience he has gives him a seasoned perspective in regards to commerce and health care. Two subjects that he found were mostly dictated at the federal level.

“The practical experience of building a business from a very small one to medium size to a large one,” Braun said. “That’s what our party has always been about. I’m certainly going to have a better angle on that than either one of them would.”

Health care is another issue Braun has personal experience in through his company. With increasing health cares costs, his company created a consumer-driven plan that focuses on wellness and prevention as well as support when an employee becomes significantly sick or injured. “I would put our plan up against any in the country in what it does for the employee,” he said. “Any of that could be used as a model for how you make things work better at the federal level.”

Braun also considers himself a practical environmental conservationist. “Again, I understand it from both sides as a land owner, a conservationist and what is doable from a business perspective,” he said. “I think it is important on a bridge issue like that to know it intimately from both sides.”

Braun’s ability to raise support and funds for his federal campaign have garnered him some support from the Republican Party. “I feel very comfortable with raising money,” he said. “I have many business associates across the state that will be great for getting the word out, and I think, get financial support with it.”

Both Rokita and Messer are reported to have more than $1.5 million in their war chests from previous campaigns, but Braun says he can catch up. “I have the ability to catch up a little bit,” he explained. “There have been rumors I can self-fund, but I am too inherently tight and conservative to ever do that but I could at least help prime the pump.”

Neither Messer or Rokita have declared, but a recent spate of critical news coverage could impact their chances to beat incumbent Senator Joe Donnelly in 2018. Messer is facing criticism over his residency and his wife’s lucrative consulting contract with the City of Fishers. Residency issues are considered to have contributed to the unseating of long term Senator Dick Lugar and stymied Evan Bayh’s potential run in 2016.

On the other hand, Rokita has been accused of misusing campaign funds to pay $100,000 to a private airplane company he co-owns but according to spokesperson Tim Edson, the attack is a mischaracterization of an issue that had already been cleared through the House Ethics Committee.

Braun says this negative attention could turn voters away from both candidates and open the way for him to win the primary.

“Is there an opening? Is there an opportunity,” Braun explained his considerations as he tests the waters on potentially moving forward. “I think it will converge quickly based on what Messer and Rokita do. They didn’t know they were going to have a competitor quite like myself up to three weeks ago.”

Strategically, if the Republicans can ride on this voter swing and take the Senate seat, they will likely retain it for awhile.

“At the Senate level, this will probably be the only opportunity in the next 12 to 18 years to take that seat,” Braun said.

Some facts about Braun.

Like his two potential opponents, Braun is also a graduate of Wabash College. He graduated summa cum laude with a degree in economics in 1976 before attending Harvard Business School. He graduated Harvard with an MBA in 1978.

He returned to Dubois County after graduating and soon began working in the family business, Meyer Distributing, which was still located in Haysville at the time.

He eventually purchased the company and through savvy business investments and steady growth has grown the company to a national distribution and logistics leader.

Prior to serving at the state level, Braun’s only foray into politics was as a member of the Greater Jasper Consolidated School Board, where he served for 10 years before resigning to run for state representative.

Since being elected to in 2014, Braun has served on the Ways and Means Committee, Transportation and Roads, Education and the Select Committee on Government Reduction. He co-authored the bill that created the Community Crossroads Grant supporting local infrastructure improvements in 2016 and during the last session, he co-authored the regional infrastructure bill, a unique bill for empowering regions to build new highways that could be used to create the Mid-State Corridor through Dubois County.

The 63-year-old and his wife Maureen live near Jasper. She fully supports his potential decision to run. Braun attests that if elected, his home will always be in Indiana.

The article has been changed to add information regarding Rokita’s use of campaign funds to pay for private transportation in a plane he co-owns.