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Republican candidate for Indiana Secretary of State Max Engling today welcomed Attorney General Todd Rokita’s announcement of felony charges against a Vigo County resident accused of unlawfully registering to vote and casting ballots in multiple Indiana elections. Engling said he looks forward to working with Rokita as Indiana’s next Secretary of State to verify voter eligibility and refer evidence of potential violations for prosecution.

“Voting is a right reserved for American citizens, and protecting that right requires action,” Engling said. “I’m the ONLY candidate in this race who will ensure that American elections are for American citizens, and I commend Attorney General Rokita and Vigo County Prosecutor Terry Modesitt for pursuing these allegations. As Secretary of State, I will work alongside Attorney General Rokita to identify unlawful registrations, strengthen citizenship verification and ensure suspected violations reach the officials responsible for enforcing our laws.”

According to Rokita’s announcement, Francisco Aguilar Romero faces felony charges involving unlawful voter registration, perjury, and illegal voting. The charging allegations state that Romero is a Mexican national who holds DACA status and voted in six Vigo County elections between 2018 and 2024.

“Every unlawful ballot undermines public confidence and the rights of eligible voters,” Engling said. “Hoosiers deserve an election system that checks eligibility, follows the evidence and holds people accountable when violations are proven.”

Engling said his priorities include working with federal and state partners to verify citizenship, supporting election officials in maintaining accurate voter rolls and coordinating with the attorney general and local prosecutors when evidence warrants investigation.

“Attorney General Rokita has made clear that this enforcement effort is continuing,” Engling said. “As Indiana’s next Secretary of State, I look forward to being an active partner in that work. Protecting the integrity of our elections will be a priority from day one.”

Republican candidate for Indiana Secretary of State Max Engling today criticized millions flowing from Evan Bayh’s dormant political accounts to Indiana Democrats as the party spends heavily to support his son, Beau Bayh, pointing to the former senator’s lucrative transition from Washington to corporate boardrooms.

According to the Indiana Capital Chronicle, Evan Bayh has transferred at least $2.4 million to state Democrats while the party has directed $2.2 million toward supporting Beau’s campaign since early September. The transfers have largely emptied the former senator’s federal campaign account and a political action committee he controls.

“Beau Bayh wants to campaign as a reformer while his father’s old political war chest helps bankroll his path into office,” Engling said. “Hoosiers deserve to examine the record behind that money and those connections. Indiana’s Secretary of State’s office is not a Bayh family inheritance.”

From Banking Oversight to a Paid Bank Board Seat

Evan Bayh served on the Senate Banking Committee and voted for the legislation authorizing the Troubled Asset Relief Program. After leaving the Senate, he joined the board of Fifth Third Bancorp, a bank that received billions through that program. Fifth Third paid Bayh approximately $945,000 in compensation from 2011 through 2015, including stock awards.

“Banking oversight. A bailout vote. Then a paid seat on the board of a bank that received bailout money,” Engling said. “That revolving door deserves scrutiny, especially when Beau asks voters to believe his family’s political operation represents reform.”

The Apollo Connection Deserves Answers

The Associated Press reported that Evan Bayh helped block a proposed tax increase on private equity gains opposed by Apollo Global Management in 2010. Later that year, while still a senator, he met twice with Apollo chief executive Leon Black. Weeks after Bayh left office, Apollo announced it had hired him as a senior adviser.

Black’s financial relationship with Jeffrey Epstein later came under extensive scrutiny. An Apollo-commissioned review found that Black paid Epstein $158 million between 2012 and 2017, after Epstein’s 2008 conviction involving a minor.

“Evan Bayh went to work for Apollo after taking a position that benefited the firm while he was still in the Senate,” Engling said. “His meetings with Leon Black and the job that followed are documented. Beau owes voters a straightforward explanation of why the political and financial network built around his father should inspire confidence in his promises to clean up government.”

Beau’s Stock Pledge Fails to Meet His Family’s Record

Beau Bayh has pledged to prohibit individual stock trading for himself and his top staff. But scrutiny of his family’s finances warrants attention alongside that promise: the Indianapolis Business Journal, citing Politico’s reporting and financial disclosures, reported that when Evan Bayh left the Senate in 2010, his family held stocks and stock options in two companies worth at least $1 million each.

“Beau wants credit for promising to stop individual stock trading. Will he apply that same scrutiny to his own family’s record?” Engling said. “His father served in the Senate while the family held substantial corporate stock interests, then moved into lucrative corporate positions after leaving office. Hoosiers deserve to hear Beau explain where he draws the line, and whether his reform message includes an honest accounting of the Bayh family’s record.”

