The chairman of the Hamilton County Republican Party says some of the criticism aimed at Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales would not have surfaced if Morales were not a Hispanic immigrant with an accent, offering a defense of the embattled incumbent two weeks before Republicans choose their nominee.
Mario Massillamany made the comments on the “Larry in Fishers” podcast in an episode posted June 5 — the day before Indiana Democrats nominated Beau Bayh for secretary of state.
“I think Diego Morales has gotten an unfair shake by the media and by a lot of people,” Massillamany said, “because I think that some of the attacks that he’s received would not have been received if he were the prototypical white male from Indiana.”
Morales, Massillamany continued, “is a short Hispanic from Guatemala that has a thick accent,” which he said made the secretary of state an easy target. “Sometimes it’s easy to pick on him when other people are doing the exact same thing that he’s doing, but he’s got a bigger target on him.”
Massillamany, an attorney who endorsed Morales in 2022 and served on his transition team, stopped short of a full endorsement for this year’s convention. He said he also likes challenger Max Engling, a fellow Hamilton County Republican, and described a contested convention as healthy. “I don’t think this is a bad process for Republicans to have options,” he said.
Morales faces three challengers at the Republican state convention June 19-20 in Fort Wayne, where delegates will select the party’s nominee on June 20. Along with Engling — a senior adviser to U.S. Sen. Jim Banks — the field includes Knox County Clerk David Shelton and conservative activist Jamie Reitenour.
The incumbent’s standing has eroded sharply this spring. Morales drew scrutiny after it emerged that his office had employed Elina Kupce, a legal immigrant who is not a U.S. citizen, as a deputy chief of staff, with state-issued credentials reflecting non-citizen codes. Banks and Attorney General Todd Rokita subsequently withdrew their endorsements of Morales and urged delegates to back Engling. Treasurer Daniel Elliott has called on Morales to step aside.
Morales, who in 2022 became the first Latino elected to statewide office in Indiana, has not withdrawn and is seeking a second term. He was born in Guatemala, immigrated to the United States with his family, became a naturalized citizen and served in the U.S. Army and Indiana National Guard. He captured the 2022 nomination at the state convention by defeating then-incumbent Holli Sullivan, a reminder that delegate contests can produce upsets.
A crowded field can also work to an incumbent’s advantage. A convention nominee must win a majority of delegates, and lower finishers are dropped through successive ballots — a dynamic that can split the opposition and leave a well-known incumbent standing.
The stakes rose Saturday when Democrats nominated Bayh — a Marine Corps veteran, attorney and son of former Gov. and U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh — over Blythe Potter, 61 percent to 39 percent. Shelton has argued for months that renominating Morales could cost Republicans the office if Bayh proves a strong general-election candidate.
Massillamany did not say which candidate he would ultimately support.
