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Sid Mahant is challenging incumbent state Rep. Greg Steuerwald in the Republican primary for House District 40 (Photo/Courtesy Mahant campaign)

By Marilyn Odendahl
The Indiana Citizen
March 27, 2026

A Republican candidate for the Indiana General Assembly, who has met the two-primary rule, is now facing a new challenge to his candidacy from the party itself.

Sid Mahant, who is running in the Republican primary against state Rep. Greg Steuerwald in House District 40, has been accused of violating Indiana Republican Party rules by not being a Republican in good standing. Hendricks County GOP Chair J. Philip Clay filed the complaint with the Indiana Republican State Committee, alleging Mahant was not in good standing because he previously donated to state Rep. Renee Pack, a Democrat, a few years ago.

A virtual hearing before party officials in Indiana Republican Party District 4 was held at 5 p.m. Friday at 5 p.m. and a decision is expected on Monday. The hearing was closed to the media.

District 4 chair Randall Head, who was one of the four officials presiding over the hearing, declined to comment. Clay and Steuerwald did not respond to requests for interviews.

Mahant’s attorney, Michelle Harter, was critical of the good-standing challenge. She has represented individuals before county election boards and the Indiana Election Commission.

Harter described the Republican and Democratic parties as “secret clubs” with their own rules and when individuals are reported as being in violation, they have little recourse to rebut the charges and remain in good standing. The party rules and procedures for the complaints and the hearings are “murky,” she said.

“If I thought the county and state election commission hearings were kangaroo courts that didn’t allow for due process and were a rigged system, this little party-club system is even more pathetic,” Harter said. “It just opens itself up to many abuses.”

New avenue to block candidates?

Indiana Republican State Committee rule 1-25 defines “Republican in Good Standing” as a party member who supports the GOP nominees and does not “actively or openly support another candidate against a Republican nominee.”

Harter questioned what “actively and openly” means. Pointing to Mahant’s donation which was made in 2021, and not 2024 as stated on Clay’s complaint, she argued her client supported a Democratic candidate five years ago but is currently not “actively doing anything” to help candidates from other parties.

“If he had a sign on his front lawn for a Democrat, I think we would have a problem,” Harter said. “But, if you have to go digging through records back to 2021 – and most people don’t even know where to find them – is that really openly supporting someone?”

Five not-in-good-standing complaints have been filed against Republicans in Morgan and Tippecanoe counties this year, according to state party officials. All were lodged before Feb. 13, the deadline to challenge a candidate before the Indiana Election Commission. The party upheld four of the five complaints.

Harter said within the last year, she has been consulted by other candidates who have encountered similar party complaints. Most were people running for local offices, she said, with one person accused of not being in good standing because of a $50 donation made to a libertarian and another individual alleged to have posted a pro-Democrat meme on Facebook 15 years ago.

Noting that people filing to run for office have learned they have to comply with the two-primary rule, Harter sees good-standing complaints as a new avenue to challenge some candidates.

Several people wanting to run for office have been blocked by the two-primary rule, which was amended into state statute by the legislature in 2021. Under this law, candidates claiming a party affiliation must have voted in that party’s primary during the last two primaries in which they voted.

However, with the two-primary rule becoming common knowledge, Harter believes both parties are using their own rules to stop or hinder some candidates. Anyone running in an election in Indiana, she said, will now have to not only make sure their primary voting record comports to the law but also, they have not made a donation or posted something on social media that could be used for a good-standing complaint.

“I feel like, given the calls I’m receiving, … (good-standing complaints) are becoming a new avenue to challenge people outside of court,” Harter said. “My takeaway is you could think that you’re OK on the court stuff, you could think that you’re OK on the administrative county election board stuff, (but now) you’ve got to worry about the party too.”

A range of punishments

Mahant ran afoul of the two-primary requirement when he joined the GOP primary race in 2024 for the Indiana 6^th Congressional District. His candidacy was challenged by then-Johnson County GOP chair Beth Boyce and 10 other Republican Party county chairs on the grounds that in the last two primaries he had voted in, he had not chosen a GOP ballot, according to The Columbus Republic.

The bipartisan Election Commission upheld the challenge. Mahant, prohibited from running as a Republican in the race, ended his campaign.

Since then, Mahant, who according to his campaign website has lived in Avon since 2014, voted in two Republican primaries, according to Harter.

Clay’s complaint asks the party to find Mahant is a Republican in bad standing and revoke “his ability to run as a Republican for House District 40.”

The party cannot remove a candidate from the ballot. However, a candidate found in “bad standing” can face a punishment ranging from being reprimanded to being barred from attending Republican party events and utilizing the party’s proprietary database, which could cripple a campaign.

Harter said Mahant was sent a letter informing him of the complaint and to contact Head if he wanted the link to the hearing. In addition to putting the burden on Mahant to request the link, she said the letter did not include any of the rules and procedures for the hearing. Also, he had little information about the evidence against him that would be presented.

Adding to the confusion, Harter received an email from Head Thursday evening informing her that she could not represent Mahant at the Friday hearing. The email said Mahant had not provided the committee with 48 hours’ notice that he would have counsel present.

Mahant was accused of donating to Pack as well as to ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s political action committee. According to Harter, Mahant has no recollection of sending money to Democrats but has speculated either his wife or his business partner made the contributions by drawing the funds from his business’s account which is under his name.

Under the hearing guidelines, each side can make opening and closing statements and present evidence and testimony. The four-member committee will hear the presentations and then after adjourning the proceeding, discuss the case and render a decision.

Shortly before the hearing, Harter read through the rules and found that violations may be limited to actions that happened “within 60 days to the filing of a complaint” unless a majority of the hearing committee waves that requirement.

Harter is optimistic the rule bolsters Mahant’s defense, since the contributions were made five years ago. Still, she noted the party is the final arbitrator of its own rules.

“What can we do? We can’t challenge them in court, because they’ll say, well, that’s their party rules,” Harter said. “It’s a private club. It’s a complete circus. And the real problem is this completely takes the decision making away from the party, which I believe is the members and the voters, not just the leadership people.”

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