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Request a DemoHomeowners and renters: Start setting aside some money now as property taxes are expected to jump
The Gist
Assessed values of homes across the state have skyrocketed, which will result in higher property tax bills on average when they’re mailed to Hoosier homeowners this spring.
The total residential tax liability in Indiana is expected to jump 15%, according to a new analysis by Policy Analytics LLC for the Association of Indiana Counties. David Bottorff, executive director of the Association of Indiana Counties, said each household will pay on average an extra $228 towards property taxes this year compared to last.
Lawmakers have filed at least nine bills this legislative session in an effort to provide some sort of relief or adjust the property tax process.
One proposal, which would cap increases in property taxes dedicated to schools from some already passed ballot measures, was discussed in committee. But beyond that, Republican leaders have indicated a desire to wait to address rising property taxes until they know the extent of the problem in order to avoid unintended consequences or impact previous initiatives like the implementation of property tax caps.
To their point, there are some unknowns. Just because your home’s 2022 assessed value went up a certain percentage that year, doesn’t necessarily mean your income taxes will increase by that same percentage, experts say.
“We’re making sure … we’re going to get at the root causes of the increases that are occurring,” Holcomb told members of the media last Thursday. “We’re in close conversation with the House and Senate leadership and members on having the ability to do something that doesn’t change fundamentally the advances we’ve made.”
The issue with waiting: Hoosiers likely won’t receive their tax bills until March or April, and lawmakers statutorily have to wrap up by April 29. Oftentimes they do so before that date.
That means there could be a last-minute push to add property tax-relief initiatives into the two-year budget. Even then, it would likely have no impact on this year’s property tax bills.
The other dilemma is that whatever lawmakers do to provide relief to homeowners could impact other entities, either by shifting the tax burden to others or reducing the money cities and schools have to provide resources by millions of dollars as inflation increases spending. Property taxes only go toward local governments, not to the state.
Bottom line: Prepare to pay this year regardless of what lawmakers do.
“When this bill hits, elected officials are going to hear about it,” said Larry DeBoer, a Purdue University economics professor. “I wouldn’t want to be a mayor running for reelection with this thing going on.”
Why are residential property taxes going to increase?
- Assessed values of homes are up.
What you owe on your property tax, all of which goes to local governments — including schools — is based on your share of the total value of property in your community. To determine that, local governments use property assessments from the prior year, which are based on home sale prices the year before.
That means the booming housing market in 2021 drove up home assessments in 2022, which in turn will influence property taxes in 2023. The average home in Indiana was assessed for $181,500 in 2020 and jumped to $211,000 in 2021, Bottorff said.
“It was like it was three years of growth,” Bottorff said.
The total assessed value for residential areas in Indiana went up 16.5% year over year, according to the Policy Analytics analysis. While that does include increased assessments due to new construction, nearly all of that increase simply comes from the red-hot housing market driving up appraisals, said DeBoer.
Meanwhile, the total assessed value of other types of property in the state didn’t increase as quickly. For example, take the value of business equipment. It jumped only 1.3%. That means when tax bills come due, homeowners will be picking up a larger share of the overall tab.
Lawmakers are considering a proposal to reduce which business property has to be taxed, which could exacerbate problems in future years.
Assessments, though, are just one piece of the picture.
- Hoosiers’ income also increased.
Typically when the assessed value rises, the tax rate drops. Normally that means property tax rates wouldn’t jump so much. But a big increase in the average Hoosier’s pocketbook is leading to the change in taxes. Here’s how it works:
How much local governments are allowed to increase their yearly budgets, and thus how much total taxes they can collect, is based on the six year average nonagricultural income across the state. Income taxes in 2021 especially went up a sizable amount as the economy rebounded from the pandemic and stimulus checks were distributed.
Because of that, local budgets are allowed to increase by up to 5%, the highest rate in 20 years, said DeBoer, the Purdue economic professor.
Some lawmakers also blamed the projected property tax growth on the increasing popularity of tax increment financing, a redevelopment tool that can shift primarily commercial property taxes away from the general funds of local governments and toward redevelopment costs. That leaves homeowners with a bigger share of the tax burden.
Who will be impacted the most?
How much your tax bill will increase largely depends on where you live.
The total assessed value of residential properties in Morgan, Hancock, Warren and Warrick counties all increased by more than 20% year over year, according to information provided by the Association of Indiana Counties. An additional 17 counties were in the 15-20% range.
