LAFAYETTE, IN — After a brief comment Sen. Ron Alting made during a State Senate Public Policy meeting earned him a round of laughs, Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith made it clear in a social media post Friday afternoon that he wasn’t amused.
In a snippet posted within a video by Beckwith, Alting asks the committee if a tie-breaking vote is needed by Beckwith.
“Certainly we don’t have to get the lieutenant governor, tell me not, for a tie-breaker, do we,” Alting asks in the video, where a person off camera answers that would not be needed. “OK, God bless us. Thank you.”
The comment garnered several laughs, although the video is cut short.
In Beckwith’s video titled “To my esteemed Republican colleague, Sen. Ron Alting,” the lieutenant governor said while Alting’s comments may have earned him laughs, his constituents “weren’t laughing” in recent years when Alting voted in opposition with fellow Republicans.
Specifically, Beckwith pointed to Alting’s 2022 vote to oppose a widespread abortion ban, his vote to oppose banning trans youth care, and in 2025 when he voted in opposition of banning DEI initiatives within state government and public schools.
When Alting cast his vote against the total abortion ban, Alting said he had concerns with the wording, specifically around instances of rape and incest.
“I’m very disappointed, very concerned, very worried, particularly for women 16 years of age and under, minority women,” Alting said in 2022. “This is a big setback because of the fact, not that I’m for abortion, but because of the fact that how they have it worded with rape and incest, is almost impossible for that young lady or for that woman to make a choice.”
Alting said at the time that if his daughter were to become pregnant, he would want her to have the freedom to choose.
“That’s not being liberal,” Atling said. “I think it’s just trying to be a good dad.”
After each reference Beckwith made to Republican-led initiatives that Alting voted out of party lines with, a screen grab of news clippings would appear alongside a sound byte of music with an eerie tone.
“So feel free to keep laughing at my expense, Ron,” Beckwith said in the conclusion of the video. “But just know that conservatives in Indiana, and in your district, aren’t laughing at all.”
In a five second clip that closes out the video, Alting can be seen in the hearing again where someone from the audience questioned if he turned his microphone off before making the previous comments.
“No, it’s on,” Alting said with a slight smile, earning him more laughs.
In a statement to the Journal & Courier, Alting said he is “proudly pro-life” and supports exceptions for the life of the mother, rape, and incest, aligning his views with President Donald Trump. The 2022 bill Alting voted against went beyond that, he said, which lead him to vote with his “conscience and my district.”
“I supported House Bill 1041 to protect fairness in NCAA women’s sports and voted for Senate Bill 182 as a stronger, workable approach on DEI,” Alting said. “Legislating is about getting policy right, not picking and choosing votes for political theater. I serve District 22 — not social media.”
Jillian Ellison is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. She can be reached via email at jellison@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Indiana Lt. Gov. Beckwith slams Sen. Alting over ‘laughing’ comment
Reporting by Jillian Ellison, Lafayette Journal & Courier / Lafayette Journal & Courier
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