Michael Kent Braun (born March 24, 1954) is an American businessman and politician serving as the 52nd governor of Indiana since 2025. A member of the Republican Party, he served from 2019 to 2025 as a United States senator from Indiana and from 2014 to 2017 as the representative for the 63rd district in the Indiana House of Representatives.
Born in Jasper, Indiana, Braun graduated from Wabash College with a degree in economics and subsequently earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. After serving in the Indiana House of Representatives from 2014 to 2017, he was elected to the United States Senate in 2018, defeating Democratic incumbent Joe Donnelly. He was elected governor in 2024, defeating Democratic nominee Jennifer McCormick and Libertarian nominee Donald Rainwater by a margin of 13.3%, the highest margin in an open seat election for governor since 1980.
Braun opposes the Affordable Care Act, same-sex marriage, abortion, and a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. He has called on the Republican Party to take climate change more seriously. He supported President Donald Trump's trade and tariff policies, although he was previously an advocate of free trade. Braun voted to acquit Trump in the impeachment trial related to the Trump–Ukraine scandal.
Early life, education and business career Michael Kent Braun was born in Jasper, Indiana, on March 24, 1954. He graduated from Jasper High School. He attended the all-male Wabash College, where he was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity and graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in economics, and Harvard Business School, where he earned a Master of Business Administration.
After graduating from Harvard, Braun moved back to Indiana and joined his wife's family business manufacturing truck bodies for farmers. The business subsequently grew from 15 employees to more than 300. In 1986, Braun and Daryl Rauscher acquired Meyer Body Inc., a manufacturer of truck bodies and distributor of truck parts and equipment. Braun fully acquired the company in 1995 and renamed it Meyer Distributing in 1999. Braun is its president and CEO. In 2018, Braun's personal finance disclosure listed assets worth between $35 million and $96 million.
Early political career Braun was formerly a member of the Democratic Party, but switched to the Republican Party in 2012. He said that he has always considered himself a conservative Republican, but voted in Democratic primaries for years because his home county, Dubois County, historically voted heavily Democratic downballot. According to Braun, until a massive Republican wave in 2016, even Republican-leaning voters voted in the Democratic primary to have a say in local elections. There is no formal party registration in Indiana, but primary ballot history is used to determine partisan affiliation.
Braun was a member of the Jasper School Board from 2004 to 2014. He was succeeded by Arlet Jackle on the school board.
Indiana State Representative In 2014, Braun was elected to the Indiana House of Representatives, in the 63rd district. He resigned from the state House on November 1, 2017, to focus on his U.S. Senate campaign.
In July 2018, Braun called for the Indiana attorney general, Republican Curtis Hill, to resign amid allegations that Hill had drunkenly groped a lawmaker and three legislative staffers.
U.S. Senate 2018 election
Braun won the Republican primary for the United States Senate in the 2018 election, defeating U.S. representatives Todd Rokita and Luke Messer by over 56,000 votes. He received 208,520 votes, or roughly 41% of the total. Braun ran as an outsider, emphasizing his career in business. He defeated Democratic incumbent Joe Donnelly in the November general election with 51% of the vote to Donnelly's 45%; the Libertarian candidate, Lucy Brenton, tallied less than 4%. In late 2019, the Indianapolis Star reported that Braun's 2018 campaign was the beneficiary of $2.8 million in spending by a political action committee with strong connections to indicted money launderer Lev Parnas and one of his shell companies. Parnas supplied photographs of him and Braun embracing at a 2018 campaign event to the House of Representatives as part of his cooperation with the impeachment of President Trump. They were made public in January 2020.
Tenure
On January 3, 2019, Braun was sworn in as the junior United States senator from Indiana by Vice President Mike Pence.
In May 2019, Braun was one of eight senators who voted against a $19.1 billion emergency aid package for states and territories that endured hurricanes, floods and fires. Braun said the disaster assistance process was "just another path for runaway spending on unrelated projects." Despite his opposition, the package was enacted with bipartisan support and President Trump's approval.
Braun supported Trump's decision to withdraw American troops from northern Syria in October 2019. As a result, in that month, Turkey launched a military offensive against the American-allied Kurds in that area. After that, Braun called Trump "smart"; questioned why the U.S. should "be in the crossfire" between Turkey and the Kurds; and called the idea that ISIS would recover strength as a result of the conflict "an assumption".
In December 2019, Braun said that the impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump had been a "disaster for Democrats."
In May 2020, Senator Chuck Schumer put forth a resolution to officially release the guidance by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on how to safely lift restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. A leaked version of the guidance showed that it was more detailed and restrictive than the White House recommendations released in April 2020. Braun blocked Schumer's resolution, saying that the CDC's recommendations would hinder the economy.
On October 26, 2020, Braun voted to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, and praised Barrett.
