(Music plays) >> An unusual announcement for lieutenant governor.

The South Bend abortion provider closes its doors.

Plus, presidential candidate Mike Pence make it to the Indiana primary and more.

From the television studios at the view FYI, it's Indiana Week in Review for the week ending June 9, 2023.

>> Indiana Week in Review is made possible by the supporters of Indiana Public Broadcasting stations.

>> This week, Micah Beckwith, a conservative pastor from Hamilton County announced his plan to run for lieutenant governor on Monday.

Experts say the bid could be an attempt to move the GOP's gubernatorial candidate for the right on social conservative issues.

>> Lieutenant governor candidates are chosen at the state party convention and often selected by the gubernatorial candidate.

This is because, much like presidents and vice president, the Governor and Lieutenant Governor run on a single ticket.

Indiana University South Bend political science professor Elizabeth Bennion says Beckwith's bid could likely be him pushing for a focus on more conservative issues among state leaders.

>> He does have a history of spending time, effort and energy in trying to move the state in a more conservative direction.

Particularly on social issues.

>> Party delegates are on the same primary ballot as the gubernatorial candidate.

And they are the ones who make the final decision on who will run for lieutenant governor.

If Beckwith can get delegates at -- sent to the party convention who support them, there is a chance he could be elected.

Will bucking tradition pull Republicans for the right on social issues?

It's the first question for our all-alternates Indiana Week in Review panel.

Democrat Elise Shrock, Republican Chris Mitchem, Kaitlin Lange, senior investigative reporter for State Affairs Indiana and Oseye Boyd.

I'm Indiana Public Broadcasting digital editor Lauren Chapman in this week for Brandon Smith.

Oseye, let's start with you.

Micah Beckwith rose to statewide prominence with protests over Governor Eric Holcomb's fonts to COVID-19.

Is this just a most recent step in the Republican Party responding to that backlash?

>> I definitely think so.

I think Mr. Beckwith is a strategic.

This is a long-term plan.

To actually move the party more to the...

I don't want to say far right, but ultraconservative.

He is now on the library board.

He ran for fifth congressional district in 2020.

I definitely feel like this is a strategic move to actually get some of those issues out in the front.

And if he is not twin to be the lieutenant governor, we will see if that happens or not, but there will definitely be a lot of conversations about issues he things is important.

>> Kaitlin, last year, wasn't it, we also saw some shakeups at the state Republican Party convention.

Do you think Beckwith has a play to become the lieutenant governor candidate even if the nominee does not choose him?

>> I think he could.

What is really interesting, if you look at the last Republican convention, you had to candidates who were supported by the more conservative wing of the Republican Party who won.

Daniel Elliott, and the Secretary of State candidates as well.

I think there is room in the Republican invention to nominate somebody who is more conservative.

I think you will see this play out with the gubernatorial candidates.

They are not twin to write him off right away, I don't think, why would they and risk alienating that portion of Republican primary voters?

I am sure that the delegates will respect the gubernatorial candidates wishes, but you never know what could happen in one of these convention fights.

>> Eats -- if those delegates are selected on the same primary candidates, the gubernatorial candidate that is also selected in that same binary will also be aligned with those values.

>> Elyse, from the outside, as the Democrat looking in, what does this say to Democrats looking in?

>> I don't think it is a surprise.

Republicans have given the keys to the kingdom to this wing of the party.

It starts not just with some of the convention debates that they have, it starts with gerrymandering and creating districts where folks like this can come in and have a chance.

Because they are fighting within their own party.

Rather than the majority of what Hoosiers want.

And a lot of these issues that Beckwith is talking about, these are to the forefront of what everyday Hoosiers are looking for.

They want better healthcare, better access to public health, or education.

You're not talking about these issues to try and get by day-to-day with our families.

This is a real disservice and I am not surprised, friendly, that it is happening and the replicant party has let it happen.

>> I will certainly say, a lot of what Mr. Beckwith is saying is in -- on the covers of a lot of magazines.

His whole point is saying, let's get CRT out of our school, let's get more control back into the hands of the people when it comes to emergency mandates and such.

Which speaks to a lot of people, especially the delegates on the Republican sde.

One thing that does make it interesting, this puts gubernatorial candidates that are already in place.

One of them decides to align with Mr. Beckwith and go with that, it is almost as if you have a campaign manager out there that is talking to a lot of the further right, but also the most active parts of the party.

>> This makes me wonder, too, we have heard more talk this year about gubernatorial candidates than previous years.

There has been rumors about a Greg Pence lieutenant governor candidate.

I am wondering if we will see more duos come together sooner this year.

>> I want to circle back to something that Chris just touched on.

