With 12 weeks until Election Day, Democrat Beau Bayh’s campaign for Secretary of State has released its first ad of the cycle, a spot called “Target.”
The ad leans on Bayh’s Marine Corps service — he rose to the rank of Captain — and pairs it with the two themes his campaign has run on since launch: corruption in the Secretary of State’s office and the handling of taxpayer money.
“I joined the Marines to fight for this country,” Bayh says in the spot. “Now I’m running for Secretary of State to fight for you and clean up a corrupt office.” He also pledges to “expose every no-bid contract.”
The office Bayh is describing is the one run by Diego Morales, who lost the Republican nomination at the June state convention and is not on the November ballot. Morales’s tenure generated a steady run of coverage: the Indiana Capital Chronicle documented millions in no-bid contracts, some to campaign donors; WTHR confirmed Morales hired his brother-in-law into a $108,000 job; and the IndyStar reported on his overseas travel.
Bayh committed on day one to an independent audit of the office. His campaign says Republican nominee Max Engling has refused to make the same commitment. The Engling campaign has not responded to that characterization; we’ve asked.
The campaign says it is making an initial six-figure buy across broadcast and digital, but did not specify markets, flight dates, or the split between the two.
Also on the ballot: independent Greg Ballard and Libertarian Lauri Shillings.
Engling has not yet gone up on air. We’ll cover his first ad the same way when he does.
