Beckwith slammed for allegation that Democrats pay for Black voter turnout

Amid the ongoing controversy over his social media post about the Three-Fifths Compromise that garnered national attention and a strong backlash, Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith has made new, unfounded accusations, alleging that the Marion County Democratic Party has been paying inner-city pastors for votes.  

Beckwith was speaking with WIBC on May 1, telling them he thinks some of the faith leaders who spoke out against him are preaching “racist division,” in part because he alleges the Democratic Party in Indianapolis is paying churches to turn out voters for them.  

“That’s actually happening right now. I have proof of it. There have been pastors that have told me, inner-city Black pastors that told me the Democrat Party will pay them thousands of dollars if they just get Black voters to the polls,” Beckwith said in the radio interview. “So, these guys are not pushing through authentic faith. They’re pushing politics, and they’re using faith as a mechanism to do that.”  

The Indiana Citizen reached out to the lieutenant governor multiple times to ask him to provide proof of his allegations, but Beckwith did not respond. Republican leadership in the Indiana General Assembly, along with Gov. Mike Braun’s office, also did not reply to requests for comment. 

Pastor David Greene of Purpose of Life Ministries, president of the Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis, told The Indiana Citizen that Beckwith is “grasping at straws” to make himself look better after receiving backlash for his recent comments about the Three-Fifths Compromise.  

“That is totally false. I mean, I don’t know where he gets that from, and I know he implied that urban pastors told him that and I’d like to know who that was, because that’s totally not true. Actually, the Democratic Party doesn’t have a ton of money, so they’ve not even been able to do anything like that. They aren’t paying anybody,” Greene said. 

The Indiana Democratic Party also denied the allegation. “The lieutenant governor’s accusations are categorically false,” Sam Barloga, a party spokesman, said in an email. “How does a public official get away with telling such blatant lies? He should be impeached and (kept) far away from any elected office in Indiana.” 

The Indiana House Democratic caucus responded to a request for comment by forwarding the April 29 statement made by Rep. Cherrish Pryor, D-Indianapolis. Speaking about the lieutenant governor’s Three-Fifths Compromise comments, the state lawmaker highlighted the work of inner-city faith leaders, calling them “true public servants” who serve the poor and help to raise the next generation of “God-fearing leaders” in Indiana.   

“I pray that Lt. Gov. Beckwith will move to focus on making life better for Hoosiers, not dividing us,” Pryor said in her statement. “While this topic brings with it the weight of hundreds of years of oppression and suffering for Black Americans, I ask for us all to do the difficult thing and pray for those that embrace racism, ignorance, greed and power. It must be difficult to live with that much hate in your heart.” 

Beckwith, who is also a pastor at Life Church in Noblesville, ignited the dispute last month when he filmed and posted to his X account a short video about the Three-Fifths Compromise. The constitutional provision adopted in 1787 that counted slaves as three-fifths of a person was brought up by a Democratic legislator during the debate in the Indiana Senate over Senate Enrolled Act 289, which bans from state government all diversity, equity and inclusion programs and initiatives. In his social-media video, the lieutenant governor claimed the Compromise was a “great move by the North to make sure that slavery would be eradicated in our nation.” 

Historians say the Three-Fifths Compromise actually did just the opposite. They say it gave the Southern states more power in Congress, which they used to grow slavery in the United States. 

Indiana Gov. Mike Braun has said he did not like Beckwith’s comments and that he “definitely wouldn’t have used that characterization.” Lawmakers, along with faith-based and religious groups such as the Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis, the Baptist Ministers Alliance and the Indiana chapter of the National Action Network, have spoken out against Beckwith and his comments. 

Moreover, the Concerned Clergy and its religious organization partners have collected more than 1,000 signatures on a petition demanding that Beckwith apologize for his remarks on the Three-Fifths Compromise and calling on Braun to denounce the lieutenant governor’s comments. As of May 9, the petition has not been submitted to Braun.    

In the WIBC radio interview May 1, Beckwith said he was not surprised by the pushback nor the comments from Braun when the governor told the press, “I definitely wouldn’t have used that characterization, and I don’t like it,” because, the lieutenant governor said, no one likes to hear the tough truths.  

“I don’t work for Gov. Braun. I work for the people of Indiana,” Beckwith said. “And they’re so fed up with this woke-mind virus that has been taking over their children and children’s children for the last 50 years, through CRT and through DEI and nonsense like that.” 

He added that there’s a cancer he calls “woke-ism” plaguing America, and he’s doing his part to address it.  

“We’ve got to address it, and so that’s what I did with my video, and I’m glad I did it,” the lieutenant governor told WIBC. “And again, that’s what leaders do. Leaders lead … whether people like it or not.” 

The Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis issued a statement Wednesday addressing the comments Beckwith made in his radio interviews with WIBC and WOWO, where he doubled down on his controversial statements and said he wouldn’t back down.   

The clergy group’s statement reads: “If Lt. Governor Beckwith truly ‘works for the people,’ then he must start by respecting the full humanity of all people, especially those whose ancestors bore the weight of America’s original sin. His refusal to retract these comments is not just disappointing, it is disqualifying. It reveals a fundamental lack of understanding about the pain, legacy, and resilience of Black communities in Indiana and across this nation.” 

The Concerned Clergy also directly called on Braun to renounce Beckwith’s statements about the Three-Fifths Compromise. Greene said they would be watching to see what the governor decides to do and added that “anything less (than a full denouncement) is complicity. Anything less is an endorsement of ignorance over integrity.”  

“We issued a statement, challenging the governor to come out and renounce the words of the lieutenant governor. If he doesn’t believe that the lieutenant governor is right concerning historical facts, then he would say so,” Greene said. “And if he doesn’t (rebuke him), then one must conclude that he believes what Lieutenant Governor Beckwith is saying is factual and true.”  

The clergy group’s statement concludes with the bold-faced lines, “We are not three-fifths. We are whole. We are worthy. We are watching.”  

Greene said he’s not anticipating any response from the governor because there has been no effort to communicate with him or the faith coalition about Beckwith’s comments.   

Greene also said Beckwith’s comments about the Three-Fifths Compromise are not a partisan issue, although the lieutenant governor is trying to make it one.  

“This is an issue around his version of rewriting the facts. and then he’s trying to spin it as though it’s some lefty Democrats or whatever attacking him and he’s the victim,” the Indianapolis pastor said. “When, in reality, he’s attacking Black people and attacking history, minimizing the pain and suffering that Black people have gone through as a part of slavery, et cetera.”