INDIANAPOLIS – Mitch McConnell is throwing a fundraiser for Rep. Braun today, but even as he’s shown he’ll gladly rely on the Majority Leader’s money, Rep. Braun has tried to leave Hoosiers wondering whether he’d support his new friend as leader of the Senate Republicans if elected.
Fresh from a primary spent railing against the political establishment, Rep. Braun spent much of the last week meeting with K Street donors, including attending a lunch with McConnell and the Senate Republican Conference. He’s back to Washington today for a fundraiser with McConnell and his K Street allies, hosted by a powerful D.C. lobbying firm.
Rep. Braun’s reliance on the Senate Majority Leader is surprising given his primary campaign philosophy of “draining the swamp” of career politicians in both parties. It may even backfire, considering McConnell’s stark unpopularity across the political spectrum. While Rep. Braun has yet to be publicly asked whether he’d support McConnell as leader of the Senate Republicans if elected, the warm embrace he’s given McConnell and his allies over the past week makes it seem likely he would. That would be a far cry from the swamp-draining outsider Rep. Braun spent much of the last year telling Hoosiers he’d be.
“Rep. Braun’s warm embrace of Mitch McConnell is a slap in the face to Hoosiers who believed the outsider act he put on during the primary,” said Michael Feldman, spokesman for the Indiana Democratic Party. “Surely Rep. Braun wouldn’t be taking McConnell’s money if he weren’t planning to support him as Senate Republican Leader if elected. Rep. Braun needs to stop playing games and tell Hoosiers if he’d support McConnell.”
The invitation for Rep. Braun’s fundraiser today with Mitch McConnell:
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