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By Marilyn Odendahl
The Indiana Citizen
September 23, 2024

Since losing the race for the Democratic Party’s nomination for Indiana attorney general, Beth White has returned to her job overseeing a statewide nonprofit, doing what she can to support the Democrats running in November and not ruling out another bid for elected office.

“This is, I think, one of my character flaws that my husband would like me to work on,” White quipped about her desire to seek public office.

Launching her campaign to be the Democratic nominee in the race for attorney general in January, White declared she was the best candidate to win in the general election. However, at the party’s July convention, she suffered a stinging defeat with just 475 delegates voting for her. Her opponent, Destiny Wells, won 1,057 votes and is now running against the Republican incumbent attorney general, Todd Rokita, in the November election.

White has returned to her position as president and CEO of the Indiana Coalition to End Sexual Assault and Human Trafficking, after taking an unpaid leave of absence to run for the nomination. She described the Indianapolis-based coalition’s work of fighting for victims of sexual violence as important and something she feels called to do. Also, she said she is enjoying having the opportunity to step back and spend time with her husband and 15-year-old son.

Despite her loss in the party’s nomination race, White still has an appetite for public office and talked about running again someday for an elected position. She ran and won two terms as Marion County Circuit Court Clerk where, she said, she was the first county clerk in the state to marry same-sex couples, after a federal district court ruled that the Indiana law banning such unions was unconstitutional. In 2014, she ran for Indiana secretary of state, but lost to Republican Connie Lawson.

White sent a thank-you letter to friends and supporters about a month after she fell short in her bid for the attorney general nomination. She wrote she believes Democrats can win in November, but she advised that to achieve success at the ballot box, “we must work together.”

Recently, White took a few minutes to speak with The Indiana Citizen about her run for attorney general and the Democratic candidates’ chances in November. This interview has been edited for length.

Q. Are you rethinking your decision to run for attorney general in the Democratic primary?

A. I am glad I ran. I love running for office. Running for office is a great privilege, and I’ve done it now five times. I’ve had the opportunity to serve in elected office. I’ve also served alongside elected officials for many years. I love the process. It’s a very people-intensive process. I enjoyed being out in the varied parts of the state, talking to people about what they cared about. It was energizing. And I have no regrets. I wish it had turned out differently, of course, but I’ll just, I’ll say that it’s nice to be home with my family.

Q. Are you going to run for Indiana Democratic Party chair?

A. Good Lord, no. Party chair is not a job I have ever wanted – county chair, neither. I feel like it’s important, but it’s not the work I really feel is my best, the highest and best use of my skills and ability.

Q. Is Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita vulnerable in this election?

A. I sure hope so. I think what he’s doing is hurting people. I think the people of Indiana deserve better than him and (GOP lieutenant governor candidate) Micah Beckwith and (GOP gubernatorial candidate) Mike Braun. It’s time for a change.

Q. The Indiana Democratic Party has set the goal of winning at least four additional seats in the Indiana House to break the GOP’s supermajority. Is that a reasonable goal?

A. It’s absolutely reasonable. We have good candidates. I was all around the state with these folks, walking neighborhoods, in parades, talking with them and other groups. They are good candidates. They are focused. They are disciplined.

Q. Can Indiana Democrats win in such a heavily gerrymandered state?

A. The districts are gerrymandered, and that’s a terrible problem. But we have good candidates in places where there are some Republicans who are too extreme. They are taking positions on the abortion issue like no exception for rape and incest and no protections for IVF. I work at the Indiana Coalition to End Sexual Assault and Human Trafficking and these are issues that really matter to me. When a child 12 or 13 has been raped repeatedly by a family member and they find out that they are pregnant, what kind of government are we when we say to them, “Oh, no, you can’t have necessary health care, including abortion care.” It’s cruelty on top of trauma and there is zero excuse for it. Zero.

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.