Engling called on Beau Bayh to explain the relationship between his father’s political committees, the Indiana Democratic Party, and the spending that supported his candidacy.

“Evan transfers millions. The party spends millions helping Beau. And Beau asks Hoosiers to call it reform,” Engling said. “A family name does not entitle anyone to public office. I’m running to serve Hoosiers, and the only inheritance this office should protect is the public’s trust.”

Republican candidate for Indiana Secretary of State Max Engling announced he will work with the Indiana legislature to crack down on “chameleon carriers,” unsafe trucking companies that shut down and reopen under new identities to escape accountability.

Engling said Indiana’s business registration system should help expose fraudulent operators who endanger Hoosier families and drivers while attempting to hide behind new company names and filings.

“Changing the name on the paperwork doesn’t change who is behind the wheel or who is responsible,” Engling said. “If you put Hoosier families at risk, you shouldn’t be able to open another LLC and pretend your record disappeared. I will work with the legislature to close the gaps these operators exploit and make the Secretary of State’s office an active partner in stopping business registration fraud.”

As Secretary of State, Engling will work with the Indiana legislature, law enforcement, and transportation officials to identify weaknesses in Indiana’s business registration process and pursue legislation where additional authority is needed.

His priorities include:

Detecting suspicious filings: Explore ways to identify connections between newly registered businesses and carriers with documented enforcement histories.

Improving coordination: Help state and federal authorities connect business registration information with carrier safety and enforcement records.

Closing loopholes: Work with Pressel on safeguards against false filings and attempts to conceal the people responsible for unsafe operations.

Protecting honest businesses: Develop targeted measures that hold fraudulent operators accountable while keeping registration efficient for legitimate companies.

“Indiana’s truckers keep our economy moving. They invest in safe equipment, train their drivers, and follow the rules,” Engling said. “They deserve fair competition, and every family traveling our highways deserves to get home safely.”

“This would be a first-of-its-kind partnership in Indiana, bringing the Secretary of State’s office and the legislature together to stop dangerous trucking companies from hiding behind new business names,” Pressel said. “Max understands that a new LLC shouldn’t erase a dangerous record. Together, we can close loopholes, protect honest truckers and make Indiana’s roads safer.”

“The Secretary of State’s office has a role to play in protecting the integrity of Indiana’s business records,” Engling said. “Working with the legislature, we will pursue practical reforms that make it harder for dangerous operators to hide and easier for authorities to connect the dots.”

Republican candidate for Indiana Secretary of State Max Engling today accused Democrat Beau Bayh of lying about Engling’s driving record and announced plans to sue after Bayh’s campaign refused to withdraw the disputed advertisement.

“Beau Bayh is asking Hoosiers to trust him with an office responsible for transparency and public confidence, while running an ad that lies about my record,” Engling said. “If he will lie about something voters can check, what else will he lie about when he thinks nobody is looking?”

Engling maintains that the advertisement falsely portrays him as having been convicted of reckless driving. According to his campaign, he has never been charged with or convicted of reckless driving.

“Beau had an opportunity to correct the record. Instead, his campaign doubled down,” Engling said. “Voters deserve to know why he continues defending a claim we have directly challenged as false.”

The dispute comes as a court record provided by the Engling campaign shows Bayh previously faced a reckless driving charge in Virginia. According to that record, Brunswick County charged Bayh on June 8, 2018.

“Beau attacked me over a charge I never had, while failing to explain his own,” Engling said. “He would have faced prison time had he not taken a plea. That is unacceptable, and that is hypocrisy. Hoosiers deserve transparency about his record and accountability for what his campaign says about mine.”

Engling’s campaign previously demanded that Bayh withdraw the advertisement and correct its claims or face a lawsuit. After the Bayh campaign refused, Engling said he intends to challenge the allegedly false and defamatory statements in court.

“This is a basic test of honesty,” Engling said. “Will you tell voters the truth, and will you correct the record when you get it wrong? Beau has kept defending the ad. Hoosiers deserve a secretary of state whose word they can trust.”

Republican candidate for Indiana Secretary of State Max Engling today demanded that Beau Bayh withdraw his latest attack ad and correct its false claim about Engling’s driving record, or face a lawsuit.

Max Engling has never been charged with or convicted of reckless driving. Yet Bayh’s advertisement features a police officer claiming Engling has been convicted of that offense eight times, which is libelous.

