Diego Morales Republican nomination for Secretary of State

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Secretary of State Holli Sullivan has failed to get the Republican Party’s nomination to run in the fall election. GOP delegates on Saturday instead nominated Diego Morales, who worked in the governor’s office when Mike Pence led the state.

Diego Morales

Morales overcame criticism about twice leaving jobs in the secretary of state office after being written up for poor job performance.

Morales has called for more voting restrictions and embraced former President Donald Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen.

Sullivan was appointed secretary of state in March 2021 by Gov. Eric Holcomb after her predecessor retired. The Democratic nominee for secretary of state is Destiny Scott Wells, an Indianapolis attorney, and Army Reserve intelligence officer.

The Democratic nominee for secretary of state is Destiny Scott Wells.

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita released the following statement on the Indiana GOP convention:

“Congratulations to our Republican nominees, especially my friends and conservative allies, Diego Morales and Daniel Elliott. This convention proved that Hoosiers are fed up with the establishment, woke corporations, and leftist media who run the Indianapolis swamp. Morales and Elliott will be partners of mine to drain it and save our Hoosier values for generations to come. Congratulations also to Tara Klutz on her re-nomination,” said Todd Rokita.

The Indiana Democratic Party, the organization that advocates for the future of Indiana and its families, today issued the following statement after the Indiana Republican Party selected Diego Morales as its candidate for Indiana’s Secretary of State race: 

Drew Anderson, spokesman for the Indiana Democratic Party.

“With Diego Morales, the Indiana Republican Party has nominated an individual who was fired from Todd Rokita’s – yes, Todd Rokita’s – office, thinks the 2020 election was a ‘scam’, wants every Hoosier voter to prove their U.S. citizenship when they vote and would cut the state’s early vote calendar in half,” said Drew Anderson, spokesman for the Indiana Democratic Party. “This is what Indiana Democrats mean when we say the Indiana Republican Party has no plans for Indiana’s future – just extreme partisanship. The Indiana GOP’s last-minute smear campaign against Morales not only failed but with his nomination, the Party sprints further away from the Mitch Daniels era and closer to a brand of politics that’s unrecognizable to Hoosiers – including many Republican voters. This is exactly why veteran and attorney Destiny Wells will become Indiana’s next Secretary of State. She’ll put forward an Indiana-first and country-first agenda— not one made from extremism and the latest conspiracy theory. There’s too much at stake for Hoosiers and Democrats are the only ones who can protect our Hoosier democracy in the future.”