This story was originally published by Based in Lafayette.
By Dave Bangert
Based in Lafayette
February 14, 2026
Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith, already on board to back his friend and Republican challenger Richard Bagsby in Indiana Senate District 22, went on social media this week with a reel that took objection to a side comment state Sen. Ron Alting said about him during a Senate committee hearing this week.
“I was told that fellow Republican, Ron Alting, a senator in the Indiana Senate, had a good laugh at my expense,” Beckwith said, throwing air quotes around the word “Republican,” in a video reel shot in his Statehouse office and posted Friday.
The moment in question: Alting, a Lafayette Republican, did, in fact, get some laughs from fellow legislators when he asked during a hearing whether he had to get the lieutenant governor involved in a vote as a tie-breaker. (In his role as head of the Indiana Senate, Beckwith casts deciding votes when there are ties.)
Assured that wasn’t the case in this matter, Alting said: “God bless us. Thank you.” Asked later in the hearing whether Alting meant to have his microphone live for the comments, Alting smiled: “No, it’s on.” That generated a few more laughs from the Senate committee.
Beckwith responded by launching into what amounted to a legislative diss track targeting Alting’s voting record.
“But you know when people weren’t laughing, Ron?” Beckwith said, pulling out the air quotes, again. “Back in 2022 when you, a ‘Republican,’ voted against banning abortion in Indiana. Or that same year, you joined Democrats and voted to protect men playing in women’s sports. Or how about last year, when you voted against banning DEI practices in our government and our schools?
“So feel free to keep laughing at my expense, Ron,” Beckwith said. “But just know conservatives in Indiana and in your district aren’t laughing at all.”
The issues raised by Beckwith paralleled ones Bagsby, a Tippecanoe County Republican, targeted in his primary challenge of Alting in a Senate district that includes Lafayette, eastern part of Tippecanoe County and Carroll County.
Beckwith has promised to be aggressive about backing primary candidates he considers not conservative enough. (He’s made a point of targeting state Sen. Spencer Deery, a West Lafayette Republican who stood against a redistricting bill backed by President Donald Trump and pushed by Beckwith. Paula Copenhaver, the Fountain County Republican Party chair challenging Deery in the Indiana Senate District 23 race, is on Beckwith’s staff.)
Beckwith has been present in Bagsby’s campaign, introducing him during his campaign announcement in May 2025 and last weekend offering a keynote speech during an event hosted by Bagsby, called the District 22 Reagan Dinner. (Bagsby told BiL in 2025: “I like to say, Micah and I, we’re brothers from another mother.”)
Alting defended his votes in the wake of Beckwith’s reel Friday.
“I’m proudly pro-life and support exceptions for the life of the mother, rape and incest — the same position President Trump has outlined,” Alting said. (In 2022, Alting called the near-total ban on abortion “mean and cruel” and “an attack on all women,” saying that measure’s exemptions for abortions for women who were raped or victims of incest were too restrictive.)
“The 2022 bill went beyond that, and I voted my conscience and my district,” Alting said. “I supported House Bill 1041 to protect fairness in NCAA women’s sports and voted for Senate Bill 182 as a stronger, workable approach on DEI.”
Senate Bill 182, which cleared the Senate in January, would prohibit transgender students at public K-12 schools and state universities from using restrooms or locker rooms that match their gender identity. House Bill 1041, which became law in 2025, expanded the state’s ban on transgender girls in K-12 sports to college athletics.
“Legislating is about getting policy right, not picking and choosing votes for political theater,” Alting said Friday. “I serve District 22 — not social media.”
Dave Bangert retired after 32 years of reporting and writing on just about everything at the Lafayette Journal & Courier. He started the Based in Lafayette reporting project in 2021. To learn more about subscribing to Based in Lafayette, click here.
