“Do no harm” was the quiet strategy at a OneZone Chamber of Commerce forum in Fishers, where the four candidates for Indiana Secretary of State largely stayed on script and used their life stories — professional and personal — to argue they’re best suited to run the office.

The event opened with a nod to recent flooding in Hamilton County. The moderator called the damage a “tragedy,” but said the community’s response — including donations that “filled the lobby” — showed the county at its best. After that, the focus turned to the candidates’ backgrounds and how those experiences would shape their approach as the state’s chief elections and business officer.

Beau Bayh: Family legacy and the Marine Corps

Democrat Beau Bayh framed his candidacy as an extension of a family history of public service and his own military and legal work.

Bayh grew up watching his grandfather author the 26th Amendment, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 during the Vietnam War, and his father create the 21st Century Scholars program, which has allowed hundreds of thousands of Hoosier students to attend college without debt. He said seeing that impact up close “affects you” and helped push him toward service.

A former Marine Corps infantry officer and attorney, Bayh has handled election law cases, securities fraud investigations, and helped business owners set up companies and resolve disputes. He said the Marine Corps’ model of “decentralized command” — training and empowering people at the point of contact to make decisions — is exactly how he’d run the Secretary of State’s office: build a competent team, trust them, and keep the mission in focus.

Max Engling: Hard work, Hill experience, and Hoosier business

Republican Max Engling leaned hard into a grind-it-out narrative — early work, night school, and long hours — as proof he understands both ordinary Hoosiers and the machinery of government.

One of eight kids, Engling said he started in agriculture jobs, baling hay and detasseling corn, then worked construction on Community North Hospital’s expansion while taking 15 credit hours at night at Ivy Tech and IUPUI, determined to leave school without debt.

In Washington, he went to work for the U.S. House Committee on House Administration, which oversees elections operations in the House, and later for congressional leadership — all while working nights at a steakhouse because “they don’t pay you hardly anything in Washington.” Back home, he’s worked for Beck’s Hybrids and for U.S. Rep. Jim Banks on agriculture policy and major projects, and has filed his own small business with the Secretary of State’s office.

Engling argued that combination — small-business paperwork, federal election administration experience, and policy work in Indiana — gives him “the most relevant experience” to manage the office’s elections, business services, and fraud enforcement divisions.

Greg Ballard: Marines, mayoralty, and independence

Independent Greg Ballard pointed to a lifetime of leadership under pressure — on the battlefield and at City Hall — as his main argument.

Ballard served 23 years in the Marine Corps, including wartime service he said taught him to lead people through fear and uncertainty, stay steady when “things don’t look so good,” and make hard calls when stakes are high.

He then won election as mayor of Indianapolis in 2007, taking office just as the Great Recession hit. Ballard cited major infrastructure improvements above and below ground, bringing the Super Bowl to Indianapolis, and process reforms like Six Sigma as examples of managing a large, complex organization in tough times. He also pointed to his decision to publicly oppose the Religious Freedom Restoration Act when he believed it threatened the city’s economy, arguing that shows he’ll stand up to allies when necessary.

Ballard said that kind of experience — long-term command in the Marines, executive responsibility over a major city, and a record of bucking his own side — is what’s needed to clean up an office he says has been mismanaged and to run elections with genuine independence.

Lauri Shillings: Small business and third-party organizing

Libertarian Lauri Shillings told a story rooted in the working and middle class, small business, and third-party politics.

Shillings has spent decades in community and business leadership, including owning a marketing and branding firm that works directly with Indiana businesses to build their visibility. She said that gives her a ground-level understanding of how the Secretary of State’s business division affects people trying to start and grow companies.

On the political side, she’s served as chair of the Hamilton County Libertarian Party and as a state central committee representative, regularly dealing with the office from the “other side of the counter” — filing candidates, meeting ballot requirements, and navigating state rules for a minor party.

She pointed to organizing the Libertarian Party’s 2021 state convention, in this same building, during COVID — when she had to negotiate health rules, add remote participation, and build secure digital credentialing and voting — as an example of adapting under pressure. Shillings said that mix of business ownership and third-party organizing is exactly what the Secretary of State’s office needs to make filings simpler, modernize its technology, and give all political actors — not just the big two parties — a fair shake.

Different lives, common pitch: “I’m ready to run the office”

Pressed on vision and leadership, each candidate largely tied their policy agenda back to their biography: Bayh to military and legal service, Engling to hard work and elections experience, Ballard to crisis-tested leadership, and Shillings to business ownership and system-level problem solving.

If voters were looking for fireworks, they didn’t get them. But if they were looking for how each contender thinks their life experience translates into running Indiana’s elections, business filings, and consumer protection units, this forum was squarely aimed at that question — and the candidates showed no interest in doing anything that might harm themselves on that front.