This story has been updated to add a response from Gov. Mike Braun’s office.
Despite solicitations from the White House and Gov. Mike Braun’s administration, a ballot challenge and a court case trying to convince her otherwise, Alexandra Wilson is still on the ballot for a contested state Senate district that’s become a personal cause for President Donald Trump.
After a special judge in Clay County punted the ballot challenge back to the Indiana Election Commission, the commission this week deadlocked ― again ― on whether Wilson’s former criminal history disqualifies her from running in the Republican primary against incumbent Sen. Greg Goode, who earned Trump’s wrath by voting against redistricting last year, and Vigo County councilor Brenda Wilson, who Trump endorsed.
Though Braun ally and attorney Jim Bopp said he plans to appeal the court case, as of right now, Alexandra Wilson is on the ballot as early voting in the western Indiana Senate district gets underway.
The criminal history is the technical grounds on which Bopp has sought to get her disqualified. The overarching reason is because he and allies believe she is running merely as a clever ploy to confuse voters away from the Trump-endorsed Wilson, a claim Alexandra Wilson vehemently denies.
Phone call recordings and screenshots Alexandra Wilson released April 10, which NBC News first reported, show that the pressure campaign to get Wilson off the ballot began before Bopp filed any challenge in court. As the Feb. 13 deadline approached, she fielded multiple texts, calls and voicemails from multiple top aides at the White House, as well as Braun’s chief of staff Josh Kelley and Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith.
The White House aides tried to talk her into dropping out, including by offering to find her some kind of job or position of influence within state government as a consolation. In Kelley’s case, a spokesperson said he was only reaching out to Wilson because the White House gave his office her name as a referral for boards and commissions.
“We receive hundreds of referrals for Hoosiers interested in serving our state and it is standard practice that we follow up on those leads,” the spokesperson said. “Mrs. Wilson was one of many who have been referred to our office. Mr. Kelley reached out and she did not respond.”
But in the conversations with the White House aides, they made it clear that her duplicative last name was a problem for the Trump-endorsed candidate, and cautioned that she’ll face a tough road and well-financed competition.
“I think it’s going to be really ugly, and I think we’re sort of working at cross purposes with two people with the same last name on the ballot that benefits neither of our goals,” said James Blair, Trump’s deputy chief of staff, in a recorded phone call with Wilson that was shared with media.
White House political director Matt Brasseaux asked Wilson in a provided phone call recording if there is a “landing spot” in state government that Wilson would be interested in taking instead.
“I’m just trying to think outside the box where we can kill two birds with one stone, and you have the ability to effect change and do exactly what you’re talking about doing, but also we have the ability to take out Greg Goode and move on,” he said.
He later texted Wilson to say that there are “several options for boards/commissions that could be an option for you to positively influence your community too,” records showed.
Wilson rebuffed all of these offers.
“I’m not envisioning anything else but continuing in the race at this very moment,” Wilson told Brasseaux.
When these efforts failed, a Vigo County resident challenged her candidacy before the Indiana Election Commission in February, alleging she had a prior felony conviction that should disqualify her. Her attorney, Samantha DeWester, argued this 15-year-old case involved a felony arrest that was pleaded down and entered into the record as a misdemeanor.
The election commission deadlocked then along party lines, leaving her on the ballot, and Bopp appealed the decision in Clay County court. The court assigned a special judge to the case. In the meantime, Wilson got her conviction expunged. The special judge decided that since circumstances had changed, the election commission should weigh in again.
That’s what they did this week. It remains to be seen how the court case will progress before election day May 5.
“It makes no logical sense especially to continue beating a dead horse over a challenge that shouldn’t have been entertained in the first place,” Wilson told IndyStar. “How many times will we have to go back and forth between the Commission and the courts? Waste of time and money.”
Contact Statehouse reporter Kayla Dwyer at kdwyer@indystar.com or follow her on X @kayla_dwyer17.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana Senate candidate still on ballot after White House pressure and court challenge
Reporting by Kayla Dwyer, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
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