Engling’s driving record includes eight speeding tickets, the most recent from 16 years ago, all traffic infractions, not misdemeanor charges or convictions. To be clear, for Beau Bayh to utilize a sheriff's deputy, Scott Robinett, to suggest he was convicted 8 times of “reckless driving,” which starts off as a misdemeanor and can be escalated, is defamation on its face.

A law enforcement officer who has been in the field for 40 years knows the difference between speeding tickets and the charge of reckless driving, and chose to state a blatant lie at the :08 to :10 portion of the advertisement. He also said Max has been investigated for this issue more than eight times, again a statement not tied to fact.

“Beau Bayh can spend money repeating this claim, but he cannot produce a reckless driving charge against me because there isn’t one,” Engling said.

“If Beau has evidence, release it. Otherwise, pull the ad and tell Hoosiers the truth.”

The Engling campaign called on Bayh to identify the specific record supporting the allegation, remove the false claim from his campaign advertising, and publicly correct the record.

“This is a straightforward question of accuracy, and Beau owes voters a straightforward answer,” Engling said. “An attack ad is no substitute for evidence. Putting an accusation on television doesn’t turn it into a fact.”

Engling said the false allegation raises serious questions about the judgment Bayh would bring to an office responsible for maintaining accurate records and administering essential public services.

“The Secretary of State’s office runs on accuracy, accountability, and public trust,” Engling said.

“If Beau expects Hoosiers to trust him with that responsibility, he should demonstrate that he can get the facts right in his own advertising, and correct them when he gets them wrong.”

Engling said his campaign will continue focusing on protecting Indiana’s elections, combating business fraud, and making the office an effective partner for Hoosier businesses.

“I’m prepared to defend my record and debate my plans for this office,” Engling said. “But voters deserve a debate grounded in facts. Beau should explain what he would do as Secretary of State instead of making claims about charges that never happened.”

Republican candidate for Indiana Secretary of State Max Engling today pushed back against Beau Bayh’s desperate, false campaign attacks, calling them a pattern of claims designed to distract voters from the Bayh family’s corruption.

“Beau keeps repeating false claims that I'm a multimillionaire profiting from data centers and insider trading. This is unequivocally false; I have no connection to either, and the four stocks I own are worth less than $50,000 total, and I have never sold them,” Engling said.

“The lies don’t end, and it's shameful that the media will not report on how his false and separate attacks are baseless and frankly disqualifying. Now he’s bizarrely lying, claiming I have reckless driving tickets, which is also false. It’s just more lying from a desperate and losing campaign,” Engling said.

Engling called on Bayh to answer for his family’s ties to Leon Black, the Apollo Global Management co-founder who paid Jeffrey Epstein more than $150 million and was repeatedly named in the Epstein case. Leon Black’s donations to Evan Bayh now directly fund his own campaign per public record.

After leaving the Senate in 2011, Evan Bayh joined Black’s firm as a senior adviser and was later named in the Epstein files. That network is now heavily funding Beau Bayh’s campaign.

Today, it was confirmed that Evan Bayh gave the Indiana Democratic Victory Committee $700,000 from his former federal campaign committee, which then passed it to Beau’s campaign. The campaign expects that number to rise to about $2.3 million after further public disclosures.

Moreover, Beau Bayh still hasn’t answered as to why he registered to vote in Indiana in 2014 when he clearly didn’t live here.

Voter records indicate that Bayh claimed his family’s 996-square-foot, one-bedroom Indianapolis condo as his Indiana residence after turning 18 while he was at the same time enrolled in a Washington DC private high school full-time, in-person. The records also indicate that his absentee-ballot materials were mailed to the Bayh family’s home in Virginia.

Indiana code is explicit: you must reside in the state for 30 days to be eligible to register to vote. Beau Bayh’s father was not serving in the U.S. Senate; Beau was not in college or the military when he registered to vote in Indiana.

“Beau Bayh is asking Hoosiers to put him in charge of Indiana’s elections. He owes them a clear account of where he lived when he registered and voted in Indiana,” said Engling.

“The records raise straightforward questions about the Indianapolis condo, his time in Washington, and why his election materials went to Virginia.”

Engling’s latest ad, “Only One,” highlights his support for the SAVE America Act and his commitment to verifying citizenship for federal voter registration, while drawing a sharp contrast between him and Bayh.

“Indiana’s Secretary of State is a position of public trust, not a family inheritance,” Engling said.

“That trust starts with telling the truth. If Beau can’t be honest with voters while asking for the job, why should they trust him once he has it?”