Despite insistences from himself and his campaign that he wouldn’t, Rep. Braun loaned himself $350K post-primary win
INDIANAPOLIS – Rep. Braun has yet to explain why he lied to Hoosiers for months that he would not self-fund in the general election, after reports showed he personally funneled at least $350,000 into his campaign since becoming the GOP nominee in May.
On Sunday, the Indy Star published a report regarding Rep. Braun’s false claims about his fundraising, which left voters with no choice but to accept that he’d lied repeatedly to them. Rep. Braun’s campaign clearly claimed in a press release announcing his second quarter fundraising that he raised $2.5 million “without personal contributions or loans” – yet his FEC report later showed that roughly a million dollars of that were loans Rep. Braun made to himself.
The Braun campaign’s claim that the $2.5 million did not include loans was initially believable because his campaign had repeatedly claimed that while he had given himself $6 million during the primary, he would not be self-funding during the general election. However, more than $350K of his campaigns’ loans came after the May 8 primary.
It’s unclear why Rep. Braun chose to lie about self-funding after the primary, or if he changed his finance strategy and tried to hide the fact when faced with his lackluster fundraising. It certainly would not be his only falsehood stemming from this report, as he and his campaign spent a week falsely claiming to have raised more than Joe Donnelly, who brought in $1.9 million from contributors, as opposed to only $1.4 million from Rep. Braun.
“Why did Rep. Braun lie to Hoosiers about not self-funding in the general election? Hoosier Republicans had already shown that they had no issue with Rep. Braun buying their nomination, but by self-funding in the general after saying that he wouldn’t, it looks to all voters like he’s hiding something,” said Michael Feldman, spokesman for the Indiana Democratic Party. “It’s clear that Rep. Braun was fretting about his own lackluster fundraising numbers, but instead of telling the truth, he chose to deceive Hoosiers.”
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