By Marilyn Odendahl
The Indiana Citizen
June 21, 2026
After two rounds of voting, Indiana Republicans on Saturday ousted incumbent Secretary of State Diego Morales from the November ballot and instead chose Max Engling, a late entrant into the race who quickly gained support from party leaders.
About 1,800 delegates, along with Gov. Mike Braun, Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith and lawmakers convened in Fort Wayne for the two-day state GOP party convention. The delegates wore different colored T-shirts to show their support for the different candidates. On a voice vote, delegates nominated incumbents Elise Nieshalla, state comptroller, and Daniel Elliot, state treasurer, to each run for respective four-year terms in November.
The race for the secretary of state nomination brought some surprises.
Knox County Circuit Court Clerk David Shelton and 2024 gubernatorial candidate Jamie Reitenour were in the running with Morales and Engling.
When Engling, a conservative and staff member of U.S. Sen. Jim Banks, R-Indiana, made his surprise entrance last month into the race for the secretary of state nomination, he quickly garnered endorsements from Republicans in Indiana’s congressional delegation and some state lawmakers. Morales, fighting off allegations he had an undocumented employee in his office, did not heed calls to step aside. Instead, he continued campaigning for the nomination, lashed out at his critics and brought a cadre of supporters clad in green T-shirts with his name printed on them to the convention.
However, after the first round of voting, Morales placed third with just 283 delegate votes out of 1,676 cast. Engling led the field with 715 votes and Shelton rode into second place on 543 votes. Reitenour finished a distance fourth with 135 votes and was dropped from the second round of voting.
Since none of the candidates received 51% of the votes, the delegates cast their ballots again. Apparently, some decided to leave after the first vote, rather than return to the polls a second time.
In that next round, Engling easily topped the 51% mark, winning 867 of the votes cast. Shelton remained in second place with 627 votes while Morales trailed with 134 votes.
Engling thanked the delegates for “being here and for hanging in” during the long day at the convention and his three opponents “for running a great race.”
Then Engling, his family, and supporters, who were wearing bright orange T-shirts and holding signs, clambered onto the stage for pictures. Engling lingered after the photographs, shaking hands and talking to some of the delegates.
Looking toward the general election in November, Engling expressed confidence he would finish atop of what is becoming a crowded field.
“We’re going to be energized on our side,” Engling said, adding his campaign would be working to build support among young and old voters. “We’re pressing forward. We’re not looking at what the other folks are doing. We’re moving forward as a Republican team. We’re expecting to move forward and win in the fall.”
Two weeks ago, Indiana Democrats selected Beau Bayh as their nominee for secretary of state. Bayh is the third generation of his family to seek public office with his grandfather, Birch Bayh, serving in the U.S. Senate, and his father, Evan Bayn, serving as governor of Indiana and then in the U.S. Senate.
Bayh released a statement after Engling was nominated, implying the Republican nominee will not be much different from the current secretary of state.
“Hoosiers are ready for a change in the Secretary of State’s office,” Bayh said. “They are tired of the corruption, insider dealing, and waste of taxpayer money that Max Engling and the political insiders pulling his strings have enabled for years. I will continue to work to earn the votes of all Hoosiers and will be the Secretary of State for all Hoosiers.”
Former Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard was in Fort Wayne on Saturday to meet with voters at the 29th annual BBQ RibFest. He announced his independent campaign has collected at least 52,501 signatures and although the number of valid signatures is not yet known, Ballard was confident he would meet the 36,943 required to get on the ballot.
Also, he was confident he would win in November.
“It didn’t matter who the Republicans nominated today,” Ballard said in a press release. “There are more independents in Indiana than Republicans or Democrats, and this November they will finally have a true independent to vote for.”
In their speeches to the delegates, Engling and Morales each said they had the experience to be secretary of state and they talked about how they would administer elections. Also, they emphasized that the secretary of state office needed to remain in Republican hands.
Engling warned the delegates about becoming complacent, claiming that if Bayh, who he as “a prep school kid,” wins in November, Indiana’s election integrity will suffer and undocumented immigrants will be allowed to vote.
“The Office of the Secretary of State has never been more important than it is right now,” Engling told the delegates. “If we lose this office, we can lose everything else. The secretary of state is the chief guardian of election integrity and we must haveintegrity both in our elections and in our elected officials. They go hand in hand. That means we must keep the chief elections office in the state of Indiana in conservative hands.”
Engling also said his top priority as secretary of state will be to close the state’s “open” primaries, so voters cannot cross over to a Republican or Democratic ballot at the polling place.
“Only Republicans should choose our Republican nominees,” Engling said. “No Democrat interference.”
Also, Engling said he would work with the Indiana General Assembly to “clean up our voter rolls and proactively ensure only citizens are voting in our elections.”
Morales touted his work as secretary of state, telling the delegates he helped expand Indiana’s voter ID law for mail-in voting, cleaned up the voter rolls and passed the state’s first proof-of citizenship voting law.
However, Morales devoted most of his remarks to his 2022 insurgent candidacy, when he knocked off the Republican incumbent nominee, Holli Sullivan, to get the secretary of state nomination, and to addressing the growing criticism over his conduct in office.
Morales called himself the “people’s secretary of state” and said “the establishment” does not want the delegates to have a voice in who will be the party’s nominee. He also swiped at those who discouraged him from running for a second term, saying “top Republicans who publicly endorsed me, suddenly stabbed me in the back.”
Admitting, he has made mistakes, Morales still asserted he was the best candidate to win in November.
“I’m asking you delegates to stand strong one more time,” Morales said. “Stay with the fighter who refuses to quit and stand against the establishment that tries to take away your voice.”
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
