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Request a DemoHere’s who was behind the Indiana transgender bill signed by Holcomb
- Gov. Eric Holcomb signed a bill into law banning gender transition-related medical care for minors on Wednesday.
- A representative from the Alliance Defending Freedom, a national legal advocacy group, said Indiana lawmakers asked for its legal guidance on three transgender issue-related bills.
- Of the more than 200 voicemails, emails and notes constituents sent to Holcomb leading up to his signing of the bill, only 10 were supportive of the transgender bills advancing in the Statehouse.
The day before Scott Newgent urged Indiana lawmakers to pass a ban on gender transition medical care for minors, he pitched a similar idea at a Missouri rally. Newgent, a Texan who regrets his gender transition, has already testified in two additional states this year.
National conservative Christian groups and individuals who say they regret their own decisions to transition have traveled the country pushing a historic number of bills focused on those who are transgender. In Indiana, three such bills advanced. One banning gender transition-related medical care for minors — including surgeries, hormones and puberty blockers — was signed into law by Gov. Eric Holcomb on Wednesday.
Perhaps the most influential of the outside forces has been the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal advocacy group. A representative from the group said Indiana lawmakers consulted it for legal advice on multiple bills this legislative session.
There's limited polling on the issue in Indiana, so it's unclear where a majority of Hoosiers stand on the issues.
But the more than 200 voicemails, emails and notes sent to Holcomb from constituents might provide a window into what Hoosiers are thinking. Of those sent between the start of session and March 27, only 10 supported the various transgender-issue bills, according to records obtained by State Affairs.
Laura Merrifield Wilson, associate professor of political science at the University of Indianapolis, said it’s not surprising that outside people and groups would push such legislation, given the increased nationalization of politics. It’s much easier to convince state legislators than Congress to pass these bills.
But, lawmakers and voters should be assessing why national groups are advocating for changes in Indiana, Wilson said.
“The idea of having people come from outside inherently in and of itself is not a bad thing. It’s just peeling back the layer,” Wilson said. “Does it serve the interests of Hoosiers?”
Wilson added that part of the reason so many transgender-issue bills advanced is likely because Republican lawmakers are catering to their base. Polling by and large shows Republicans are more supportive of some of these measures working through statehouses.
There also were in-state Christian conservative groups who supported the flood of bills, including Indiana Family Institute and the American Family Association of Indiana.
Which bills are moving
More than a dozen bills related to transgender issues were filed in Indiana this year, and a record number advanced. Some of them contain similar ideas to bills filed across the country.
Senate Bill 480, for example, bans all gender-affirming surgeries and procedures for minors, including puberty blockers and hormones. Those who have already started using hormones will need to stop by the end of the year.
The law contains concepts similar to legislation filed in more than two dozen other states this year, including West Virginia and Mississippi, where such measures have also been signed into law. In West Virginia, though, a state that this year pursued additional transgender-related legislation banning drag shows, lawmakers built in a unique exception for youth at risk of suicide or self-harm.
Indiana’s law does not contain that exception.
During testimony, some Hoosiers did speak in favor of the legislation. The majority of voices who shared regrets about transitioning, though, came from people who either lived out of state or didn't say where they lived. Notably, most discussed decisions made as adults — which the law does not address.
Newgent said he decided to testify because he regretted his own decision to transition as an adult — a viewpoint held by just 1% of those who previously sought gender-affirming surgeries — and wanted to protect young people from making the same choice.
He explained the lack of testimony from those living in the state due to embarrassment from those like him who say they were “duped” into transitioning.
“How excited are you to stand in front of a microphone and tell people, ‘Listen I was a total f****** idiot and I fell for this?” Newgent asked.
But there’s no evidence such surgeries are occurring on minors in Indiana.
A representative from Riley Hospital said during a committee hearing that its doctors don’t perform such surgeries on minors. It’s rare across the country, too: There were only 56 genital surgeries among those ages 13-17 with a gender dysphoria diagnosis from 2019 to 2021, according to Reuters.
Plus, opponents of SB 480 said more harm could come from the legislation because LGBTQ+ youth already are more likely to attempt suicide. The American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics are opposed to restrictions on gender transition-related medical care.
“It seems to me like lawmakers are doing this to appease right-wing supporters that don’t necessarily reflect the views of most Hoosiers,” said Katie Blair, director of advocacy and public policy of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Indiana. “The fact that there are so many people coming into Indiana to testify just shows that this is a problem that doesn’t exist and certainly doesn’t exist in Indiana.”
Bill author Sen. Tyler Johnson, R- Leo, said his goal was to protect children against “irreversible, unproven and life-altering procedures.” Republican lawmakers have been working on a bill to limit such care for years, and he said he borrowed language from different places when crafting the legislation.
“That’s how bills get put together,” Johnson, who is an emergency room physician, told State Affairs.