However, in terms of total tax liability, 16 counties are expected to have totals that increase by more than 8% year over year, including Marion, Vanderburgh, Hamiton, Delaware and St. Joseph counties. That increase includes new construction and all property types as well, but if you own property in those counties, still expect to pay a lot more on your property regardless if you’ve made changes to it. Renters would likely also be impacted as landlords hike rents to offset the added property tax costs.
Sen. Brian Buchanan, a Lebanon Republican who has studied the issue, said that when he looked back at 15 years of data, property taxes have typically increased a little over 3% each year. The highest annual increase in residential property taxes was 7.1%.
That makes this year, with an estimated increase in residential property of 15%, an anomaly.
DeBoer, whose own property’s assessed value went up 30%, said the other issue that will come into play is the state’s property tax cap system, which limits property taxes to 1% of a homestead’s assessed value. With assessed values going up, it’ll be more challenging to hit that tax cap. That also means local governments will in actuality likely collect over 7% more taxes from Hoosiers this year, because fewer people will hit the caps, DeBoer said.
While people all across the state could struggle with high bills, seniors on fixed incomes especially could feel its impact.
“The predominant message I keep hearing is, ‘Can we do something for our seniors?’” said Sen. J.D. Ford, an Indianapolis Democrat who has proposed legislation to try to alleviate the concerns of seniors.
For example, take Suzanne deVaucenne, a 77-year-old who lives in Zionsville in a house she bought and moved into in 1999. She has an income of roughly $30,000 per year from social security and the animal shelter she runs, and she struggles to afford the basics. Right now, she can’t afford to fix her broken water heater or make other improvements to her aging house, but she doesn’t want to move into an apartment and give up both her space and ability to take care of homeless cats.
The assessed value of her property went up 13% last year, according to online property records, and she’s bracing for this year’s tax bill. She guesses her property taxes have already tripled since she moved in decades ago, and she now pays more than $1,000 each year. She doesn’t have additional money to spare.
“What happens in this situation now is you’re strapped for cash for every item,” she said. “Bit by bit, you’re kind of going backwards.”
Lawmakers’ proposals
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have filed at least nine bills to attempt to provide relief, even as legislative leaders have issued warnings to pump the brakes on backtracking until more data is available. Senate Republican leadership want to study the property tax system as part of a broader study of all of Indiana’s taxes.
“The challenge with doing anything right now would be that anything that we do would not be able to impact the property tax bills that people are going to get in March,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray, R-Martinsville.
One proposal from Buchanan, the Lebanon Republican, would require local entities to provide a credit to any homeowner whose property taxes increased by more than 10% year over year, excluding school referendum dollars.
“We’re just trying to do something that doesn’t totally disrupt the system, but really provides a little bit of certainty,” Buchanan said.
Another from Ford, the Indianapolis Democrat, would freeze the property tax liability for seniors who have owned their home for 10 years. The state would backfill that money to local governments.
Two proposals appear more likely to move forward because they’re being carried by the House’s lead budget writer, Rep. Jeff Thompson, R-Lizton. House Bill 1498 would cap increases in total existing school operating referendum dollars to 5%, while Thompson’s House Bill 1499 would temporarily lower the 1% cap on residential property taxes and give homeowners an additional tax credit.
Meanwhile, Huston has floated a proposal to temporarily prohibit schools from putting new operating referendums on the ballot to increase property taxes. “Asking people for substantial increases on what is already going to be high property tax bills in this era of uncertainty just frankly doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me,” Huston said. “I hope some of these people reconsider that.
“If not, we might help them reconsider,” he added.
Days after Huston announced his support for such a hold, Indianapolis Public Schools nixed a controversial plan for a ballot measure in order to raise $400 million.
Who could lose out if changes are made?
All of the proposals would create winners and losers. Under Buchanan’s bill, local governments would eat the costs. A fiscal analysis of the bill shows schools, counties, cities, libraries and other local entities would lose a combined $23.5 million in 2024.
“It would be a decrease in revenue to local governments, and I don't think that's a tenable solution to the problem,” said Matthew Greller, chief executive officer of Accelerate Indiana Municipalities (AIM). “Any reduction to our bottom line I think is going to be tough to support.”
Meanwhile, Ford’s proposal requires the state to backfill money lost by local governments, a price tag of $15.4 million for the state in fiscal year 2026. That’s an unlikely option as Republicans grapple with numerous budget requests for big-ticket items like an increase in public health spending.
