The Actual Indiana State Republican Convention

      Today began like any other day, except I was in Indianapolis, and it was Republican State Convention Day. I got a quick breakfast at the hotel, packed everything up, and headed to the parking garage at the Convention Center.  With the Olympic swimming trials going on at the same location it was a default decision to just park in the expensive parking garage so I could walk across the street and be done with it.  

     Once in the Convention Center, I was met by several other delegates from all over the state.  The closer I got to the conference hall where the action would take place the more intense the sea of people became.  This was my fifth convention and the more you go to them the more contacts and people you meet and become associated with.  (My previous blog indicated that this was my fourth convention but counting them up again I realize this is my fifth.  Thank you, Carroll County voters.)  So, I got there in enough time to get some face-to-face time with the people I had met over the years.  This included people I knew from nearby counties.  Always nice.

     Entering the hall I was greeted with enough to test the visual sensations of a person.  To my right there was a raised seating area for visitors and non-voting citizens to observe and just to the front of that section was an area for the news media who were all there to document the proceedings.  There was a narrow gate that the delegates and others pertinent to the day's activities had to pass through with their credentials.  This entry led to the floor with hundreds of chairs.  The rows were sectioned off by signage for all the 92 counties in the state.  Then it was just a matter of finding your county sign and taking a seat.    

     From just a few minutes after entering the Convention Center all the way and including the floor for the delegates there was intense campaigning going on.  Since Todd Rokita was unopposed, I didn't see much campaigning for him since it was a foregone conclusion he had already won.  No, the campaigning was for the only contest of the day.  That was for Lt. Governor.  I don't believe there was a contest for this seat at the last two conventions where there was a gubernatorial candidate.  This one was different.  We had two candidates vying for this position.  The background was interesting at least.

     The hall was brought to order by Indiana Republican Chairman, Anne Hathaway and a benediction was given by Joanna King.  We were off and running.  A hearty pledge was given by the delegates after a color guard marched in with the flags.  And the national anthem was next.  

     Erin Lucas, the party's vice chair, took the stage and made the introductions.  A short state of the state was presented by the Speaker of the House and also Rod Bray, the Senate Pro-Tem.  The highlight was the fact that under the super majority of the Republican Party in the state, there have been tax cuts over the last ten years.  Ed Simcox and John Cochran were both introduced, as well as Randy Head.

     Head was serving as the permanent head or chair of the convention of 2024.  He was to oversee the remaining part of the convention as we got down to business. He presented and spoke of the rules committee and getting the procedures done prior to the voting.

     After all of these presentations were completed, there was a short film shown and a speaker took the stage and introduced Todd Rokita for Attorney General.  Rokita then took the stage in glorious fashion.  He is called 'the Big Motor' and he came out in boxing gloves to show how he fights for the State of Indiana.  He has never lost a jury trial.  It was quite exciting to see someone who wasn't the same old boring politician with a dry speech and presentation.  It was flamboyant and I liked it.  I first met him when he was in Frankfort as he was running to be put on the ballot for governor to replace Mike Pence when Donald Trump plucked him from the governor's chair to be vice president.  I've always liked him, and his conservative stance and I hope that he will be governor someday.  After his fiery speech, he was, under Head's leadership, nominated from the floor and given a second.  It could be done this way since there was no one running against him.  Not a single person said no to the nomination, and he was placed on the ballot for November.

     Once the Attorney General's nomination was complete the program moved on to the two-person race for Lieutenant Governor.  

     The other two candidates had to go through the same procedure of being nominated by someone, but first, someone had to take the stage and give a brief speech about the candidate extolling their worthiness of filling the position.  Once the opening speech was completed someone from the floor nominated the candidate, someone seconded it, and the majority from the floor made it happen.  

      One of the candidates, Micah Beckwith, was the most conservative candidate, in my opinion, and had started his campaign well over a year ago for this spot.  Beckwith touted that he has been a small businessperson, has experience in agriculture, and has overall leadership qualifications.  

