Michael Kent Braun ( BRAWN; born March 24, 1954) is an American businessman and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Indiana since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he previously represented the 63rd district in the Indiana House of Representatives from 2014 to 2017. Braun was elected to the United States Senate in 2018, defeating Democratic incumbent Joe Donnelly.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. After Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election and Trump refused to concede, making false claims of fraud, Braun defended Trump's efforts to overturn the election results. Braun is running for governor of Indiana in 2024, having filed election papers on November 30, 2022, and declared his candidacy on December 12.