image
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita delivers his inaugural address on Monday at the Hilbert Circle Theatre in Indianapolis. (Photo/Schyler Altherr of TheStatehouseFile.com)

By Marilyn Odendahl
The Indiana Citizen
January 16, 2025

Sitting in the atrium of the Indiana Statehouse after attending his first gubernatorial inauguration, Ben Jackson of Johnson County talked about his frustration with the state mandates imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic and skyrocketing property taxes.

He said he understood locking down the state for a few weeks to slow the spread of the coronavirus, but once the surge declined, those who wanted to “stay in their basements” could have, while everyone else should have been allowed to leave. As for property taxes, he said he agreed with Indiana’s new Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith that they are the equivalent of paying rent to the government to live in a house you own.

Active in politics, Jackson had volunteered on Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita’s successful re-election campaign and, as a result, was invited by Rokita to a reception in the Statehouse following the inauguration.

Jackson mused about what might have been different if Beckwith had been the lieutenant governor when former Gov. Eric Holcomb was imposing the mandates during COVID. He said he liked that Beckwith entered the convention race for lieutenant governor, which gave delegates a choice, and, after listening to the inaugural speeches by Gov. Mike Braun and especially Beckwith, he was optimistic they would keep government out of people’s lives.

“Micah is a good dude,” Jackson said of Beckwith. “He will keep the government in check.”

Beckwith stunned the Republican establishment by winning the nomination for lieutenant governor, defeating Braun’s pick at the Indiana state GOP convention in June. A pastor at Life Church in Noblesville and a self-described Christian Nationalist, Beckwith served on the Hamilton County East Public Library Board, where he led a controversial effort to remove books from the youth section.

Braun, Beckwith and Rokita took their respective oaths of office at Monday’s gubernatorial inauguration. Before a near-capacity crowd inside the Hilbert Circle Theatre in downtown Indianapolis, the new governor focused his inaugural speech on what he sees as the opportunity coming to Indiana as the federal government transfers more power back to the states. The new lieutenant governor and incumbent attorney general also sounded upbeat tones while wading into culture issues.

 

Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith takes the oath of office during the inauguration ceremony on Monday at the Hilbert Circle Theatre in Indianapolis. (Photo/Schyler Altherr of TheStatehouseFile.com)

 

Beckwith said Indiana is a state that leads the nation and he will serve alongside Braun, Rokita and other state and local officials to advance policies that strengthen the economy and protect Hoosier values. He gave a special nod to rural parts of the state, recalling his childhood “as a small-town boy” and promising to be the voice for rural communities in the “halls of the Statehouse and throughout the four corners of the state.”

The lieutenant governor devoted nearly half of his inaugural speech to reciting from the Book of Deuteronomy, Chapter 28, which President George Washington referenced in his presidential inaugural address in 1789. The passage speaks of prosperity and blessings for those who “fully obey the Lord your God.”

“As President Washington encouraged his fellow Americans to walk uprightly before heaven, today I call on Indiana to also remember the words so wisely spoken 236 years ago,” Beckwith said, referring to Washington’s speech. “If we do what is right, if we do what is just and we do what is virtuous before the throne of heaven, Indiana will be that shining city on a hill that every state in the nation and around the world will envy and admire.”

Attorney General Rokita opened his remarks by thanking God for the opportunity to serve the state and thanking the Hoosiers who voted for him. He got the longest and loudest applause of the event when he listed his conservative positions on hot-button issues, saying he would fight in the name of ensuring “unbiased and impartial” justice for everyone.

“Lady Justice does not care what color you are,  or how rich or poor, the only thing that should matter is the weight of evidence on her scale and that, although that scale is never inappropriately tipped, it for sure protects the people’s place over their government, a concept that is uniquely American and demanded by Hoosiers,” Rokita said.

His list included fighting against DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion), ESG (environmental, social and governance), CRT (critical race theory) “or whatever other acronym or pronoun they want to throw at us,” Rokita said. Also, he said he would work to make Indiana a state where “lawfare” is outlawed; innocent life is respected; parents can raise their children “without interference by woke schools, doctors or courts;” and where there are no vaccination or mask mandates.

The audience cheered the loudest when Rokita said Indiana would be a state “where there are two genders, male and female, and they each have their own sports teams.”

Having been publicly reprimanded once and facing at least two additional investigations for misconduct, Rokita concluded his list by seeming to take a swipe at the Indiana Attorney Disciplinary Commission. The attorney general said he wanted Indiana to be a state “where we can speak our own opinion, especially when it’s not politically correct or establishment approved without fear of losing our livelihood.” This echoed comments he made at a news conference days after he was re-elected, saying he was prohibited from speaking about political issues during his first term “because of the lawfare going on at the Indiana (Attorney) Disciplinary Commission.”

 

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and his family greet well-wishers during an open house following the inauguration ceremony on Monday. (Photo/Marilyn Odendahl)

 

Rokita hosted an open house at the Indiana Statehouse after the inauguration ceremony. Many of the attendees walked from the theater to the capitol building and enjoyed a lunch of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans and cake, before shaking hands and taking selfies with the attorney general and his family.

A family from Central Indiana was attending their first gubernatorial inauguration. Declining to give their names, the family said they knew Rokita and Beckwith and were optimistic about the incoming administration. In particular, they, like Jackson, said they wanted less government regulation and oversight into private lives and, when asked what specifically they thought elected officials should do, they pointed to Rokita’s list of issues.

“Let people be,” the woman said. “If you’re not harming someone, why do you need to be so heavily legislated?”

Dwight Adams, an editor and writer based in Indianapolis, edited this article. He is a former content editor, copy editor and digital producer at The Indianapolis Star and IndyStar.com, and worked as a planner for other newspapers, including the Louisville Courier Journal.

The Indiana Citizen is a nonpartisan, nonprofit platform dedicated to increasing the number of informed and engaged Hoosier citizens. We are operated by the Indiana Citizen Education Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) public charity. For questions about the story, contact Marilyn Odendahl at marilyn.odendahl@indianacitizen.org.

Related Posts