By Marilyn Odendahl
The Indiana Citizen
June 15, 2024
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita took the gloves off – literally and figuratively – when he spoke to the delegates at the Indiana Republican Party convention on Saturday.
“We live in a time when there is only one party that loves America, that cherishes the Constitution, that stands up for Hoosier values and that’s the Republican Party,” Rokita told the convention delegates. “Indiana Democrats … are all part of a radical ideology, which has taken over the Democrats, and wants to kill this country.”
Rokita gave his seven-minute speech, after he was nominated to run for reelection as attorney general on the Indiana GOP’s 2024 ticket. He came onto the convention hall stage wearing red boxing gloves and waving his arms, while music played and delegates applauded. Then, he removed the gloves and set them on top of the podium while he began to speak.
Much of his remarks demonized Democrats and championed his work in the attorney general’s office as fighting against the “radical Democrats.” He accused members of the Democratic party as pushing a “false climate agenda,” advocating for abortion to be available through childbirth, indoctrinating children in schools and letting “criminal illegal aliens” stream into Indiana.
Rokita said he was fighting against the “Democrat woke bullies.” As attorney general, he said he fought against masks and “silly vaccine mandates”, created a parents’ bill of rights and a gun owner’s bill of rights, kept “dangerous criminals” in jail and received billions in settlements from “corporate wrongdoers.”
“That’s the bold leadership Hoosiers deserve,” Rokita said. “We can’t just go along to get along and bury our heads in the sand, as if this Democrat craziness is going to somehow pass over us like some kind of biblical angel of death. It doesn’t work that way. They’re coming for us.”
Rokita was unopposed in the 2024 GOP nomination for attorney general.
Delegates at the convention said they prefer to have a choice among nominees for a position on the ballot, but they liked what Rokita had been doing in office. One woman from St. Joseph County said she supported Rokita because he is pro-life, and another woman described Rokita as honest and said she liked him because he fights the policies of the Biden administration.
In November, Rokita will face a Democratic challenger. Democrats Destiny Wells, former 2022 candidate for Indiana secretary of state, and Beth White, former Marion County clerk, are both running to be their party’s nominee for attorney general. The Indiana Democratic Party convention is July 13.
Following Rokita’s nomination, Wells issued a statement, saying she would serve all Hoosiers.
“I am looking forward to giving Indiana an Attorney General of which Hoosiers can be proud,” Wells said. “Todd Rokita has done nothing but divide us and use the office for political grandstanding. I look forward to restoring integrity to the Office of the Attorney General and being what our chief legal officer should be – the people’s attorney.”
Four years ago, then-Attorney General Curtis Hill’s support had been eroded by accusations that he had groped four women at a party celebrating the end of the 2018 session of the Indiana General Assembly. He was subsequently disciplined by the Indiana Supreme Court, which included a 30-day suspension of his law license. Hill had just gotten his license back shortly before the 2020 state GOP convention but he still had to face Rokita and two other challengers.
Rokita pulled off an upset, defeating Hill on the third round of voting.
Although Rokita has been publicly reprimanded by the Indiana Supreme Court for violating the attorney rules of professional conduct while he was attorney general and is currently under a second investigation by the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission for his comments about the earlier reprimand, no one mounted a challenge to replace him on the ballot in November. His nomination was passed by the Republican delegates on a voice vote.
In his speech, Rokita seemed to attribute his run-ins with the disciplinary commission to persecution by the Democrats.
“Democrats are shamelessly weaponizing our judicial system, turning everything into lawfare that they can’t get done at the ballot box,” Rokita said. “Look what’s happening to President (Donald) Trump. Look what’s happening to me.”
Then he gave a warning to the delegates.
“They aren’t just coming for Trump,” Rokita said. “They aren’t just coming for me. They are coming to silence all of us.”
Dwight Adams, a freelance 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
