On Saturday, June 20, Republican party delegates will select their nominee for secretary of state. Scandal, mudslinging, and a last-minute upset have defined the race to the convention.
Oftentimes, the incumbent is all but guaranteed to win at the convention. Not this time. Incumbent Diego Morales lost endorsements at the last minute following news that his chief of staff registered to vote as a non-citizen. He’s also been criticized during his term for using taxpayer dollars for a $90,000 luxury vehicle, extensive travel, and hiring family members for six-figure gigs.
Morales faces three Republicans challengers: David Shelton, Max Engling, and Jamie Reitenour. Engling is likely his most serious challenger with endorsements from top Republican leadership, such as Sen. Jim Banks who has been increasingly controlling the party.
Earlier this month, Democrats elected Beau Bayh as their nominee for secretary of state. Bayh received 60% of the vote, beating Blythe Potter, a progressive newcomer.
Bayh and the Republican nominee will face Libertarian candidate Lauri Shillings, along with former Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard if he can gather the required 37,000 signatures by June 30 to run as an independent under the Lincoln Party. On June 16, Ballard had over 35,000 signatures, according to his campaign website, and was close to his goal of putting the Lincoln Party on the ballot.
Here are all the candidates who have filed for candidacy for Republican Party nomination.
Max Engling
Residence: Cicero
Occupation: Central Indiana regional director and senior adviser to U.S. Sen. Jim Banks, R-IN
What to know: Engling launched his campaign the day before the filing deadline. Immediately, Sen. Banks and Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita pulled their support from Morales and pointed to Engling as the best choice. On day one, Engling pledges to close primary elections (requiring voters to register with a party and vote only in their party’s primaries), stop any potential non-citizen voting loopholes, and restrict “excuse-based absentee ballots.”
His campaign website also lists non-election goals, including flagging possible business filing fraud. At a campaign event, Engling pointed to some trucking companies as potential fraud, claiming they refile under new names for clean records. Engling said as secretary of state he would screen for potentially fraudulent companies and forward suspicious ones to prosecutors and the attorney general. He also promised to “slash onerous regulations” for small businesses.
Website: maxforindiana.com
Diego Morales
Residence: Indianapolis
Occupation: Indiana’s secretary of state since 2023
What to know: Morales entered his first term as secretary of state on a platform of election integrity, and followed through on his campaign promise to push the legislature to require ID for absentee ballot registration. Many of his campaign promises this time around focus more on federal-level advocacy, such as requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration and removing restrictions for states’ voter list maintenance, or “expanding” past efforts.
Rather than a platform, Morales’ campaign has instead been defined by his controversies and record: two sexual assault allegations; accusations of exaggerating his military experience; poor work performance under two former secretaries of state; spending millions on no-bid contracts for his donors; extensive travel; purchasing a $90,000 car with taxpayer money; and hiring a chief-of-staff who registered to vote despite being a non-citizen. At a party event on June 12, he said he has a “record of accomplishments” such as purging voter rolls and cancelling voter registrations. To win on Saturday, Morales will need to prove this record can overshadow his history.
Website: diego4indiana.com
Jamie Reitenour
Residence: Indianapolis
Occupation: Stay-at-home mom
What to know: Reitenour’s campaign tagline “Back to the Constitution” promises a return to the secretary of state role’s “constitutional authority” and precinct-based voting rather than vote centers. Her first goal as secretary of state would be to bring back and push for House Bill 1166, which would have prohibited mail-in and early in-person voting, vote centers, and ePollBooks, and increased voter identification requirements. Reitenour previously ran for governor in 2024, finishing in 5th in the GOP primary with 4.8% of votes.
Website: indianagoodness.com
David Shelton
Residence: Vincennes
Role or Occupation: Knox County clerk and county GOP chairman
What to know: Shelton’s campaign focuses on his cost-cutting efforts across election technology and public defense. He calls himself an “election nerd” and emphasizes his work saving costs and increasing efficiency as an election administrator. In the private sector, he patented a solution for ePoll Book connection issues and operates Illiana Investigations, a fraud detection and investigative firm. He also claims to have secured the only election fraud felony conviction in Indiana’s 2020 state election. Shelton promised to eliminate the no-bid donor contracts and expensive travel that Morales has come under fire for, according to State Affairs. He ran unsuccessfully against Morales in the 2022 convention.
Website: sheltonforindiana.com
Lucy Tobier is the politics reporting intern for the Indianapolis Star. She can be reached at ltobier@gannett.com or on X at @TobierLucy
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Republicans pick their secretary of state nominee this weekend. Here’s who is running
Reporting by Lucy Tobier, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Lucy Tobier, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
