From mudslinging mass texts to a bitter back-and-forth at events, Republican candidates for secretary of state are scrambling to court delegates in the final days before the GOP convention where party insiders will choose their nominee.
It’s shaping up to be a particularly bizarre race. The current secretary of state is now an underdog after powerful Republicans suddenly pulled their endorsements, though all candidates have been smeared in one way or another. The emerging frontrunner, Max Engling, entered the race last-minute but quickly became the favorite of GOP party insiders and observers placing bets on the race.
But it’s hard to suss out where candidates rank among a pool of roughly 1,800 highly engaged Republican delegates. One of the candidates’ final chances to sway them came June 12, when delegates flocked to a Greenwood tea farm owned by former congressional candidate Sarah Janisse Brown. And in similar fashion to other exchanges in the secretary of state’s race, things got a little testy.
The event was attended by Secretary of State Diego Morales, Knox County Clerk David Shelton and Rep. Kyle Pierce, R-Anderson, who spoke for candidate Max Engling while he attended a separate event. Jamie Reitenour also had a prior commitment, event organizers said, though she has made her priorities clear in interviews with IndyStar and at other events.
Here are the candidates’ basic pitches with just days to go until the June 20 GOP convention.
Morales comes ready to “fight”
Indiana’s incumbent secretary of state kicked off a speech to delegates by addressing pushback for his decision to hire a noncitizen as his chief of staff.
Though he didn’t mention the specifics, including allegations that his former chief of staff registered to vote illegally before being hired by the office, Morales looked to deflect criticism by discussing his own background as an immigrant.
“I came to America to love this country, to give back,” he said, “and that is why, when I worked for state government, I was a legal noncitizen.”
It took Morales years and thousands of dollars to become a naturalized citizen, he said in his speech, noting that noncitizens living in America have fought and died while fighting for the U.S. overseas.
He also briefly addressed other controversies by reiterating that he’s “not done anything illegal.”
But the essence of Morales’ pitch was similar to that of any incumbent: he boasted about a “record of accomplishments” that included purging the voter rolls and canceling the voter registrations of Hoosiers who failed to provide proof of citizenship and said he had “millions” of dollars ready to take on Democratic candidate Beau Bayh.
Morales had nearly $1.2 million in March, money that certainly won’t hurt when going toe-to-toe with Bayh’s larger campaign chest. But it was also clear June 12 that Morales’ scandals continue to haunt him: when Pierce, acting as a proxy for Engling, said during his speech that elections “should be managed by Americans,” a visibly frustrated Morales grabbed the microphone to call Pierce a liar.
“No one is going to walk over me again, ever again,” Morales said. “I’m going to fight, fight, fight.”
Engling campaign zeroes in on electability
Engling’s last-minute candidacy has been largely boosted by concerns that Morales may not be able to win in November, so it’s no surprise that his pitch to delegates often dips into talk of the general election.
It factored into the conversation June 12, too, as Pierce spent much of his brief speech talking about Democrats.
“This office is vital,” Pierce said. “We need to have a candidate who’s spending money attacking Beau Bayh, not defending themselves.”
Engling is relatively new to Indiana politics, having only run unsuccessfully in the GOP primary for the 5th Congressional District before this, but he has the support of powerful fundraisers like U.S. Sen. Jim Banks. He’s also stuck to a set of topical priorities: closing the primaries, requiring citizenship verification before voter registration and securing elections. Those changes would require help from the legislature, so Engling has referenced his more than a decade of work in the U.S. House of Representatives to argue he could best work with the Indiana Statehouse.
But Engling’s leg-up in the race has also prompted others to attempt to smear him. A text sent to delegates, which purported to be paid for by Olorin Consulting, calls Engling “unvetted,” alleging that the candidate has “court records'” and other concerning records tied to him. Engling shared with IndyStar columnist Jacob Stewart that in 2007, he was charged with a misdemeanor for damaging a street sweeper by “throwing eggs and/or egg cartons,” but said the charges were dropped.
Engling could not be immediately reached for comment on the other allegation in the text message. There’s no record of a company called Olorin Consulting registered in Indiana, according to state business records.
Shelton pitches election administration fixes
Describing himself as an “election nerd,” Shelton leaned on his experience as both a county clerk and a private investigator in his pitch to delegates June 12.
As a private investigator, he was able to find a case of voter fraud in Knox County during the 2020 election, he said, which became the sole felony conviction for voter fraud that year. And as clerk, he said he’s worked with legislators to fix quirks in election administration, such as extending the retention period for paper pollbooks, which can be critical pieces of evidence when prosecuting voter fraud.
The upcoming election will not be Shelton’s first time running for secretary of state. He lost a bid for the nomination against Morales in 2022 but gained traction with Morales’ detractors early on in this year’s race. Money has been an issue for Shelton, though, as he had only $3,684 on hand in March.
Shelton has also been attacked for voting in Democratic primaries and running for office as a Democrat. He said on a podcast this month that he voted in Democratic primaries because southern Indiana used to be blue and ran as a Democrat because he struggled to reach the local Republican party. Shelton, who now chairs the Knox County Republican Party, said he’s never identified with Democratic policies.
Reitenour sticks to grassroots message
Reitenour, a former gubernatorial candidate, wasn’t at the event June 12 but has largely run her campaign on a slate of changes to election administration: requiring paper ballots, nixing early voting and eliminating vote centers in favor of precinct-based voting.
In an interview on IndyStar’s “Meet the Candidate” series, Reitenour said she jumped in the race after hearing from fellow Hoosiers who said they felt there was a lack of results from the current secretary of state.
“He hasn’t kept the promises that he gave to the people,” she told IndyStar.
It’s not yet clear how the race will shake out, though it’s likely to be a messy process. Whoever emerges from the convention June 20 in Fort Wayne will face Bayh and Libertarian Lauri Shillings. Former Republican mayor of Indianapolis, Greg Ballard, is running under the Lincoln Party but has not yet obtained enough signatures to secure a spot on the ballot.
Contact breaking politics reporter Marissa Meador at mmeador@indystar.com or find her on X at @marissa_meador.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: The state of play in the bizarre race for a GOP secretary of state nominee
Reporting by Marissa Meador, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Marissa Meador, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