After Joe Biden defeated Trump in the November 2020 election, Braun refused to acknowledge Trump's defeatMeg Cunningham, Despite mounting legal losses, Braun refuses to acknowledge Biden's election win, ABC News (December 6, 2020). and promoted Trump's false claims of election fraud.Lawrence Andrea & Kaitlin Lange, Braun joins other senate Republicans in vow to oppose election results when Congress convenes, Indianapolis Star (January 2, 2021).Lisa Mascaro & Mary Clare Jalonick, More GOP lawmakers enlist in Trump effort to undo Biden win, Associated Press (January 2, 2021). Along with 10 other sitting and incoming Republican senators, Braun announced on January 2, 2021, that he would vote against counting the electoral votes from a number of states won by Biden four days later, seeking to subvert the election outcome. He was participating in the joint session of Congress counting the electoral votes when a mob of Trump supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol. In the wake of the attack, he tweeted, "Though I will continue to push for a thorough investigation into the election irregularities many Hoosiers are concerned with as my objection was intended, I have withdrawn that objection and will vote to get this ugly day behind us." He voted to count the electoral votes after Congress returned to session. The South Bend Tribune called Braun's flip-flop "a case of too little, too late." The Democratic Party of Indiana called for Braun's resignation, saying he "incited violence to overturn the presidential election and end American democracy."
In 2022, it was reported that rather than seeking reelection to the Senate, Braun would run for governor of Indiana in 2024. Incumbent Republican governor Eric Holcomb was term-limited.
Committee assignments For the 118th United States Congress, Braun was named to four Senate committees:
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Subcommittee on Food and Nutrition, Specialty Crops, Organics, and Research (Ranking) Subcommittee on Rural Development and Energy Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety (Ranking) Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security Committee on the Budget
Special Committee on Aging (Ranking)
Caucus membership Senate Republican Conference Congressional Coalition on Adoption Rare Disease Caucus
Governor of Indiana (2025–present)
Elections
2024
On November 30, 2022, Braun filed papers with the Secretary of State of Indiana to run in the 2024 Indiana gubernatorial election, following speculation since September that he would run for the office.
Braun, who was endorsed by Donald Trump, won the Republican primary on May 7, 2024. On May 8, he announced his choice for lieutenant governor, state representative Julie McGuire. In June, delegates nominated Micah Beckwith for lieutenant governor at the Republican state convention.
On September 30, 2024, the Braun for Governor campaign released an ad that contained an image altered to show Democratic opponent Jennifer McCormick leading a rally with people holding signs stating "No Gas Stoves." The image actually showed people holding "McCormick for Governor" signs. Running an ad with an altered image may be illegal under Indiana State Law HEA 1133. Later that day, the Braun campaign released an updated version of the ad with a disclaimer noting the use of an altered image which complies with the law.
On November 5, Braun won Indiana's gubernatorial election by the largest margin for an open governor's seat since 1980. He ran on a campaign of "Freedom and Opportunity", promising to address rising property taxes, make healthcare more obtainable and affordable, and implement universal school choice.
Tenure
Braun became governor on January 13, 2025, sworn in by Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Loretta Rush.Dwyer, Kayla (January 13, 2025). Republican Mike Braun sworn in as 52nd Indiana governor alongside Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith. The Indianapolis Star. Retrieved August 5, 2025.
Higher education appointments In June 2025, Braun intervened in the governance of Indiana University. His administration moved to remove members of the Board of Trustees elected by alumni and replace them with gubernatorial appointees, a move critics described as an effort to increase political control over the university. Braun defended the decision, despite having said a month earlier that he would not intervene in the trustee process.
2025 Indiana redistricting
In October 2025, Indiana lawmakers began considering redrawing the state's congressional districts to reduce Democratic representation in the United States House of Representatives. The push, called for by President Donald Trump and favored by Braun, succeeded in the Indiana House of Representatives but failed in the Indiana State Senate. After the resolution failed, Trump and Braun vowed to endorse primary challengers to the Republican state senators who voted against redistricting.
Political positions Abortion Braun opposes abortion. He tweeted in support of the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Donald Trump According to FiveThirtyEight, Braun voted with Donald Trump's position 90.9% of the time between Braun's inauguration and Trump's departure from office two years later.
During Trump's first impeachment and impeachment trial, regarding the Trump–Ukraine scandal, Braun became one of Trump's most prominent defenders, defending him in many media appearances. He voted to acquit Trump, and when asked whether it is acceptable for Trump to withhold U.S. foreign aid to coerce a foreign leader to investigate Joe Biden, he said that he did not believe that such behavior was proper but that "it didn't happen." Braun also said that Trump did what he did out of a desire to reduce corruption in Ukraine. After Trump was acquitted, Braun said that Trump "hopefully" learned something from the trial.
Congressional reform