The 2022 Indiana Secretary of State election took place on November 8, 2022, to elect the next secretary of state of

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

Holli Sullivan Holli Sullivan is an American politician, businesswoman, and engineer who served as the 62nd secretary of state of Indiana from 2021 to 2022. As a member of the Republican Party, she also represented the 78th district in the Indiana House of Rep ...

, a Republican who was appointed to replace Connie Lawson as Secretary of State in 2021, ran for a full term in office but was defeated in the Republican primary by Diego Morales. The Democratic, Republican, and

Libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

parties chose their nominees for Secretary of State at a party convention on June 18, 2022. Despite Indiana's strong Republican lean, polls showed a competitive race. Republican nominee Diego Morales faced numerous controversies, including the fact that he was previously fired from a position in the Secretary of State office; his echoing of Donald Trump's false accusations of fraud in the 2020 elections; his use of campaign funds to purchase a $43,000

Toyota RAV4 The is a compact crossover SUV produced by the Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota. It is known for starting the wave of compact crossovers. The RAV4 is one of the best-selling SUVs of all time. By February 2020, a total of 10 million RAV4 ...

; his description of himself as a "veteran" even though he only served in the military for three months and he was in the

Indiana Army National Guard The Indiana National Guard (INNG) is a component of the United States Armed Forces, the United States National Guard and the Military Department of Indiana (MDI). It consists of the Indiana Army National Guard, the Indiana Air National Guard, a ...

and never deployed on Active Duty (the federal definition of a "veteran" only includes active duty or guardsmen who have deployed on active duty orders); claims that portions of his resume are exaggerated or misleading; and two accusations of sexual harassment against him. After winning the Republican nomination, he changed his stance on the 2020 presidential election, telling ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' that he believed Biden won legitimately.

WTHR WTHR (channel 13) is a television station in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside low-power broadcasting#Television, low-power, Class A television service, Class A MeTV affiliate WALV-CD ( ...

commented that Morales received the most negative press of any statewide candidate in Indiana since

Richard Mourdock Richard Earl Mourdock (born October 8, 1951) is an American politician who served as treasurer of the state of Indiana from 2007 to 2014. Running with the support of the Tea Party movement, he defeated six-term incumbent U.S. Senator Richard L ...

in the 2012 Senate race. Despite Morales's controversies, he secured a decisive victory over Wells and Maurer. However, he underperformed all other statewide Republican nominees in Indiana by 5-7 percentage points.

Republican convention

Incumbent Secretary of State Connie Lawson resigned in 2021 due to health issues. Governor

Eric Holcomb Eric Joseph Holcomb ( ; born May 2, 1968) is an American politician who served as the 51st governor of Indiana, from 2017 to 2025. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served from 2016 to 2017 as the 51st Lieuten ...

chose state representative

to replace her, and Sullivan announced she would run for a full term. The Republican primary for Secretary of State was the most expensive in two decades, with challenger Diego Morales leading Sullivan in fundraising. Morales was endorsed by the America First Secretary of State Coalition, a conservative group that supports a slate of candidates in the 2022 United States secretary of state elections.

Candidates

Nominee

* Diego Morales, former aide to

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Mike Pence Michael Richard Pence (born June 7, 1959) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Repub ...

and candidate for

Indiana's 4th congressional district Indiana's 4th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Indiana. From 2003 to 2013 the district was based primarily in the central part of the state, and consisted of all of Boone, Clinton, Hendricks, Morgan, ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Eliminated at convention

*Paul Hager, perennial candidate *David Shelton, Knox County clerk *

, incumbent secretary of state

Did not file

*Kyle Conrad, Newton County commissioner

Endorsements

Democratic convention

Candidates

Nominee

*Destiny Wells, attorney, lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, deputy chair of the

Indiana Democratic Party The Democratic Party of Indiana is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Indiana. The party's chair is Karen Tallian. The party has weak electoral power in the state. it holds no statewide offices and two of Indiana's ...

, and former deputy attorney general

Endorsements

Libertarian convention

Nominee

*Jeff Maurer, entrepreneur

Write-in candidates

*David Wetterer,

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

*Andrew Straw, Disability Party

General election

Debate

On October 10, a debate for the Secretary of State election was held by WFYI and the

League of Women Voters The League of Women Voters (LWV) is a nonpartisan American nonprofit political organization. Founded in 1920, its ongoing major activities include Voter registration, registering voters, providing voter information, boosting voter turnout and adv ...

. Democrat Destiny Wells and Libertarian Jeff Maurer participated in the debate, while Morales skipped it to attend a meeting of the Warrick County Republican Party. Wells and Maurer heavily criticized Morales for not attending the debate. While both agreed that

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

won the 2020 presidential election, Maurer called for an

election audit An election audit is any review conducted after polls close for the purpose of determining whether the votes were counted accurately (a ''results audit'') or whether proper procedures were followed (a ''process audit''), or both. Both results and p ...

of every Indiana county, while Wells did not. When asked about the problem of low

voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...

, Wells proposed independent redistricting, keeping

polling places A polling place is where voters cast their ballots in elections. The phrase polling station is also used in American English, British English and Canadian English although a polling place is the building and polling station is the specific r ...

open longer, and extending the window for

early voting Early voting, also called advance polling or pre-poll voting, is a convenience voting process by which voters in a public election can vote before a scheduled Election Day (politics), election day. Early voting can take place remotely, such as v ...

as ways to increase turnout, while Maurer blamed the

two-party system A two-party system is a political party system in which two major political parties consistently dominate the political landscape. At any point in time, one of the two parties typically holds a majority in the legislature and is usually referr ...

for creating a lack of competition.

Predictions

Polling

Results

Notes

References

External links

Official campaign websites:
Diego Morales (R) for Secretary of StateJeff Maurer (L) for Secretary of StateDestiny Wells (D) for Secretary of State
{{2022 United States elections Secretary of State

Indiana Secretary of State elections