MILWAUKEE — The balloons dropped. The speeches were given. And Republicans officially nominated former President Donald Trump and Ohio U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance as the party’s official ticket in November at the 2024 Republican National Convention.
Indiana was there through all of it. The Hoosier State’s delegation, with 58 official delegates, had one of the best floor spots inside Fiserv Forum throughout the week, in the center of the convention hall behind the state of Florida.
Here are takeaways from the Indiana GOP's week in Milwaukee:
Jim Banks is Indiana’s MAGA star
It was major moment after major moment for U.S. Rep. Jim Banks in Milwaukee at the Republican National Convention.
On Tuesday, his 45th birthday, Banks gave a primetime speech that praised Trump and lambasted President Joe Biden as “the weakest in history” to hold the White House. While Banks had to follow West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice and his bulldog Babydog, who stole the show in the convention hall and on the internet, he was the only Hoosier politician to get a primetime nod.
And Indiana delegates were thrilled.
“I thought his message of being that Hoosier who comes from humble means and to be able to stand up on stage tonight and talk about becoming the next U.S. senator from Indiana is just very inspiring,” said Carlin Yoder, the Indiana director for Trump’s campaign, following the congressman's speech.
MAGA convention:'No time for wimpy Republicans,' Indiana's Jim Banks tells RNC
Banks still faces Democratic and Libertarian opponents in his Senate race later this year. Clinical psychologist Valerie McCray, the Democratic nominee, said in a statement that Banks focused more on Trump than Hoosiers in his speech.
“I am concerned that the Republican Party continues to instigate fear-based politics, using undocumented immigrants as political pawns,” McCray said in the statement. “If we deported every undocumented immigrant today, as Banks wants to do, our economy and businesses would suffer.”
The biggest moment, though, for Banks was after his primetime speech Tuesday where he sat for at least an hour with Trump and Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance, a U.S. senator from Ohio. It’s a box where some of the most VIP Republicans spent time during a week, and a sign of Banks’ popularity in the MAGA universe.
Mike who?
It was not clear leading up to the RNC, especially after the assassination attempt, whether Mike Pence might make an appearance in Milwaukee. The former vice president posted well wishes for Trump following the shooting at the rally in Pennsylvania, and several other Trump primary opponents, such as Nikki Haley, actually spoke on the convention stage at Fiserv Forum.
But Pence was not in Milwaukee as Trump tapped JD Vance as his next VP pick. Pence posted on X on Wednesday that he spent time in Fort Wayne visiting three nonprofits.
In 2016, it was Trump-Pence signs at the RNC in Cleveland and posted in yards across the country, but shortly after news broke that the Ohio senator was the VP pick, Trump-Vance signs popped up throughout the convention hall in Milwaukee.
Indiana delegates in Milwaukee remembered that energy of the 2016 convention when Pence launched Indiana into the national political conversation.
"The Pence factor was really fun and provided that energy and excitement," said Beth Boyce, the Johnson County GOP chair, who was a delegate in 2016 and 2024. "You would walk around and people would say, 'Oh, you're from Indiana. Tell us about Mike Pence.'"
But on Jan. 6, 2021, Pence refused to block the certification of the 2020 presidential election results and lost favor with Trump and many of his supporters.
“Mike got caught in the crossfire,” U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, who is running for Indiana governor in November, told USA TODAY’s Susan Page when asked about Pence this week. “It’s hard to imagine that you’d even write a script like that. It’s the crossfire also that the country is going through something needing to change in DC. I know some of the traditional conservatives are maybe upset where the current party is and where conservativism is as a part of it, but things change over time.”
Could Indiana go any bigger for Donald Trump?
Indiana is a solid Trump state but delegates to the state GOP convention feel that support for Trump could grow in Indiana.
In 2016, Trump carried Indiana over Hillary Clinton with about 57% of the vote and four years later, Trump won Indiana over Biden with the same percent amount. Polling from earlier this year does not bode well for Biden in Indiana this year. A March poll for Emerson College and the Hill showed 55% of potential voters in Indiana would support Trump in November while 34% would support Biden and 12% were undecided.
“We are reliable. We’ve got several Trump-endorsed candidates on our ballot, which is huge for us in Indiana,” said Erin Lucas, the vice chair of the Indiana Republican Party. “It shows that we support our president, we support his ideals and his promise to make America strong and safe and wealthy and prosperous again.”
Shelby County GOP Chair Chris King, who took on the leadership role for the county southeast of Indianapolis earlier this year, said he sees the the assassination attempt against Trump actually unifying Republicans.
“I even think on a local party level it is bringing people together, communicating with people and supporting our candidates and supporting the party,” King said. “It's not always been how it's been.”
Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Brittany Carloni atbrittany.carloni@indystar.com or 317-779-4468. Follow her on Twitter/X@CarloniBrittany.
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