Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) has endorsed Donald Trump for the 2024 presidential election, saying the former president can deliver “unmatched prosperity and security” to Americans.
“I am proud to endorse the ultimate outsider [Donald Trump] for President of the United States!” Mr. Braun wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Sept. 18.
With Mr. Braun’s endorsement, President Trump has now secured the endorsement of 11 GOP senators. The other 10 are Sens. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), JD Vance (R-Ohio), Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), and Steve Daines (R-Mont.).
“As a Main Street Entrepreneur and political outsider, I’ve seen firsthand how the Washington swamp works against Hoosiers and works overtime to hamper our prosperity,” Mr. Braun wrote in his endorsement statement.
He added: “Donald Trump is a businessman and outsider. Together we took on the Washington swamp with a historic victory in the 2018 Indiana Senate race. We installed constitutional conservatives on the Supreme Court who have protected the unborn and our Second Amendment rights, and we disrupted the cozy, self-serving Washington elites who are bankrupting our country,”
“Donald Trump is the candidate capable of returning us to the America First policies that delivered unmatched prosperity and security for the American people. I give Donald Trump my endorsement for President of the United States,” Mr. Braun concluded.
Braun Speaks Out
Mr. Braun, who is running for governor of Indiana in 2024, was endorsed by President Trump in 2018, when he successfully unseated incumbent Democrat Joe Donnelly for Indiana’s Senate seat.
The Indiana senator has been outspoken this year over indictments against the former president.
“Another week, another attempt by President [Joe] Biden and his party’s prosecutors to put their leading political rival behind bars and interfere with the 2024 presidential election. President Biden’s weaponization of the justice system will cause irreversible damage to our nation and divide us further,” Mr. Braun said in a statement after the former president was indicted in connection to his efforts to dispute Georgia’s 2020 election results in August.
Mr. Braun has also been a supporter of President Trump’s policies and agenda, applauding President Trump for signing the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) into law in January 2020.
“[A] big win for Hoosier farmers, Indiana small businesses, and Hoosier workers,” Mr. Braun wrote on X about USMCA in 2020. “The deal prioritizes American production and American jobs and keeps President [Trump’s] promise to always put America First.”
President Donald Trump holds up the signed United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement, known as USMCA, during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House on Jan. 29, 2020. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)
In June 2022, at a time when the Biden administration was thinking about lifting tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on China, Mr. Braun spoke against such an idea.
“China tariffs were a major geopolitical win for President Trump and America,” Mr. Braun wrote on X on June 5, 2022. “Removing them would be rewarding China for their abhorrent behavior on the world stage—and as always—America will end up paying the price.”
Earlier this year, a bipartisan group of senators, led by Mr. Braun, introduced the Protecting America’s Agricultural Land from Foreign Harm Act of 2023 (S.926). The legislation (pdf) would prohibit anyone “owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of a foreign adversary” from buying or leasing agricultural land in the United States. The bill names Iran, North Korea, China, and Russia as foreign adversaries.
“Chinese ownership of American farmland increased more than 20-fold in the past decade. We cannot allow our top foreign adversaries to buy up American farmland and compromise our agricultural supply chains,” Mr. Braun said in a statement accompanying the introduction of the legislation.
2024 Race
Seventy-five House lawmakers have also chosen to endorse President Trump for 2024, according to Ballotpedia’s endorsement tracker. Rep. Burgess Owens (R-Utah) is one of the House lawmakers who announced their endorsement of the former president in August.
In addition to Mr. Braun, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem also endorsed President Trump this month. The other governors who have endorsed the former president are Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, and West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice.
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb is endorsing former Vice President Mike Pence in the 2024 presidential election. Mr. Pence was governor of Indiana from 2013 to 2017.
The former president continues to lead in the polls. According to a poll released by Morning Consult on Sept. 19, President Trump netted 59 percent of support, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in second place with 13 percent.
Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy finished in third place with 10 percent of support, followed by South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley with 6 percent, and Mr. Pence with 5 percent.
President Trump’s 46 percentage points lead over Mr. DeSantis marks “one of his largest advantages over the Florida governor since our tracking began in December,” according to the poll.
“The former president has also recently seen a popularity boost, with his net favorability rating increasing from 45 points at the end of July to 61 points in our latest survey,” the poll adds.
The poll surveyed 3,404 likely Republican primary voters from Sept. 15 to Sept. 17.
Frank Fang is a Taiwan-based journalist. He covers U.S., China, and Taiwan news. He holds a master's degree in materials science from Tsinghua University in Taiwan.