Under Thompson’s proposal, the schools would lose out. Without this bill’s passage, operating referendum fund levies across the state would increase by $55 million between 2023 and 2024. If the bill passes, the total fund would increase by only $22 million, a loss of $33 million for schools.
“They’re going to collect more either way,” Thompson pointed out during a hearing on House Bill 1498 on Thursday.
Dennis Costerison, executive director of the Indiana Association of School Business Officials, warned that schools counting on referendum dollars to fulfill promises to their communities made during referendum campaigns could feel that loss. Inflation has hit schools when it comes to the cost of utilities. One Marion County district, he said, has seen its electric and natural gas bill go up $1 million.
Costerison added that this bill boils down to a local control issue.
“We’re concerned that House Bill 1498 overrules the local decision of the majority of the voters in that school corporation,” he said. “The voters have made that decision on that tax rate, not the General Assembly.”
Want to tell lawmakers what you think? You can find your lawmaker here.
Contact Kaitlin Lange on Twitter @kaitlin_lange or email her at [email protected].
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Header image: Property tax bills are expected to increase this spring. (Credit: Brittney Phan)
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6 races to watch in the Indiana primary election
The first openly competitive contest for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in a generation will end with Tuesday’s primary election, as will crowded races for several open congressional seats.
The primary won’t officially decide any political race — only the Nov. 5 general election can do that. But Republicans hold major advantages in statewide and many district-level contests, and who secures which nominations will go a long way toward deciding who may lead the state in the years to come.
>> Related: How does voting by political party work in Indiana?
Here are six key primary contests to watch on election night.
Governor
The race to be Indiana’s next chief executive has been perhaps the most noteworthy of the election cycle, with six Republicans bringing a variety of experience and outsider credentials to the competition.
Sen. Mike Braun has led in the polls from day one, including running up a 34 percentage-point lead in an April State Affairs/Howey Politics Indiana survey.
The other five candidates are: Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, former Attorney General Curtis Hill, Indianapolis mom Jamie Reitenour and two former state secretaries of commerce in Brad Chambers and Eric Doden.
The winner of Tuesday’s Republican primary will face Democrat and former state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jennifer McCormick, who will advance for her party unopposed.
Republican candidates spent tens of millions of dollars in an attempt to stand out in their crowded pack. The primary race also featured four televised debates, including a chaotic final display on April 24.
U.S. Senate
Two Democrats are vying for the chance to replace Braun in the U.S. Senate: Former state Rep. Marc Carmichael and Valerie McCray, a clinical psychologist.
Carmichael has outspent McCray in the race by a margin of nearly $63,000 to $15,000.
Both are attempting to become the state’s first Democratic senator since Joe Donnelly’s election in 2012.
Rep. Jim Banks is running unopposed in the Republican primary.
3rd Congressional District
Banks’ entry into the Senate race leaves his seat in Congress open, and a bevy of Republicans are seeking to replace him: Grant Bucher, Wendy Davis, Mike Felker, Jon Kenworthy, Tim Smith, Marlin A. Stutzman, Eric Whalen and Andy Zay.
State Affairs has identified Stutzman, a former congressman; Smith, a self-funding former Fort Wayne mayoral candidate; and Davis, a former Allen County judge, as candidates to watch in the crowded race.
Kiley Adolph and Phil Goss are running against one another in the Democratic primary.
5th Congressional District
After initially deciding against another run, Republican Rep. Victoria Spartz reversed course to seek re-election in 2024.
Eight other Republicans are running against Spartz: Raju Chinthala, Max Engling, Chuck Goodrich, Mark Hurt, Patrick Malayter, Matthew Peiffer, L.D. Powell and Larry L. Savage Jr.
Goodrich, a member of the Indiana House of Representatives, has spent more than $2 million on TV ads as he seeks to unseat Spartz, according to AdImpact.
Two Democrats, Ryan Pfenninger and Deborah A. Pickett, are on the ballot.
6th Congressional District
Seven Republicans are attempting to replace retiring Rep. Greg Pence: Jamison E. Carrier, Darin Childress, Bill Frazier, John Jacob, state Sen. Jeff Raatz, Jefferson Shreve and state Rep. Mike Speedy.
Shreve, who ran unsuccessfully for Indianapolis mayor in 2023, has spent nearly $4 million — predominantly through TV advertising — in his bid.
