Braun announces endorsement for president

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Senator Mike Braun, a candidate for governor in 2024, announced he is endorsing Donald Trump for president.

Braun confirmed the endorsement to WISH-TV ahead of a Monday afternoon announcement.

“Donald Trump is the candidate capable of returning us to the America First policies that delivered unmatched prosperity and security for the American people,” Braun told WISH-TV’s Phil Sanchez in a written statement.

Braun highlighted Trump’s claim as a businessman and Washington outsider and their role in overturning Roe v. Wade in his endorsement.

“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,” Braun wrote in the statement.

Braun was a consistent public spokesperson defending then-President Trump during impeachment proceedings in the Senate.

Braun endorsed Trump over Mike Pence, the former vice president and Indiana governor. Braun served in the Indiana House of Representatives while Pence was governor.

Sen. Braun is giving up his Senate senate and is one of five top-level Republicans seeking to replace Eric Holcomb as governor. Holcomb is term-limited and can’t seek reelection in 2024.

Sen. Todd Young, who also represents Indiana, announced earlier this year he would not support Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign.

Young told CNN’s Manu Raju in May “I think President Trump’s judgment is wrong. In this case, President Putin and his government have engaged in war crimes. I don’t believe that’s disputed…That’s why I don’t intend to support him for the Republican nomination.”

Young was one of four senators to not support Trump in his 2020 reelection run, and has often been a critic of the former president, including Trump’s desire to have Pence to overturn the 2020 election results