A lot of these issues we are talking about, vaccine Band-Aids -- mandates, a lot of this information, CRT in schools, it is based on misinformation.

K to 12 education does not include Critical Race Theory.

I wonder is for the Republican Party, does that mean you are moving further away from those kitchen table issues that Elyse was pointing to that Republicans really owned for the last 15 years, or are we... Is the party we moved away?

>> Sure.

There is enough credibility there to be part of the conversation.

If you compare that to the 2020 election, for example.

If you look at these issues, people read the articles, people are still talking about them.

Whether the information is there or not, people want to know how you feel about the issue.

>> It has politicized the LG race.

Usually we are talking about the governor, the governor candidates.

And the lieutenant governor, I think historically, has been someone who can come alongside and take some of the more bread and butter issues, really do some of the work, get things done.

And now, you can say that about Susan Crouch even.

Even she is being pushed further right in the way that she speaks due to this type of environment.

>> And that even points to the job of the lieutenant governor.

The lieutenant governor is overruled affairs and economic development and has 26 jobs outside of the state Senate president, overseeing the state Senate.

When we are talking about someone like Micah Beckwith, a lot of the issues he is touching on have very little to do with what the lieutenant governor job actually does.

>> I was just thinking, is this a new precedent may be, this is what we want the Lieutenant Governor to be from here on out?

You don't just choose us, we are going to actually lobby to be in this role.

I am curious to see how this plays out once we have elections, to see if we moved that way from here on out.

>> To your point, the lieutenant governor position in Indiana is one of the strong is in the country.

You mentioned all the committees and processes it overseas.

But also, to have the president of the Senate, you are overseeing every single session of the Senate.

That allows you a lot of access into not only what legislators are debating, but a lot of those behind the door conversations where things get done.

I think Mr. Beckwith could have a lot of sway on a lot of legislative issues.

>> That is probably why he wants that position.

>> Moving on.

In the midst of legal challenges to Indiana's near total abortion ban, South Bend's only abortion provider abruptly announced it is closing its doors.

WVPE's Marek Mazurek has the story.

>> This week, Whole Woman's Health Alliance announced it is closing its clinic on Lincoln Way West in South Bend do to Indiana's near total ban on abortions.

In a statement on Monday, Whole Woman's Health Alliance called the states anti-abortion legislation "politically driven and medically unnecessary.

", Whole Woman's Health Alliance is only abortion provider in South Bend and is one of seven clinics in the state.

Indiana Republicans last summer passed a law banning abortion in all but a few limited cases.

Abortion providers, including Whole Woman's Health, sued to block the law from being enforced.

In the state Supreme Court is currently weighing the issue.

Kaitlin Lange, Whole Woman's Health president Amy Hagstrom Miller said the closure was due to an environment of hostility.

She also said the clinic had not seen any patients seeking an abortion since December for does this closure signal anything greater for Hoosiers around the state?

>> I think it does.

The near total abortion ban, we are already seeing the impact of it.

I was leaving I believe the Indiana Capital Chronicle story about how abortions had dropped by 50% in the state already just because of confusion, that sort of thing.

It is interesting that the ban is already having an impact, even though there is no final decision on it yet.

I imagine we will see other abortion clinics go this way as well, even before there is a decision made.

>> Oseye, sin question.

Does this signal something greater for Hoosiers across the state?

>> I think so.

We are getting what Republicans wanted.

No abortions in Indiana.

At the end of the day, if you have abortion clinics closing, no abortions will happen.

That is the goal.

We had seven that were open.

Now six.

And no one is going to them because they are confused about what is going on.

We are just going to see, one by one, just closing.

They will try to hang on, but I think it will... >> Chris Mitchem, is this ringing the bell of success for state Republicans?

>> To a certain extent.

A provision of the bill that they passed last summer that gets overlooked that if you do qualify for abortion in these small amount of exceptions, you have to go to a facility that is either physician owned or basically a hospital setting.

They would remove all of these abortion clinic licenses in the first place.

I think that would require a lot of these clinics to come out and change the tone, and even in this case, I noticed a lot of the comments were around open quote >> "We can no longer provide abortions."

I know a lot of clinics like Planned Parenthood have a lot of services that help people in general.

That would require them to come in and change their tone and say, we are still needed, while we can't provide abortions, we are still needed for access to care for women around the state.

>> That is what they are saying.

A lot of the coverage from this particular closure, we have seen that this is not incident-based.

This is not because of a particular case or a particular issue.

This is environmental based.

This is because Indiana has created an environment for healthcare that is so hostile that we will not see qualified physicians.

And that will affect every single area of care.

Why is a doctor would you want to come to Indianapolis when you know you are not valued and trusted no matter what your practice is?

