Every two years, the respective political parties in the state of Indiana have a political convention where elected or appointed delegates select their candidates for statewide elected office. This year, the Democrats and Republicans will be selecting candidates for the state’s Treasurer, Auditor, and Secretary of State. Now, for the Republicans, the first two slots are running unopposed. However, the Secretary of State race is facing a divided four way race that is getting particularly nasty. To help ease some of the contention, this post is going to give a basic overview of each candidate with their strengths and weaknesses to help interested delegates make a more informed decision.
To start off with, it’s important to understand the stakes Republicans are facing when selecting their candidates as this will play a part in determining who the best candidate is for the job. First of all, the Democrats selected Birch Evans “Beau” Bayh IV, son of former Indiana governor and US Senator Birch Evans “Evan” Bayh III and grandson of former state Speaker of the House and US Senator Birch Evans Bayh Jr. Meanwhile, there is also an independent challenger who is gaining some attention as former Indianapolis Mayor, Greg Ballard, is running for Secretary of State as a member of the “Lincoln Party.” Some polling does have him doing well so there is concern that he might be a spoiler for the GOP or possibly win.
Now, it’s worth stressing that both concerns are likely overrated. Beau’s father was supposed to win his old senate seat back in 2016 and polled ahead throughout the entire race until the last week of the election and yet still lost by almost 10 points. Considering that Democrats consistently polled ahead in the race for this seat and still lost back in 2022, it’s reasonable to assume that there isn’t as much enthusiasm for another Bayh.
Similarly, Greg Ballard hasn’t been in office since 2016 and the party has changed drastically since then. At the time, he opposed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and made support for “rainbow” causes a feature of his administration. Now, a majority of Republicans (nationally) no longer support gay marriage and not only want religious tolerance, but actively want religious values in governance. So it is possible he could peel off some support from the Republican party in “socially liberal” areas, but keeping in mind that the most successful third party candidate in Indiana in the last 10 years ran to the right of the Republican candidate, it’s unlikely he will do more than that. His connection to Indianapolis might be concerning since incumbent Diego Morales did struggle in the suburbs of Indy four years ago, but it’s not a guarantee at this time.
There’s also a libertarian candidate running in this race. They don’t win.
So with the backdrop of the likely opposition to the Republican candidates, the next discussion will be my own biases. I did publicly come out in favor of Diego due to my regular meetings with him at Republican events and friendship with members of his office. However, a series of campaign missteps after my letter was originally submitted, such as getting into a public feud with State Treasurer Daniel Elliott, sending out a mailer claiming Banks had endorsed him after said endorsement was rescinded, and possible ties to a consulting firm that took money from China at a time when Indiana Republicans are trying to distance themselves from China, made me take a step back and say that I’ll wait until the final pitch at the convention before endorsing a candidate. Nevertheless, I want to remain as objective and fair to all candidates as I believe that all four of them would do a good job in the position and would be happy to vote for any of them in November.
So, here is the overview for all four candidates to help the delegates make a decision:
Diego Morales - Incumbent Secretary of State
Strengths
He has already served in the position, thus he has incumbent advantage
Is generally very popular in any room he’s in
Pushed to protect Hoosiers investment from ESG supporting firms
Added new services to the office
Already has plans to modernize his office if elected
Weaknesses
There are questions about his hiring practices such as hiring family members
Somehow hiring a non-citizen that was on the voter rolls
Questions over how he spends money for his office
Overselling some of his accomplishments
Various foreign trips he’s taken that have drawn scrutiny.
In Fairness - Some of the backlash has veered into overhate and borderline slander.
One journalist claimed that the FBI was going to arrest him over Guatemalan drug cartels, which turned out to be false.
The same publication also tried to scrutinize his wife after she was declared “Honorary Consul of Hungary,” asking questions like if she should register as a foreign agent when it seems to have limited notary function as opposed to having any real lobbying power
There are similar nonexistent controversies that also just seem like mudslinging
This can make it hard to respect legitimate criticism towards him knowing how far some of his critics are willing to stoop to attack him. In other words, it creates a “Boy Who Cried Wolf” problem.
However, being a lightning rod for controversy isn’t a good look for a politician
David Shelton - Knox County Clerk and Republican Party County Chairman
Strengths
Having served in the role for seven years now, he has plenty of experience in electoral affairs
He even received clerk of the year three times during his tenure
Runs companies that handle election infrastructure
Has experience in fraud investigation
Overseen the transition to vote centers multiple times
Weaknesses
There was controversy over donations his campaign received from former Senate candidate John Rust
Rust ran for senate and was disqualified for voting in Democratic primaries
Rust also ran against Jim Banks who was Indiana’s most conservative congressmen and now one of America’s most conservative senators
He reportedly has a history of voting in Democratic primaries himself
Max Engling - Congressional Aide
Strengths
Experience working in government offices
Boasts of having private sector experience as well
US Senator Jim Banks, whom he works for
US Rep. Rudy Yakym
US Rep. Jim Baird
US Rep. Victoria Spartz
US Rep. Erin Houchin
Former Indiana Deputy Attorney General Andrew Ireland, who is serving as his campaign chairman
Weaknesses
He’s never been elected to office before
His most prominent campaign, a US House Race, had him coming in third, making him a bit of a novice on the campaign field as well as to the job
Jamie Reitenour - Former Candidate for Governor
Strengths - Very conservative platform and a dedication to the constitution
Weaknesses - Ran for Governor two years ago and didn’t have much of an impact as she came in fifth, so it’s worth asking how serious a candidate she is
Sidenote - She did beat former Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill in the primary which is an accomplishment since Hill won his first race with the most votes in state history
All these candidates have something to offer and definitely do the job as required. It’s up to the delegates to pick the right candidate that will represent Hoosiers in Indy as well as keep our state's elections running smoothly (as no one wants to be California right now). We’ll see what happens on June 20th, but all I can ask is: make sure you pick the right candidate
Addendum: I did reach out to the top three candidates about issues facing their campaign and some of my concerns. Here is the response I got
Diego Morales - I asked him about the Banks mailer he sent out and a clarification. He has assured me that the mailer was approved before the endorsement was rescinded and it was too late to cancel. He also said that his office has done nothing illegal and followed the law in all instances
David Shelton - I asked him about John Rust and Indiana’s two primary vote candidate law. He says that he has no personal affiliation with the man and that he took his donation like he would any other donor. He also has no intention of supporting making it easier for Democrats to run in Republican primaries
Max Engling - I asked him about perceived lack of experience. He sent me the following (posted as received):
I've listed out some of my experience, and I included a doc as well.
worked for the chief elections committee in the US House of Representatives for 8 years
successfully defeated Nancy Pelosi's federalization of elections
senior staffer in the speaker's office
filed a small business with the Secretary of State re agriculture education
traveled the state for the last three years talking with Hoosiers about their needs and how to formulate effective policy solutions
worked in several small businesses that registered with the SOS - HVAC Co office manager, summit construction building the community north hospital expansion, Becks Hybrids, and several others
worked my way through an undergraduate at IUPUI and earned my masters from the Naval War College as a civilian in strategic planning
I also ran for the 5th congressional district - unsuccessful, but placed 3 of 9 behind the incumbent and a state rep
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