INDIANAPOLIS – Rep. Braun’s campaign certainly didn’t get the coverage it wanted for its first Indiana campaign events in three weeks when Hoosiers protested Rep. Braun’s two events Tuesday with Chinese flags to remind voters of his history of importing and selling cheap foreign auto parts.
After his vacation, Rep. Braun hoped for a quiet return to the campaign trail with meet-and-greet events with GOP base voters in Lafayette and La Porte. But flag-waving Hoosiers upstaged his events and made sure the focus remained on Rep. Braun’s hypocritical rhetoric about buying and selling products made in America, while actually relying on companies who manufacture their parts in China at the expense of Hoosier workers.
From the Journal & Courier: Bangert: Chinese flags greet Mike Braun in Lafayette on return to Senate campaign trail
LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Mike Braun’s welcome to Lafayette – and back to the campaign trail after a few quiet weeks – included a salute with Chinese flags.
A handful of men from the Indiana Democratic Party, who caught wind of a lightly publicized campaign stop, waved the flags and chided the Republican U.S. Senate candidate as he arrived for a meet-and-greet session with Republican backers at Preston’s in downtown Lafayette.
The protest reference, pulled from Braun’s victory over U.S. Reps. Todd Rokita and Luke Messer in the May primary, came from records that Meyer Distributing, Braun’s Jasper-based national auto parts distribution company, imported parts from China, despite the former state representative’s talk about American jobs.
…Outside, before meeting the protesters, still there with the Chinese flags more than an hour later, Braun stopped for a quick Q&A.
From WLFI: Protesters, supporters show up for Mike Braun in Lafayette
Indiana Senate Candidate Mike Braun stopped in Lafayette for a meet and greet Tuesday morning, but Braun’s supporters weren’t the only ones there.
Members of the Indiana Democratic Party protested the event. The group stood on the sidewalk holding Chinese flags.
Protesters said the flags symbolize Braun selling foreign-made parts. Braun said he welcomes a good debate. Which is why he didn’t mind the group being there.
“It would be super easy for him to just make money selling the autoparts made by hardworking Hoosiers here, but instead he tries to make more money selling cheap parts made in China, so with these flags to remind people of that,” said protester Jonathan Schwartz.
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