Cynthia Wirth, whom Pence defeated by 35 percentage points in 2022, is running unopposed in the Democratic primary.
8th Congressional District
Republican Rep. Larry Bucshon is also retiring, and a dozen candidates in both parties are seeking to fill his seat.
On the Republican side, former Rep. John Hostettler, state Sen. Mark Messmer, former President Donald Trump White House staff member Dominick Kavanaugh and frequent Bucshon primary challenger Richard Moss are each making a push.
Fellow Republicans Jim Case, Jeremy Heath, Luke Misner and Kristi Risk are also running but trail the above pack in campaign spending.
Four Democrats are also seeking a nomination: Erik Hurt, Peter FH Priest II, Edward Upton Sein and Michael Talarzyk.
Contact Rory Appleton on X at @roryehappleton or email him at [email protected].
What happens after the primary election?
Hoosiers will narrow their choices for governor, U.S. Senate and various other state and federal races during the Tuesday, May 7, primary election. Winners of the primary election races will represent their respective party in the Nov. 5 general election. If a contest features only one Republican or Democrat, that candidate will automatically move on. …
Newcomer Clay challenges longtime incumbent Young for state Senate
A central Indiana state Senate race may soon serve as a barometer for state Republican politics, as a young upstart groomed for leadership faces down a longtime incumbent in the upcoming primary election.
The race for Senate District 35, which includes parts of Marion and Hendricks counties, revolves around similar conservative beliefs held by wildly different candidates.
State Sen. Mike Young, 72, is a Statehouse fixture who refuses to attend his committee meetings or caucus with his fellow Republicans but nonetheless offers nearly four decades of legislative experience to his district.
Philip Clay is a 29-year-old retail banker with a young family and no political experience. He seeks to bring more collaboration to the role.
If elected, Clay would be the only Black Republican in the Indiana General Assembly.
“Unpopularity in the Statehouse doesn’t always translate to being unpopular in the district,” Mike O’Brien, president of 1816 Public Affairs Group and former Hendricks County Republican Party chairman, said of Young.
“You have a young guy working hard, and that’s kind of what it takes to beat a long-term incumbent,” O’Brien said. “We see examples of that every cycle. Maybe this is the one this time.”
Young no longer caucuses
Young, who served in the Indiana House of Representatives from 1986 to 2000 before moving to the state Senate, made headlines in summer 2022 when he decided to no longer caucus with his party.
“I won’t caucus because I don’t trust our leadership,” Young told State Affairs. He stressed his decision had nothing to do with his failed amendment to the state’s abortion ban, saying he wrote a letter expressing his intent to leave before the abortion bill was heard.
Young said he remains part of the caucus, as he is a Republican senator, but simply does not attend meetings.
He has also stopped going to most meetings of his assigned Senate committees: Corrections and Criminal Law, Elections, Family and Children Services, and Pensions and Labor.
“I go to them if they affect my district,” Young said.
He attended a Jan. 17 Pensions and Labor Committee meeting to argue down Senate Bill 54, which Young said would have hurt Wayne Township firefighters by forcing them to consolidate with the Indianapolis Fire Department.
Young said all senators are asked to pick five committees they’d want to serve on, but Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray did not select him for any of his listed options. Young informed Bray he did not intend to attend future committee meetings.
Bray also replaced him as chair of the Corrections and Criminal Law Committee and removed him from the Judiciary Committee. Attempts to reach Bray for comment were unsuccessful.
“You don’t have to be on committees to get things done,” Young said. “When the bill comes to the floor, you have the opportunity to amend just like you would in committee. So there’s nothing really lost or harmed by it.”
Clay’s push for office
Clay, who has lived within the district in Plainfield for most of his life, said Young’s decision to no longer caucus motivated him to get into the race.
“There’s a lot of things Mike and I agree on, but after Mike left the Republican caucus and voiced some personal grievances with the Senate … it’s kind of like watching your favorite player not show up to the game,” Clay said.
Clay said one of his primary campaign platforms is improving workforce development within the district as. He co-founded Arthur Clay and Co., an organization focused on preparing men of color for their future careers.
Like Young, Clay is anti-abortion. Whereas Young seeks to eliminate property taxes, Clay believes reform is the more prudent path. Clay also hopes to improve education, make adoption easier and increase public safety if elected.
Clay trained with both the national and state GOP in 2022, completing the Republican National Committee’s Rising Star and Indiana Republican Diversity Leadership Series training programs geared toward recruiting minority conservatives for public office.