Just an environment can close down the clinic.

In a time where we need way better public health infrastructure, in May, we kicked the D5000 people off of -- 55,000 people off of Medicaid.

Our health infrastructure is in high alert.

We cannot afford to create an environment where medical physicians and healthcare workers don't feel like they can come to our state.

We need them!

We need them desperately.

>> Which I think is why the message should be shifted, away from we are shutting down abortion clinics, to reducing or eliminating the services of abortion but keep these clinics open for everybody.

I don't think the goal of the legislation was to remove clinics.

>> If you control something, you create confusion.

That has been accomplished will stop >> Is a building has to close because we cannot provide enough abortions, I think that is the target of the legislation.

We don't want these abortion hubs out in the states that are just providing... >> They are not abortion hubs.

They are people that offer critical healthcare to people who need that healthcare in that moment.

>> Part of that hostile environment that Amy huckster Miller had brought up was Caitlin Bernards listening board decision.

-- licensing board decision.

These are those secondary effects of the legislation.

>> Well, time and now for viewer feedback.

Each week we pose in nine scientific, online poll question.

This week's question.

Will Micah Beckwith be the nominee for lieutenant governor?

Last week's question, will Mike Pence place any better than third in the presidential primary?

91 said no.

If you would like to take part in the poll, though to WFYI.org/IWIR and look for the poll.

Former Vice President Mike Pence officially announced his presidential bid on Wednesday.

Indiana Public Broadcasting's Violet Comber-Wilen reports whether or not the former governor last long enough in a crowded Republican field for Hoosiers to vote for him in the primary is uncertain.

>> Elizabeth Bennion is Chancellor's Professor of Political Science as IU South Bend.

She says pens hold some of the values of the traditional pre-Trump-era Republican, which makes him a popular candidate for some.

However, she said with 10 other Republican candidates currently in the running for president, it is too early to tell if he will make it to the Indiana primaries.

>> I think it is too early to know whether or not he will be a viable candidate in May.

He is certainly behind other candidates, including Donald Trump and second in line, Ron DeSantis.

>> She adds Indiana voters are likely very familiar with Pence's leadership style and he would like to perform well in these primaries, but voters in other states may be less familiar.

>> Chris Mitchem, Indiana's primary is one of the last in the cycle.

And even then, Pence was not particularly popular when he left his 2016 reelection campaign to be Donald Trump's running mate.

Eight years later, would Pence be successful in Indiana?

>> I sure hope he gets that far.

The nomination process in general gets that far.

In a 26 and, Indiana was the center of the world for a day.

I think a lot more depends on if he does get the star.

Who is the establishment backing up the point?

Is it Donald Trump's latest indictment going to have an effect?

Who is backing who?

He could have a lot of support if he makes it this far.

You would be hard-pressed to find a candidate who is actually harmed by his home state.

I think you would need a lot of hate from -- a lot of help from Hoosiers.

But the idea that being in Indiana what hurt him I don't think so.

>> But he clearly does not think it is going to help.

He has not done what other Hoosiers have done.

When they make major announcements, they are proud to be from Indiana and they make that announcement in Indiana.

That did not happen in this case.

His initial candidacy as vice president kind of came out of nowhere.

He was losing his gubernatorial race when that happened.

He didn't come back for his own residential announcements?

I think that says a lot.

>> Kaitlin, at the time in 2016, it was fresh on Hoosiers mind.

Do you think the effect of that split between opinions on January 6 and the election and everything that came out of 20/20, do you think that will affect Mike Pence in Indiana?

>> I don't think it'll not be as much of a factor this time around, but January 6.

The other day, we included a mention of Mike Pence in our newsletter because he is going to the Indy 500.

Somebody emailed me mad that we had included a traitor in our newsletter.

That goes to show that there are people in Indiana who are very frustrated with him.

Who knows what will happen.

To Elyse's point, it is interesting that he announced in Iowa.

I think partially because that might be one of the easier paths to candidacy these days, because Indiana is so late in the primary process.

We saw Pete Buttigieg do well in Ottawa, -- Iowa.

>> Will Mike Pence be a home state hero if he gets this far in the Presidential primary?

>> I don't think he is going to get that far.

(Laughs) I know 2016 was a long time ago.

But people do remember January 6.

And to your point of being called a traitor, he will have not forgotten that.

That was close enough, people have not forgotten that yet.

Pence is not a firebrand.

He has a lot of competition who has a lot more personality and they are bringing a lot more heat than what he has.

I am just not so sure that he is going to make it to Indiana.

If he does, I will be surprised and I will come back and I will say Pence it did make it, I was wrong.

(Laughter) But I'm just not seeing it happen for him.

