Rep. Braun attends GOP fundraisers in New York and Texas this week instead of campaigning in Indiana

INDIANAPOLIS – Rep. Braun is once again choosing to spend his time courting out-of-state donors, attending high-dollar fundraisers in New York and Texas even as reports mount that he’s ignoring the Hoosier base voters he needs to serve as the backbone of his campaign.

Rep. Braun has continued his months-long trend of opting for out-of-state fundraisers with wealthy donors instead of campaigning with the Indiana voters he needs. The New York Times reported on Saturday that Rep. Braun attended a GOP fundraising retreat in New York City. According to leaked audio obtained by the Times, Rep. Braun “pleaded” with donors to write him more checks at the retreat, saying that “We’ve got four to six years to get this right, and if we don’t, it’ll go the other direction, demographically and all those other things that point negatively for us.”

Not content with the New York City event, Rep. Braun is in Texas today, where Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) is hosting a fundraising event for him and several other candidates in Houston.

Rep. Braun’s preference for private out-of-state fundraisers puts his lazy campaign schedule in Indiana in stark relief, where his appearances on the campaign trail at public events are few and far between. Last week, Rep. Braun’s campaign announced a “tour” that looked less like an actual statewide tour and more like what would be a light week of campaigning for a normal Senate candidate, consisting of only three events in Greensburg, Fort Wayne and Terre Haute. And yesterday, the Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne noted that Rep. Braun’s stop there was the first public event he’d held in the area since the primary, despite the city’s reputation as a GOP stronghold that should be filled with donors and voters for Rep. Braun.

“Instead of attempting to make his case to voters in Indiana, Rep. Braun is out to salvage his lackluster campaign by pleading with wealthy donors in New York and Texas,” said Michael Feldman. spokesman for the Indiana Democratic Party. “He spent the primary claiming to be his own man, only to spend most of the campaign in the company of wealthy out-of-state donors more like him than the working families he hopes to represent. It’s no wonder that Hoosiers can’t trust Rep. Braun.”

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