Candidates make final appeals in tough Indiana secretary of state’s race

A bevy of Indiana Republican leaders at a party rally Monday urged conservatives to keep up a final push for GOP secretary of state candidate Max Engling going into Tuesday’s Election Day.

Meanwhile, Democratic nominee Beau Bayh started the final full day of the campaign by visiting an Indianapolis park’s memorial to his late mother before his own rally with labor union members later Monday.

Republicans boasted about Indiana’s economy and state government’s fiscal health as they called on supporters to turn out in support of Engling in what has been an expensive and acrimonious race against Bayh.

Gov. Mike Braun urged a crowd of about 100 people inside an Indianapolis social hall to rally behind the statewide Republican ticket of Engling, state Treasurer Daniel Elliott and state Comptroller Elise Nieshalla.

“Let’s get Max Engling across the finish line and this great team,” Braun said. “Our state party and I have put a ton of skin in the game.”

Elliott is facing Democratic candidate Coumba Kebe and Nieshalla is challenged by Democrat Jessica Bailey and Libertarian John Schick. 

Bayh, meanwhile, repeated his theme of breaking the full Republican control of state government and pointing to what he has called corrupt spending by current Republican Secretary of State Diego Morales.

“We’re going to work as hard as we can until Election Day to really get out the vote and make sure that people hear our message, which is that we need some change in this office, so rooting out the corruption and the wasteful spending,” Bayh told reporters. “That message seems to be resonating with people, but we’re going to leave it out on the field.”

Bayh was joined by his twin brother, Nick, and father, former Gov. Evan Bayh, at Holliday Park in Indianapolis as he set flowers Monday morning at an outdoor pavilion named in memory of his mother, Susan, who died of brain cancer in 2021 at age 61, before speaking with reporters nearby.

“She’s not here with us physically, but I do feel like she’s been on my shoulder throughout the past 14 months,” the 30-year-old Bayh said. “Anytime that I feel a little bit down or I’m questioning myself, I think about what she would advise me to do.”

Evan Bayh won five statewide elections as secretary of state, governor and U.S. Senate before losing a Senate comeback race in 2016. He said there was “no doubt” that he was more nervous about the election results for his son than he felt.

“A lot more butterflies for the son I love than for myself,” he said. “I’ve won my fair share. I lost my last one. He’s left it all in the field, and you can’t ask for more than that.”

The four-candidate field for secretary of state also includes Lincoln Party candidate Greg Ballard and Libertarian Lauri Shillings.

Lincoln Party chair Nathan Gotsch on Monday touted Ballard’s candidacy as a way for Indiana voters to open up a path for independent candidates to better compete with Republicans and Democrats.

If Ballard gets at least 2% of the votes cast for secretary of state, the Lincoln Party would get four-year automatic ballot access for its candidates. Libertarians have maintained that status since the 1994 election.

“We already know independent candidates can win in Indiana,” said Gotsch, who is Ballard’s campaign manager. “They just need a level playing field, which is what we’re building with the Lincoln Party.”

U.S. Sen. Todd Young, state Attorney General Todd Rokita and state Republican Chair Lana Keesling joined Braun and the statewide candidates at the Indianapolis rally that wrapped up a five-day tour around the state.

Engling told the crowd to share the “urgency” of this year’s election

“There’s no president running across the country. Which means that we here in this room have to get the voters to turn out,” he said. “We have to, as a statewide ticket, we have to pull our weight from the top to make sure we’re leading well, and every candidate in here has to take and run their race hard, so that we all are boosting each other together to get across the finish line.”

President Donald Trump’s name wasn’t mentioned by any of the speakers at the Republican rally. But the president did post his support of Engling and other Indiana Republicans again on Monday. 

Engling sidestepped a question afterward about what impact Trump’s low approval ratings in state and national polls could have on the Indiana election results.

“We have found folks across the state that are really focused on election integrity, on transparency, and around what they’re seeing around trucking and some of the dangerous actions on the roads,” Engling told reporters. “That’s what I’ve heard as I’ve traveled the state.”