Republicans attack ex-GOP Mayor Ballard in party’s opening secretary of state ad

The first television ad from Republicans in this year’s Indiana secretary of state race is an all-out attack on Greg Ballard’s time as the Republican mayor of Indianapolis.

The 30-second commercial that started airing Friday doesn’t mention Republican candidate Max Engling a single time. But the narrator and on-screen text repeatedly denounces “liberal Greg Ballard” and says he failed as the city’s mayor.

Ballard, who is running under the Lincoln Party banner, responded that he is proud of his record in office from 2008 through 2015 and described the ad as “built on fiction.”

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“This is a panic move from the Indiana Republican Party,” Ballard said in a statement. “You don’t attack candidates you’re not afraid of. Part of the reason I’m running for this office is to reduce the toxicity and negativity of political campaigns.”

The Ballard campaign also quoted a 2014 statement from then-Indiana Republican Party Chairman Tim Berry on Indianapolis Ballard’s decision not to seek re-election as mayor.

“I would like to thank Mayor Greg Ballard for his tireless work and dedication to public service. He has made Indianapolis financially stronger and more vibrant than when he took over eight years ago,” Berry said. “Ballard fought to protect taxpayers, bolster businesses, expand education opportunities and make Indiana’s largest city, a destination city. His focus was always making Indianapolis a better place and that’s certainly a part of the legacy he will leave behind.”

The ad paid for by the state Republican Party picks up on attack lines used by the Engling campaign about local tax increases and crime rates in Indianapolis under Ballard.

Republicans started broadcast ads a month after Democratic nominee Beau Bayh’s commercials first hit the airwaves. 

Bayh also isn’t mentioned in the new Republican ad, which is part of $1 million in media spending announced Thursday by the state GOP and Gov. Mike Braun’s campaign to support Engling’s campaign.

That announcement described the push as “part of a statewide effort to make clear the choice facing Hoosier voters in the secretary of state race and highlight what’s at stake this November.”