Republican Secretary of State nominee Max Engling said his campaign will keep a $50,000 contribution from a donor with a federal bribery conviction, saying the donor “paid his debt to society” and has since supported organizations and candidates.
Engling addressed the contribution in an interview with Indy Politics after being asked whether he knew about the donor’s past and whether the campaign would return the money. He said the charges dated back nearly two decades and that the donor had served time. Engling said the donor had since given to conservative and Christian organizations and candidates.
The response contrasts with the campaign’s decision to return a contribution from the Hoosier Leadership Forum. Engling said the campaign returned that money after deciding it wanted to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. He described that decision as evidence of the campaign’s due diligence, but said the circumstances surrounding the current donation were different.
Engling also said he believed other candidates’ donors had received less scrutiny, citing what he described as connections between rival candidates’ donors and Jeffrey Epstein. Indy Politics told Engling it planned to discuss those contributions with the other candidates.
The interview ranged from the donation controversy to Engling’s positions on elections and business regulation. He said voters he meets want Indiana to build on its election procedures while making the secretary of state’s business registration process more efficient. He also said the office should address fraudulent business registrations, which he said often involve trucking companies.
On election security, Engling said he supports changing the background color of identification cards issued to noncitizens so poll workers could more readily identify people who are ineligible to vote. He said the goal should be to reduce illegal voting to zero.
The interviewer cited a report from the attorney general and secretary of state’s office that identified 165 noncitizens on voter rolls and 21 who had voted. Engling said the reported number did not change his view. “One illegal vote is too many,” he said.
Engling said suspected cases should be investigated in coordination with local clerks and state partners, with prosecution considered based on the facts of each case. He said he wants regular meetings with county clerks and supports giving them additional training resources. He opposes requiring uniform training statewide, arguing that the state should work in partnership with clerks rather than dictate procedures from Indianapolis.
Engling also made his case based on his background. He said he moved to Indiana from rural Illinois as a teenager, attended Ivy Tech and IUPUI, worked for local businesses and later served with the U.S. House committee responsible for elections. He said he has worked with small businesses and filed his own business through the secretary of state’s office.
He criticized rival candidates’ positions and records, including their approaches to election policy, and said his campaign is focused on election integrity, transparency and improving the business environment. He described his goal for the office as helping businesses succeed while holding bad actors accountable.
Engling said his immediate priority is to reach as many voters as possible and urge them to cast ballots on or before Nov. 3.
