By Marilyn Odendahl
The Indiana Citizen
March 13, 2026
A three-hour hearing has been scheduled for next week in the dispute over the qualifications of a candidate in the Senate District 38 Republican primary.
Clay County Circuit Court Judge David Thomas issued an order Thursday setting the hearing for 9 a.m. March 18, just days before the March 21 deadline for mailing absentee ballots to eligible voters. The order said the court has reviewed “the recent filings in the docket” as well as relevant state statutes and directed the attorneys to “clear their calendars for this hearing, and to bring all witnesses and exhibits they wish to introduce.”
Most of the filings submitted so far in this case have been made by attorney James Bopp on behalf of the petitioner, Jeffrey Gallant. The other named party in the case, the Indiana Election Commission, which is being represented by the Indiana Attorney General’s Office, has not filed a reply brief or responded to any of the motions from Bopp.
At the center of this dispute is Alexandra Wilson, a 34-year-old Vigo County woman, who filed to run in the GOP primary on May 5 for the Indiana Senate seat, which is currently held by state Sen. Greg Goode, R-Terre Haute. Also in the race is Vigo County council member, Brenda Wilson, who has been endorsed by President Donald Trump.
Bopp has claimed Alexandra Wilson’s candidacy is part of a scheme to keep Goode in office by drawing votes away from Brenda Wilson.
“This is a classic dirty trick to confuse voters,” Bopp said in a March 9 press release. “Not only is (Alexandra’s) last name the same as Brenda’s, but it will appear higher on the ballot than Brenda’s. This is an attempt to confuse voters and to thwart a viable primary challenge to Greg Goode.”
Wilson, represented by attorney Samantha DeWester, has filed a motion to intervene. In the motion, Wilson argued she has a substantial stake in this case because she is the only individual who will be directly impacted by this judicial review, but her interests will not be adequately represented by any of the existing parties in the case.
DeWester declined to comment on the motion or the order scheduling the hearing.
Bopp and Gallant filed a challenge with the Election Commission in February, asserting Alexandra Wilson was prohibited by state law from running for office because she had pleaded guilty to resisting law enforcement, a Class D felony.
Following a hearing on the matter, the two Republican commission members voted to uphold the challenge, but the two Democratic members voted to deny it, finding that while Alexandra Wilson did agree to a guilty plea, the judgment of conviction was entered as a Class A misdemeanor, not a felony. Since the commission’s vote was a 2-2 split, she was allowed to remain on the ballot.
After the Election Commission’s decision, Bopp filed a petition for judicial review. He asked the Clay County Circuit Court to reverse the commission’s decision and bar Alexandra Wilson from the primary.
In his filings with the court and in his press release, Bopp maintains Alexandra Wilson’s guilty plea disqualifies her from running in the Senate District 38 contest. Moreover, he claimed, without offering any evidence, that Wilson’s candidacy is part of a ploy by the Democratic Party.
“It is obvious from the Commission vote that the Democrats have lined up behind incumbent Goode by interfering in our Republican primary,” Bopp said in the release. “We’re doing all we can to end the trickery.”
The attorney general’s office did not respond to a question from The Indiana Citizen, asking if a brief would be filed before the hearing.
Bopp filed the petition for judicial review on March 2 and, in an accompanying motion for an expedited hearing, he urged the court to move quickly because of the approaching absentee ballot deadline and asked for the hearing to be held on March 13. A few days later, he filed a motion to add Alexandra Wilson as a party to the case and a memorandum in support of the petition, which included eight exhibits.
When the court did not rule, Bopp filed an emergency motion on March 11 for a hearing and resolution. He asserted that including Alexandra Wilson’s name on the primary ballot will cause “irreparable injuries.” Namely, he said, voters supporting Brenda Wilson might cast a ballot erroneously for Alexandra Wilson and those who are supporting Alexandra Wilson will be disenfranchised, since, if she is disqualified from running, their votes will not count.
Bopp also proposed that if a decision on his petition for review could not be issued “in time to avoid irreparable harm,” the court should stay the commission’s ruling that allowed Alexandra Wilson’s name to appear on the Republican ballot.
In the court order, the judge noted the need to expedite the hearing because of the upcoming primary election.
The case is Jeffrey Gallant v. Indiana Election Commission, 11C01-2603-RA-000185.
Dwight Adams, an editor and writer based in Indianapolis, edited this article. He is a former content editor, copy editor and digital producer at The Indianapolis Star and IndyStar.com, and worked as a planner for other newspapers, including the Louisville Courier Journal.
The Indiana Citizen is a nonpartisan, nonprofit platform dedicated to increasing the number of informed and engaged Hoosier citizens. We are operated by the Indiana Citizen Education Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) public charity. For questions about the story, contact Marilyn Odendahl at marilyn.odendahl@indianacitizen.org