“There are so many well-qualified minority conservatives that we’ve not done a good job in either messaging to or helping them explore the Republican Party,” Clay said.
“There are Black conservatives across the country,” he said. “To have the opportunity to be the only one in the state is an incredible honor. It’s absolutely something I don’t take lightly.”
Support from Indiana Chamber
Both candidates have spent tens of thousands of dollars on their campaigns as of March 31.
Clay spent just under $34,000 in the first quarter of 2024, leaving him with about $30,000 left for a final push.
Young has spent around $29,500 and has about $45,000 remaining.
While Young has raised from various sources — including other lawmakers, small-dollar donors and $22,000 in personal loans — much of Clay’s backing has come from one source: the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.
The Chamber’s political action committee, Indiana Business for Responsive Government, has given Clay almost $21,000, plus another $11,000 from in-kind donations.
Jeff Brantley, the Chamber’s senior vice president for political affairs, said Young’s voting record does not often align with his organization.
“He talks a lot, but he can’t get things done in one of the more rapidly growing suburban districts in the state,” Brantley said of Young. “Constituents aren’t being fully served.”
Brantley said Clay could bring both a fresh perspective as the Legislature’s only Black Republican and new life to the seat.
“The district needs and deserves someone who really has the energy and the engagement,” Brantley said.
Young said the Chamber was “beating up on him,” even though he has worked to get Chamber-supported legislation through the Statehouse. He listed reducing the state’s license plate tax as one example.
The senator has been endorsed by the Indiana Family Action PAC, Indiana Right to Life, Hoosier Conservative Roundtable, American Family Association of Indiana PAC and the Indiana State Police Alliance.
Taxes key to Young’s reelection bid
If reelected, Young hopes to end property taxes for all Hoosiers, particularly those over 65.
“Speedway has neighborhoods where most people have lived in their homes for 50 years, and they’re on fixed incomes,” Young said. “And when they get a 48% [tax] increase, that’s killing them. They can lose their house.”
Young has pushed the idea for more than a decade, and he believes momentum and money exist to get it done next year, when the Legislature will set the state’s budget.
Indiana could be the first state to end property taxes for seniors “with no strings attached,” Young said.
He said he would also work to “stand up for conservative values”: supporting tax cuts, opposing a plan to give “illegal immigrants” driver’s licenses and creating a rule in the state senate requiring 24 hours’ notice to changes in the state budget.
O’Brien, the former Hendricks County GOP chair who has followed Young’s career for years, said the senator’s long incumbency will be tough to beat. He added that Young’s reputation as a thorn in leadership’s side isn’t necessarily a detriment in the May 7 primary election.
“Go-give-’em-hell gets you a lot of votes,” O’Brien said. “That’s why [former President Donald] Trump is doing what he does. It’s just the mood of the electorate right now.”
Contact Rory Appleton on X at @roryehappleton or email him at [email protected].
Bringing back barnstorming: Curtis Hill and his run for governor
A week after Hamas attacked Israel, Chris Just attached American and Israeli flags to the back of his Gladiator and drove to the second-annual Central Indy Jeep N’Vasion at the Johnson County Fairgrounds.
Wind blew over tents, and grim clouds approached. There, in Franklin on Oct. 14, 2023, a volunteer with former state Attorney General Curtis Hill’s gubernatorial campaign approached Just. Asked if his vote was already decided, Just said he hadn’t thought about it yet: “I know I’ll vote Republican, but I just don’t know who.” (Four years ago, Just voted for Libertarian Donald Rainwater after losing faith in Gov. Eric Holcomb.)
The volunteer brought over Hill, who introduced himself to Just. The two chatted about Jeeps, the event and topics unrelated to politics. After several minutes, Hill and Just posed for a picture in front of the Gladiator — flags prominently displayed behind them. “It gave me an introduction to who he was,” Just told State Affairs.
Presumptive voters like Just are the Hoosiers Hill’s campaign hopes to sway ahead of the May 7 primary. Polling in single digits, Hill will likely need them to prevail. In the six-candidate race, he has placed fifth in every poll conducted this year. And Hill has spent only a fraction (about $290,000) of the millions spent by other wealthy, self-funded candidates through the first three months of 2024.
