HENDRICKS COUNTY — About 50 people turned out Friday as Indiana Republicans brought their statewide bus tour to Hendricks County. The stop was day three of the party’s Crossroads Tour, and candidates urged supporters to vote before Tuesday’s election.
“When Republicans show up, Republicans win,” said Lana Keesling, chair of the Indiana Republican Party. She asked the crowd to knock on doors, make calls and bring family members to the polls.
Secretary of State nominee Max Engling said the office’s core job is running elections. He criticized an unnamed opponent, saying the opponent had described the office in a debate as being about taxes, electric prices and data centers.
“When my opponent says that it is unduly burdensome to verify that you’re an eligible citizen to vote in our elections, that should be scary,” Engling said. “That’s the bare minimum of this job.”
Engling said Indiana ranks seventh in the country in election integrity. He cited what he said were 6,600 people illegally on New Jersey’s voter rolls as an example of problems in states where Democrats run elections. He also noted that 2026 has no governor, president or U.S. senator at the top of the ticket.
Attorney General Todd Rokita, a former secretary of state, introduced Engling. Rokita recounted his push for Indiana’s photo ID requirement for voters, which he called the first in the nation. He said he was sued four times over the requirement and that the law was upheld 6-3. Rokita said 36 states now have a photo ID requirement, a figure he attributed to Engling.
Rokita also said Democrats running this year are “by their own declaration, socialists.”
Comptroller Elise Nieshalla, who is seeking a second term, credited two decades of Republican leadership for the state’s finances. She said Democrats closed the books in 2002 with six cents in general fund reserves. She cited the state’s balanced budget amendment, its AAA credit ratings and a new dashboard that tracks federal money spent in Indiana. She asked the public, the media and law enforcement to use the dashboard to look for fraud.
Nieshalla also said she started a National Debt Crisis Task Force for state financial officers, which includes Treasurer Daniel Elliott.
Elliott arrived late. He said he had been voting and that the lines were longer than expected. He said his office has earned $1.8 billion in interest on state funds over three fiscal years. He called that more than the previous 20 years combined.
Elliott said those reserves allowed the state to suspend the gas tax and respond to this year’s flooding. “If you only have six cents in the bank, then you can’t help the people of our state,” he said.
U.S. Rep. Jim Baird also spoke. He urged turnout and referred to his service fighting communism in Vietnam.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.
