Democrat Destiny Wells announced Monday she is running for Indiana Attorney General. This is the party executive, lawyer and veteran’s second bid for public office; She lost the 2022 race for Secretary of State.
Wells said incumbent Republican Todd Rokita has used his powers “disgracefully” — and said that as attorney general, he would rather serve Hoosiers than use the office as a “platform for national conversation.” I will be back.”
According to Wells, the campaign will focus on medical privacy, workers’ rights, and ethical standards.
He criticized Rokita’s use of subpoena-like investigative demands directed at several Hoosier medical providers for gender transition-related medical care.
“We want to protect medical privacy for all Hoosiers, and not use the office in an abusive manner,” Wells said during a livestream event.
He added, “Office work is not supposed to be like an overzealous witch hunt.”
He also said it was time for a “fresh look” at how the office could better serve residents — and he proposed a new division dedicated to labor law. Wells said the office can also work with other state agencies and local law enforcement to crack down on wage theft and employee misclassification.
And Wells said she would “restore the highest ethical standards” to the office — drawing a stark contrast between herself and Rokita.
He noted that this month, Rokita became the second straight attorney general to receive a rebuke from the Indiana Supreme Court for his comments on television about Indianapolis obstetrician-gynecologist Caitlin Bernard. The court suspended predecessor Curtis Hill’s law license for 30 days as punishment for committing a criminal act of battery in 2020 and violating other professional conduct rules.
take two
Wells is from Morgan County. She enlisted in the Army National Guard at age 19, then joined Army ROTC. According to her LinkedIn, she has since held various military contracting, intelligence, and law positions, and has served as a lieutenant colonel since 2003.
He is also a lawyer and has held several related positions – including Deputy Attorney General for Government Litigation. She is currently the Indiana Democratic Party’s Vice Chair for Coalitions and Extension.
As a Democrat, he faces an uphill battle. The party has not won a statewide race since 2012.
Democrats hoped Wells would change that in 2022. Although Morales faced dozens of negative allegations and made headlines in 2022, according to The New York Times, he became Secretary of State with nearly 54% of the vote to Welles’s 40%.
The most recent Democrat Attorney General was Karen Freeman-Wilson, who left office in 2001.
The Indiana Republican Party criticized his entry into the race.
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“After being overwhelmingly rejected by Hoosier voters…in 2022, Democrat Destiny Wells is now running for the next available statewide office, Attorney General,” GOP Chairwoman Anne Hathaway said in a written statement. “Time and again, Democrat Destiny Wells has used her leadership positions in the Indiana Democrat Party to try to advance the radical Joe Biden agenda across the state. Indiana Republicans are looking forward to a strong campaign in which we will continue to support the rule of law and the Indiana Constitution.
Wells said she is “in a much better position” for her second campaign because she is starting well before Election Day and already has a team and network in place rather than starting “from scratch.” Are.
He said the campaign will focus more on voter education after seeing how many Hoosiers pulled straight-ticket ballots rather than voting in person for each office. Indiana is one of six states to offer straight ticket voting.
And she will focus more on fundraising, commenting that it costs a lot of money to be able to meet with voters.
“For a voter to say, ‘Why am I only hearing about you?’ There’s nothing more frustrating than trying to raise money and run around the state all year long.’ And this is the day before the election,” Wells told reporters.
Correction: A previous version of this article included incorrect vote shares for the 2022 Secretary of State race. Morales received 54% of the vote and Wells received 40%.
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