>> A Republican-led effort in Congress tightened work requirements for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, also called TANF.

Just a few months prior, Indiana Republicans passed a state law to expand the program.

Indiana Public Broadcasting's Adam Yamaha Reyes reports the loss author says he worries the federal change may counteract that expansion.

>> Republican State Senator Jon Ford tried for years to raise the income threshold and increase monthly payments for TANF in Indiana.

He finally succeeded this past legislative session, bringing the state's first major increase to the program since the 1980s.

>> With inflation, I think people really realize that the price of diapers, or example, went up almost 300% since 1988.

>> Knew tighter federal tennis work requirements kick in just before Indiana expands legibility in 2026.

Ford and others say the change will likely prevent many families from getting the small but meaningful payments.

>> 20% of the kids in my community are in poverty.

I think that is just ridiculous in this days and age.

And I think TANF plays a role in getting these kids out of poverty.

>> It is too early to estimate how the federal change will affect Indiana.

>> Elise Shrock, Senator John Ford said the change in work requirements is a different -- inference in philosophy between state lawmakers and the Republican counterparts.

Do you think that is the case?

>> I reject the premise that work requirements are necessary.

They cost the state more than it would cost to implementing the program will that is a recurring history with Republicans in the state.

With a number of other things we do in this stage where we just need to get people help.

Administratively, we put so many constraints on that help that it cost taxpayers more money for less help.

Back to the point at hand with work requirements, back to the matter is, these folks are working.

They are just not making enough to get by.

And especially, most of this is affecting kids, like Senator John Ford said.

We are not accepting them to work.

These are families, they are trying to get by.

Senator -- is Senate Democrats have been proposing this for over a decade now.

We had to change how we are talking about this.

There is a dissonance that is preventing people from getting the help they need.

>> Is there a dissonance between what Indiana state lawmakers were trying to do and the Republican departs in Congress?

>> I don't think that big of one.

The proposal that Elyse was talking about that passed unanimously was a recognition from Republicans that our tennis program is not up to par.

I think we were ranking -- our tennis program is not up to par.

That was kind of a wake-up call when you look at it in the back round of inflation.

We need to give people more help.

When it comes to work requirements and being eligible for these, Indiana typically does not have too much of an issue of making sure you meet each criteria.

That is what Congress is trying to ensure other states do as well.

>> Oseye and Kaitlin, do either of you have anything to talk about TANF?

With it seems to be that state and federal diffidence -- dissidents.

>> You are right, Elyse, people who are TANF on our working.

They just happened to not make a lot of money.

The corporations don't pay enough.

We need to have that conversation at some point, but that is not your question.

(Laughs) Let me come back.

If you have one child, I think you are getting 229 a month.

It has been like that for how many years, since the 80s?

280 842 kids?

-- 288 for two kids?

How is one living on that with inflation right now?

I don't know how that would really change.

Senator Ford is right, there are a lot of poor kids in our state.

What are we going to do about that?

>> Kaitlin, anything to add?

>> My understanding is that we are only at 12% of families, of households that meets the work requirement in Indiana.

We are meeting that 50% that would be required to relate.

I think that would impact us here a lot, regardless of Indiana lawmakers passed this new bill.

Even in a conservative state, run by Republicans, we aren't even close to that 50% mark.

This is very much going to impact Indiana regardless of if lawmakers wanted to.

>> Finally, Fishers, a suburb of Indianapolis, recently opened a new public beachfront parch -- Park in the affluent Geist Reservoir area.

To discourage people who don't live in Fishers from using the park, the Fishers City Council approved a parking fee for nonresidents of $50 per day.

Oseye, what would be a better way to keep out nonresidents, armed guards, a moat, a wall on the southern border of Hamilton County?

>> I would say a wall and a moat.

Keep them out, keep us out, keep them in, whatever.

But it definitely sends a signal that people are not wanted.

$50 to park?

(Laughs) >> I will be looking for other places to park.

>> I can walk.

(Laughter) >> You bring that up about the parking downtown.

He will complain about that.

But $50?

That is an extreme amount of money.

>> That's Indiana Week in Review for this week.

Our extremely well-dressed panel is a Democrat Elise Shrock, Republican Chris Mitchem, Oseye Boyd of the Indianapolis Star, and Kaitlin Lange of State Affairs Indiana.

You can find Indian Week in Review's podcast and episodes at WFYI.org/IWIR or on the PBS App.

I am Lauren Chapman of Indiana Public Broadcasting.

Join us next time because a lot can happen in an Indiana Week.

(Music plays) >> The opinions expressed are solely those of the panelists.

Indiana Week in Review was a WFYI production in association with the public broadcasting stations.