Matt Sharp, senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, said his organization was consulted by Indiana lawmakers on how to take Arkansas’ 2021 law on gender-affirming care and improve it legally for use in Indiana. Johnson said his conversations with the group were “no different than anybody else.”
“We want to be a resource to the state legislators,” said Sharp, whose organization is classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. “States are the laboratories of democracy. It’s where a lot of ideas start then eventually bubble their way up to Congress.”
Holcomb signed the bill into law on Wednesday.
“Permanent gender-changing surgeries with lifelong impacts and medically prescribed preparation for such a transition should occur as an adult, not as a minor,” Holcomb said in a statement. “There has and will continue to be debate within the medical community about the best ways to provide physical and mental health care for adolescents who are struggling with their own gender identity, and it is important that we recognize and understand those struggles are real.”
Within hours, the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana announced it was suing Indiana over the law.
Another bill mirroring other states
House Bill 1608 also contains similar language to bills filed in other states. That piece of legislation, which as introduced was similar to what opponents call the “don’t say gay” law that passed in Florida last year, would prohibit teachers from providing instruction on human sexuality through third grade.
It also requires teachers to notify parents if their students want to go by a different name, and provides a defense for teachers who don’t want to use a student’s requested pronouns.
Just like SB 480, at least two dozen states have bills that contain similar concepts to HB 1608, and Sharp said he was asked to once again weigh in on the legislation’s legality. His organization previously represented a Brownsburg school teacher who said he was asked to resign because he didn’t want to use pronouns or names inconsistent with students’ assigned sex at birth.
Bill author Rep. Michelle Davis, R-Whiteland, declined to be interviewed for this article but in a statement said the bill stemmed from “parents’ concerns in my district and across the state.”
Testimony on HB 1608 in the Senate’s education committee was notable not because of who testified in support of the bill, but because of who didn’t testify in support of it. While more than 20 people said they opposed it, only a couple of people testified in support.
That bill already passed the House, and could pass out of the Senate as soon as next week. The House, however, would still have to vote on the bill again because changes were made on the Senate side.
The outlier (which picked up Dem votes)
Not every transgender bill in Indiana appears to be tied to a national movement.
A notable example is House Bill 1569, which would no longer allow people in state prison to receive gender-affirming surgery, including if they wanted to pay for it with their own money. (Other care, such as hormone therapy, would still be permissible.)
Rep. Peggy Mayfield, R-Martinsville, said her motivation for the bill was not necessarily tied to the larger wave of transgender bills emerging in several other states.
The bill would at most apply to just one person in prison at this time, according to testimony provided by the Indiana Department of Correction (DOC) during a Senate committee.
But Mayfield said she carried HB 1569 at the request of Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita’s office, which is responsible for representing the state prison agency if someone in prison filed a lawsuit for lack of gender-affirming care.
Mayfield noted the DOC has a list of about 100 people who have either been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, are receiving hormone therapy or are otherwise being monitored or considered for some type of accommodation.
“That’s a potential pipeline of tremendous amounts of litigation,” Mayfield told State Affairs.
The attorney general’s office acknowledged another legal risk, though: Indiana will likely be sued over concerns of the Eighth Amendment right against cruel and unusual punishment.
Zach Stock, legislative counsel with the Indiana Public Defender Council, testified that the bill was unconstitutional. He said it would change the nature of prison sentences, creating a more severe penalty for people who are found by doctors to need medical care.
Still, the bill easily moved through both chambers, even picking up a handful of Democratic votes in the House. Holcomb will now have to decide whether to sign it.
Why there wasn’t more in-state testimony
The amount of supportive testimony a bill receives doesn’t automatically directly line up with the amount of support it would have in the general population.
A recent PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll found that 43% of Americans support laws to criminalize gender-affirming care for minors, while 54% oppose them. In 2022, one poll found that a slim majority of Americans supported what opponents called the “don’t say gay” bill in Florida, while another found the opposite.
Does it matter if people who testify on legislation come from out of state? That depends on who you ask.
“It’s either good or bad policy,” Johnson told State Affairs. “It doesn’t matter where people are speaking on it.”
Emma Vosicky, executive director of GenderNexus, however, urged lawmakers to be cautious during testimony on the bill last month.
“With all due respect, you have no understanding of what it means to be transgender, and it’s not your fault because it’s not your experience,” Vosicky said. “What would be your fault is if you seek out stories that conform to what you want to believe, the stories you want to hear.”
Some people, such as Micah Clark, director of the socially conservative American Family Association of Indiana, opted to not testify on SB 480 because he wanted to leave it up to the experts — those who either regretted transitioning or physicians opposed to the practice.
“Sometimes the assumption is that you’ve got 70 Republicans in the House, 40 in the Senate,” Clark said. “People just assume it’ll pass.”
Contact Kaitlin Lange on Twitter @kaitlin_lange or email her at [email protected].
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Header image: A group of protestors chants outside the Indiana House chamber during a debate on Senate Bill 480 on March 21, 2023, in Indianapolis. (Credit: Kaitlin Lange)
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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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