Indiana's GOP convention is Saturday. Delegates have one major decision to make.

Indiana's lieutenant governor's race ― also the big draw of the Republican state convention this Saturday ― is a study in contrasts.

On one end is state Rep. Julie McGuire of Indianapolis, gubernatorial nominee Mike Braun's endorsed running mate, being pitched to delegates as the COO to Braun's CEO role. She's advertised as a policy wonk who will back Braun and not seek to upstage him; a ticket focused almost exclusively on kitchen-table issues like the economy and health care.

On the other end is Micah Beckwith, an ultraconservative pastor who unapologetically brings his own agenda to the desired role, thinks the lieutenant governor should be a check on the governor's office, and is focused heavily on social issues and what he sees as the moral failings of modern culture.

Who will join U.S. Sen. Mike Braun on the November ballot is the biggest question at Saturday's biennial GOP convention in downtown Indianapolis, where 1,800 elected delegates from around the state will gather to hear about the state of the party and nominate two statewide offices, lieutenant governor and attorney general.

Attorney General Todd Rokita is running unopposed for reelection. Delegates will not vote on any changes to the party's platform, which is only done during midterm election years. Hoarding all the excitement is the lieutenant governor intrigue, as this office is almost never contested.

Related: Will Mike Braun win over delegates at the GOP convention?

The competitive lieutenant governor race drew a large tide of new delegate candidates in this year's primary, especially in Hamilton County, where Beckwith recruited heavily. There were about 2,750 Republican candidates in the primary, up from about 2,300 in 2022. In Hamilton County, some townships drew more than 50 candidates to fill 10 or so delegate seats ― three times as many as in 2022.

Both camps are feeling optimistic about their chances of winning over enough delegates at Saturday's convention to cinch the nomination. But neither can be totally sure, as delegates have been known to surprise.

Nor is either side taking victory for granted. Beckwith had a year-long headstart, having announced his unusual candidacy in June 2023, and has raised roughly $125,000, mostly from small donors. Braun has pulled in more than $300,000 from large donors since announcing his endorsement of McGuire after the primary. A new nonprofit group called Hoosiers for Opportunity, Prosperity and Enterprise, incorporated by attorney Jim Bopp last year, has been targeting delegates with social media ads and texts promoting McGuire.

Both campaigns in the last few weeks have been pounding the pavement all over Indiana and calling and texting delegates relentlessly.

"It’s gotten to the point where I stop answering phone calls," said Nate Lamar, an undecided delegate from Henry County who says he'll make his decision when he walks into the convention Saturday.

The Braun/McGuire pitch

Braun's pitch to delegates is very similar to his pitch when he ran against four other candidates for the gubernatorial nomination: He's a successful small-town businessman who wants to bring that entrepreneurial lens to government, with a particular focus on fixing health care. But now, he's added a workhorse of a partner who both checks the conservative boxes and will support those goals.

"When I had to cull through what made sense for a partner, it's not someone that's wanting to be maybe an influencer, their own agenda," he told a crowd of roughly 50 delegates and local government officials at a Carmel real estate office this week. "Many who wanted to be my partner, they were coming from that angle. Very few came to the forefront where they'd be your business partner."

He touts his experience working in and with the state legislature, having served there for three years before his longshot bid for Senate. The choice of McGuire as his running mate is no doubt an olive branch to the supermajority red legislature, which has more power than the governor does to change the law.

During McGuire's one term in the Indiana House, she passed a bill adding new guidelines for when the Department of Child Services can terminate parental rights for the sake of a child's safety. She earned headlines for her bill that sought to undo the special taxing district in downtown Indianapolis that lawmakers slipped into the state budget the prior year. (She was removed from the bill by session's end and voted against it, disagreeing with the compromise that preserved the taxing district.)

House Republican leadership had backed McGuire's campaign in 2022 to unseat Rep. John Jacob, who routinely butted heads with House leadership over his no-compromise anti-abortion stance. Before that, she was a legislative policy analyst for Senate Republicans, and was the business manager for 15 years at her parish, St. Roch Catholic Church.

In talking to delegates, McGuire pitches herself as that behind-the-scenes worker who cares about well-researched policies, particularly related to health care and school choice.

"My love for public policy goes deep, and it rises above everything," she said in Carmel, as Braun stood mere feet away. "It's the whole reason I'm doing this."

Striking at the heart of the tension of this campaign, Fishers City Councilor Pete Peterson asked Braun and McGuire how they plan to combat Beckwith's messaging that the governor shouldn't be able to choose their running mate.

"The last thing I want is a bunch of infighting between my two executives in the state I'm living in, when we need to propel forward," he said.

Braun, recalling his longshot Senate race in 2018, reiterated what he's said many times: He welcomes competition.

"I think we've made our case," he said. "I think we'll see the vindication of that on Saturday, and I take nothing for granted. ... I'm never going to be one that tries to cloak things or avoid competition or a healthy discussion."

The Beckwith pitch

It's a far different scene at a Beckwith delegate gathering in Richmond, Indiana.

This group of 25, about half delegates, can complete a Bible verse from memory; they murmur "yup" and clap at Beckwith's assertions that public schools are "teaching lies to our kids" about gender identity and and systemic racism in American history.

While Braun has been focused on the economy, Beckwith sees himself as a lieutenant who would balance out the administration with his focus on social issues. He promised to go into schools to root out what he considers "nonsense."

"I think what we've missed in Indiana is someone to be a watchdog on that social, that core fundamental DNA of what makes who we are as Hoosiers," he said, "and that's what I bring to the ticket,"

And fundamentally, his pitch for the lieutenant governor office is distinct from the other camp: He wouldn't want to be Braun's running mate, or anyone else's. He doesn't see the office as Braun's "to give away." He sees the office as accountable to the people and not deferential to the governor.

"I think Mike's going to do a good job," Beckwith said. "But no leader should ever say, 'I don't need a check and balance.' Even Jesus submitted to authority."

The Noblesville pastor rose to prominence in socially conservative circles through his outspoken stances on abortion, LGBTQ issues and mask and vaccine mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic. His last political campaign was for Congress in 2020; though unsuccessful, he placed third out of 15 candidates as a political newcomer.

His messaging about a society unmoored resonates among some delegates, like Rod Blanchford, who invited Beckwith to the Olde Richmond Inn to meet people.

"We don't really have principles. It's just kind of whatever is in vogue at the time," Blanchford said. "I agree with him that if we don't have agreement on basic principles, we're going to be in decline."

Whoever prevails Saturday will appear on Indiana's November ballot, along with Democrat Jennifer McCormick and Libertarian Donald Rainwater and their running mates.

Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Kayla Dwyer at kdwyer@indystar.com or follow her on Twitter @kayla_dwyer17.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana Republicans to pick next lieutenant governor candidate