INDIANAPOLIS – Rep. Braun appeared on talk radio Friday to blast Congressman Rokita with a series of personal attacks on his opponent’s campaign that escalated the ‘GOP’s nastiest primary’ between Indiana’s three front-runners.
During an interview with commentator Rob Kendall on WIBC, Rep. Braun repeatedly attacked Congressman Rokita, criticizing his opponent’s portrayal of himself as a Washington outsider, and calling out the hypocrisy of Congressman Rokita’s campaign slogan, asking “who would be more part of the elite than somebody who has built a career in politics?”
Rep. Braun went on to call Congressman Rokita a “clown” for having his campaign show up to protest Rep. Braun’s filing at the State House last week, saying that the campaign’s stunt was “a sign of desperation” and that he “didn’t think anybody could stoop that low.”
Rep. Braun’s attacks are all the more notable considering that he began his campaign pledging to refrain from attacking his opponents. When he launched his bid back in August, he pointed to the already-heavy fighting between Congressmen Messer and Rokita as something that gave him a lane for his own campaign. But he too has proven unable to stay above the fray, and seems to increasingly trapped in the brutal and costly primary himself.
“Rep. Braun thought the daily mudslinging between Congressman Rokita and Congressman Messer would give him a chance to differentiate himself from them, but he’s dived right in along with them,” said Michael Feldman, spokesman for the Indiana Democratic Party. “Instead of taking the high road as he claimed he would, Rep. Braun has proved that in the ‘GOP’s nastiest primary’, no one is able to stay above the fray.”
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