In absence of the same financial treasures enjoyed by his opponents, Hill’s campaign has adopted a different approach, shunning pricey TV ads in favor of in-person events. His campaign chair since November, Jackie Horvath, said Hill, 63, flourishes in front of crowds. “Whether it be in front of thousands or in front of hundreds or tens or one-on-one, he just has that gift,” she said. Lincoln Day Dinners, for example, have been staples for the campaign, which believes enough voters will be convinced of Hill’s message to make traversing the state worth it. “You just have to be more targeted,” Horvath said.
Ahead of the primary, Hill has already earned political victories. In January, he was the first to call for the Indiana Department of Health to resume releasing terminated pregnancy reports to the public. The department had halted their release, arguing the individual reports could be reverse-engineered to identify women who have had an abortion. (The department still shares quarterly roundups with aggregate data of the individual reports.)
Hill, in a news release, said the department was “arrogantly disregarding the law” and its decision “directly contradicts the previous treatment” of the reports. He insists releasing them is the only way to ensure the state’s near-total abortion ban can be enforced.
Attorney General Todd Rokita’s office earlier this month issued an official opinion contending individual abortion reports are not medical records and can be released to the public. In a news conference announcing the opinion, Rokita credited Hill for highlighting the issue. Hill’s former opponent said voters should ask other gubernatorial candidates “where they stand on this.” During an April 23 debate, other Republican candidates said they would push for the reports to be released after Hill questioned them.
And in February, Hill implored Holcomb to deploy Indiana National Guard members to Texas, as more than a dozen other states have done. Days later, Holcomb committed to sending 50 members. He justified the decision by blaming the federal government for not properly enforcing immigration law at the border with Mexico.
Yet, despite his continued influence on Indiana politics, Hill has struggled to win over Republican voters.
“He’s kind of like that pain in your side that just won’t go away for Republicans, and I wonder if his campaign is more about spite than anything else,” said Julia Vaughn, executive director of Common Cause Indiana, a nonpartisan organization that advocates for transparent governance.
The fall
Perry Township Republicans held a Lincoln Day Dinner April 2 at The Atrium, an unassuming banquet and catering facility tucked away in a strip mall off of Thompson Road in Indianapolis. U.S. Rep. Jim Banks was scheduled to be the featured speaker, and the event drew many of the state’s most notable conservatives.
Before the dinner started, Hill told State Affairs he doesn’t believe Hoosiers want “elite candidates.” He believes there is still a place for barnstorming around the state and delivering a message in person.
In 2016, Hill was elected state attorney general. Before that, he spent 14 years as the elected prosecutor for Elkhart County, where he was born and raised. The youngest of five children, Hill earned a Bachelor of Science in marketing and a Doctor of Jurisprudence at Indiana University, where he met his wife, Teresa, according to his campaign website. They are now parents of five.
During his time as attorney general, Hill was a champion of socially conservative causes, taking to Fox News to opine on national anthem protests, crime and homelessness in San Francisco. Many considered him a “rising star” in the Republican ranks.
But Hill’s once-promising political career derailed when the Indiana Supreme Court suspended his law license for groping four women at a party marking the end of the 2018 legislative session.
The court found “by clear and convincing evidence that [Hill] committed the criminal act of battery” against three female legislative staffers — ages 23 to 26 at the time — and a Democratic legislator. Hill has maintained his innocence, saying he never inappropriately touched the women.
Prior to the court’s decision, a special prosecutor declined to file criminal charges against Hill. The women filed a civil lawsuit in July 2020, claiming Hill committed battery against them. In early April, a Marion County judge called off a jury trial for the case, which remains pending. (Attorneys representing the women did not respond to a State Affairs request for comment.)
Following the state Supreme Court’s decision, Democrats and many Republicans — including Holcomb — called for Hill’s resignation. But Hill did not resign. Instead, he fulfilled his term and lost a close 2020 Republican attorney general nomination to Rokita.
Hill has since kept a mostly low profile. His most notable foray came in 2022, when he launched an unsuccessful bid to replace the late U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski. (He lost to U.S. Rep. Rudy Yakym, who was backed by Walorski’s family.) In 2022, Hill was also supposed to be involved in a mock trial of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Hill said an episode was filmed, but technical difficulties caused it to “fizzle out.”
Hill has kept busy with his namesake law practice and a consulting business, Maverick Consulting LLC. He has worked with the anti-vaccine nonprofit Children’s Health Defense and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as a consultant on “some post-pandemic matters.” And he participated in a senior fellowship at the conservative-leaning think tank Center for Urban Renewal and Education.