     The other candidate, Julie McGuire, is a state representative and said she is a beacon of conservative leadership by supporting law enforcement, empowering parents, and other conservative topics.  She is who Mike Braun, Republican nominee for Governor picked and also endorsed for the job.  Both candidates seemed solid and both would do a great job, I'm sure.  But we've got to have the voting and listen to what the delegates say.

     Beckwith, after the nomination process, took the stage along with about sixty supporters and began his speech.  Since Beckwith is a preacher, he knew how to give a red-hot speech and fire up the crowd.  And fire them up he did!  Beckwith entertained and educated on core conservative issues.  I have to say it was quite exciting and refreshing to here a presentation such as this.  I noticed that Head was getting closer and closer to the speaker, so I knew that Beckwith was running out of time.  Head didn't stop him, however, but he did make it known that he was over on time.  Beckwith finally ended three minutes past his time.  Head indicated that McGuire would be given three extra minutes.  That was only fair.  I will say the crowd was juiced listening to Beckwith.  There were still a lot of establishment types among the delegates.  They were easy to find.  Another county's delegation was right in front of us.  The establishments were not very respectful.  They never are.  They were doing things like holding up McGuire signs during the speech or rudely talking through it.  Not very impressive, but that's the way most of them are.

     McGuire's speech was next.  I was shocked that no one, not one, of her supporters took the stage with her.  I believe she has only been a state representative for two years and her inexperience showed. Mostly there was not anything enlightening about what she intended to do in the position other than topics that had already been talked about.  In other words, there was nothing new or solid that a person could glean from the speech.  Most of presentation was telling us all who had endorsed her over the last couple of months.  That only goes so far.  I heard someone say afterward that McGuire didn't even mention agriculture in a predominantly agriculture state.  There just simply wasn't any vision set forth from her.

     After the speeches, the delegates were dismissed section by section to go vote on similar machines that we vote on back home in Carroll County.  It was a simple process that took probably between two and three hours.  If there had been more races or more contestants we simply would have been there all night.  While I'm on the subject of things not being the best that they could be, I will say that the hall was set up very poorly.  If you were on the end of an isle, you could not see the stage at all because of the county signs that showed people where to sit.  There were counties that were out of order making it hard to network with other counties close to you geographically because you couldn't find them.  Something has to change in the voting process for the next time.

     After the voting, the numbers and votes were certified and the results were presented to Head.  Now there are two ways this can go, I thought.  One, you announce the winner and then read the totals, or two, you read the totals and then declare the winner.  I didn't really hear how he was going to go about this.  I just heard him say, 'Micah Beckwith'.  Upon the completion of these two names, the crowd instantly erupted.  I mean loudly erupted.  And I'm thinking, oh my gosh, did he win or was Head just announcing the totals and was interrupted?  If he was interrupted and the totals show Beckwith short, this is going to get ugly.  A couple of people around me were asking me which way Head intended.  I said that I didn't know.  And the crowd just kept going crazy.  Finally, my question was answered when the totals were read.  891 for Beckwith and 828 for McGuire.  I was amazed!  Not only that Beckwith had won, but how the hall could be so loud for that win considering that almost half of the people here voted for McGuire.  

     Beckwith came on stage a short time later, as did Braun, and gave comments to the delegates.  Beckwith and the crowd were very overjoyed with excitement as he thanked the delegates.  Braun sounded awkward.  Of course his running mate choice had just lost, so it was indeed awkward.  He now had to embrace Beckwith as he moved forward to November.

     This is the second convention in a row that I have watched the conservative delegates in the state slowly take back their party.  The convention two years ago saw the start of this with the Secretary of State and the Treasurer's races.  Being a conservative, it was quite refreshing.  

     The program ended by the recognition of the 92 county chairs and their directions to secure the county banners.  Most chairs were there and in attendance.  Our chair, Beth Myers, was unable to attend.  It was a great experience to help shape state politics this way.  Again, I thank the voters of Carroll County and look forward to the future.