When he spends the weekend at home, Hill tries to make time for tennis with friends. They call themselves the Brandy Boys. Their Saturday routine: tennis, then breakfast and “a celebratory bottle of brandy that goes a long way.”
Hill told State Affairs the fallout from the court’s decision to suspend his license has been an “unfortunate chapter.” He said it was “a sign of the times when you’re a popular, particularly conservative figure, and knives come out.” Asked whether he would have done anything differently that night, Hill said he “probably would have gone home.”
His vision
On the campaign trail, Hill has advocated for a comprehensive tax plan. His proposals include cutting Indiana’s corporate income taxes and the state gas tax while also eliminating state income taxes for residents who are 18 to 35, according to his campaign website. But he says “wasteful spending” must be addressed before the tax breaks can be realized. (Hill has criticized Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch’s proposal to eliminate state income taxes for all residents.)
In addition, Hill’s campaign centers on stopping “the flood of illegal immigrants” and preserving “medical freedom.” At the COVID-19 pandemic’s zenith, Gov. Holcomb implemented a mask mandate in Indiana. Hill pounced on the decision, arguing Holcomb overstepped. “We had a government that failed us in many respects by providing misinformation, wrong information,” Hill said, pointing to guidance on mask usage changing as the pandemic progressed.
Hill maintains the damage done by government lockdowns “far exceeded the damage that was done by the virus itself, and we’re still seeing that a lot of businesses were scuttled. A lot of school kids have some learning and social behaviors that are offset because of the time that was taken away from the education process.”
Leah Wilson, executive director and co-founder of the nonprofit Stand for Health Freedom, said Hill “wasn’t tricked like others were” during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Most of the others you talk to say it was justified to cancel freedom for at least a few weeks,” she said of the other gubernatorial candidates. Because of that, Wilson’s organization endorses Hill. She said he is “not excitable, which allows him to be unwavering.”
Asked during debates about his other policies, Hill has compared the federal government to a “crack dealer” that attaches programmatic “entanglements” to its financial support of schools. If elected as Indiana’s next governor, he wants to do away with the entanglements, cut government regulations to help more child care facilities enter the market, empower locals to make their own economic development decisions, corral the Indiana Economic Development Corp. and end diversity, equity and inclusion practices in state government as well as “radical gender ideology” and “critical race theory” in classrooms.
“Objective truth is under assault on a regular basis,” Hill told State Affairs. “I think the manipulation of the justice system, the weaponization of race, the sexualization of our children call upon us to have a new administration of freedom.”
Asked about his chances of winning after several poor showings in recent polls, Hill said, “The only poll that matters is the poll on May 7.”
State Rep. Ed DeLaney, D-Indianapolis, said Hill had “managed to bring discredit to his office in an unusual and particularly terrible fashion.” In 2019, DeLaney authored a resolution urging the House to conduct an investigation of the allegations against Hill, but it wasn’t taken up.
Hill came into the gubernatorial race as a “hard-right, pro-Trump” candidate, DeLaney said, “but he hasn’t had money to send that message. And when, essentially, almost all of the candidates are sending that message, how does he distinguish himself? So, sadly for him, this distinction is the one that I pointed to: He got himself in this horrible situation.”
Horvath, Hill’s campaign chair, sees his situation differently. She described the allegations against Hill as a “he said, she said” scenario that has only been brought up sparingly on the campaign trail.
In The Atrium lobby, Hill spoke with his team, surrounded by bustling conservatives. Just, the Gladiator owner, walked through one of the facility’s entrances — he was there to support Andrew Ireland in the House District 90 race — and spotted Hill. The pair reminisced about the Jeep show. “He remembered exactly what the Jeep was; he remembered everything about it,” Just told State Affairs of his conversation with Hill.
Hill asked Just to “remember” him during the upcoming primary election, Just told State Affairs. Yet, after their April encounter, Just said he is “still kind of closed” on the candidate he plans to vote for.
“I still haven’t made up my mind yet,” Just said. But he acknowledged Hill “definitely left a mark.”
About Hill
- Age: 63
- Hometown: Elkhart
- Education: Bachelor of Science in marketing and Doctor of Jurisprudence from Indiana University
- Family: Wife, Teresa, and five children
- Job: Attorney, consultant
- Work history: Indiana’s 43rd attorney general (2017-2021), an attorney since 1988, consultant with Maverick Consulting LLC, Elkhart County prosecutor (2003-2017)
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