INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Republican State Committee filed an amicus brief last week supporting a law that limits who can run under major party banners in Indiana.

U.S. Senate candidate John Rust is challenging the statute because it prevents him from filing as a Republican against party favorite Jim Banks, a U.S. Representative.

The 2021 law bars primary ballot access unless a candidate’s two most recent primary votes match the party they wish to represent — a measure that Marion County Superior Judge Patrick J. Dietrick ruled was unconstitutional in December.

The ruling and injunction was a win for Rust, who wouldn’t qualify for the ballot because of the two-primary rule. Banks and Rust are seeking to succeed U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, also a Republican, who is pursuing the governor’s office in the 2024 cycle.

But the Indiana GOP — filing in support of defendants Secretary of State Diego Morales, the Indiana Election Commission and Jackson County Republican Party Chair Amanda Lowery — said the law poses a “modest test” that “weeds out candidates who are not actually affiliated with the party.”

“Political parties have a constitutional right to determine their own membership and limit the candidates appearing on their primary ballots based on that membership; the State has an interest in safeguarding that right. The Committee has a substantial interest in enforcing and upholding a law that protects its right to freedom of expressive association and promotes election integrity,” the party’s filing said.

A spokesman for the Indiana Democratic Party had no comment at this time.

Indiana GOP arguments

The Indiana Republican Party made its preference for Banks clear when it took the unprecedented step to endorse him, something unheard of in recent modern history.

Despite Banks’ widespread name recognition, campaign war chest and the support from both former President Donald Trump and current seat holder Braun, he also continues to attack underdog Rust.

The state party filing said Rust could run “while describing himself as a Republican or associating himself with the Republican ideology … (but) does not have the constitution right to run for Senate as the Republican Party’s nominee…”

Republican and Democrat nominees for the U.S. Senate are selected via a state-funded primary in Indiana, rather than through a convention.

Both parties use the convention process in Indiana to nominate candidates for state-level positions, including: Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Treasurer of State and State Auditor. That political process used to include other offices, such as U.S. senators.

Minor political parties in Indiana, including the Libertarian Party, may utilize conventions more than the state’s major parties. Libertarians traditionally have nominated their candidates for governor and senator at convention.

Republicans argued the injunction on the 2021 primary law “will have the effect of returning party politics to the old ways,” meaning the convention process, for other political nominations.

The filing said that “chaos and unchecked gamesmanship” would ensue because “those loyal to one political party (could seek) to appear on another party’s primary ballot to confuse or mislead voters.” Several of Indiana’s prominent politicians have switched parties, including leading Democratic nominee for governor Jennifer McCormick and Braun himself.

Other details

The filing rebuffs several arguments from Dietrick, who said the law appeared to benefit political parties over the state and Hoosiers.

“The distinction between wholly internal aspects of party administration on one hand and participation in state run and state financed elections on the other is at the heart of this case. Therefore, it is the State’s asserted interests, not the interests of the Indiana Republican Party,” the ruling said. “There is no compelling or even rational government interest being served here.”

According to the party, Dietrick’s ruling and injunction “consistently conflates the right to run for office with a distinct, but non-existent, right to appear on the Republican primary ballot.”

Rust, the filing noted, could run as a write-in candidate or under a third party but not as a Republican under the 2021 law — “a minor restriction that does not trigger strict scrutiny.”

Republicans acknowledge that the law isn’t “an infallible proxy for party affiliation” but go on to say that no law can determine “the inner-thoughts and beliefs of a candidate.”

“But our entire system relies on the presumption that voters generally vote consistent with their beliefs. It is rational that a candidate’s most recent voting history likely reflects her beliefs, values and party affiliation,” the filing said.

The filing from the Indiana Republican Party must still be accepted before the court may consider it. Rust’s representation has until Jan. 19 to respond to the party and other appellant arguments, according to a Dec. 15 ruling.

The Indiana Supreme Court will hear arguments on Feb. 12, though a ruling in favor of Rust doesn’t guarantee his appearance on the ballot — he must still gather 500 signatures from each of the state’s nine congressional district.

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The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, nonprofit news organization dedicated to giving Hoosiers a comprehensive look inside state government, policy and elections. The site combines daily coverage with in-depth scrutiny, political awareness and insightful commentary.

You can read the original version of the story here.

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The Indiana attorney general’s office filed the notice of appeal Friday with the Indiana Supreme Court on behalf of Secretary of State Diego Morales.

The filing came a day after a Marion County judge granted an injunction sought by John Rust, the former chair of the egg supplier Rose Acre Farms who is running to replace Sen. Mike Braun. Rust filed a lawsuit in September against Morales, the Indiana Election Commission and Jackson County Republican Party Chair Amanda Lowery to challenge the law and ensure the possibility of his place on the ballot.

Lowery, the county’s Republican Party chair, said in a July meeting with Rust that she would not certify him, the lawsuit said. Rust has said Lowery later cited his primary voting record.

In a November hearing, Rust said the law keeps legitimate candidates who have recently moved to Indiana or have switched political identifications from running for office.

The post Indiana secretary of state appeals ruling for US Senate candidate John Rust appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

INDIANAPOLIS — A candidate for Congress won an injunction from a Marion County court late Thursday after the judge found a state law that limits who can run on a primary ballot is unconstitutional.

He also simultaneously denied the state’s motion to dismiss — a win for the underdog campaign.

“‘Elections belong to the people. It’s their decision,’” the court ruling from Marion County Superior Court Judge Patrick J. Dietrick reads, quoting Hoosier-raised attorney and former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. “It is with this purpose in mind that the court renders its decision.”

John Rust, running to succeed U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, currently can’t appear on the Republican ballot because of a law prohibiting candidates whose last two primary votes don’t match the party they wish to represent.

Rust sued to gain access to the Republican ballot, saying the measure barred the vast majority of Hoosiers from running under their preferred party — an argument that seemed to sway the court.

“This is a victory for the 80% who are banned from running for political office and I know they don’t like me saying that but it’s the absolute truth,” Rust told the Indiana Capital Chronicle, citing a Pew Research Center analysis of Indiana’s party affiliation.

Dietrick also cited that research in his filing.

“When the immense power of the state is turned toward and upon its citizens in such a way that it imperils a sacred and cherished right of those same citizens, the state’s actions must be for an articulated compelling and pressing reason, and it must be exercised in the most transparent and least restrictive and least intrusive ways possible,” he said.

“The 2021 (law) fails in this regard. It unduly burdens Hoosiers’ long-recognized right to freely associate with the political party of one’s choosing and to cast one’s vote effectively,” Dietrick continued.

Law seems to benefit party, not the state

Rust’s two most recent primary votes were Republican in 2016 and Democrat in 2012 — meaning he can’t appear on the Republican ballot for the 2024 May primary election. The law allows an exception, should the county’s party chair grant it, which Jackson County Republican Party Chair Amanda Lowery elected not to do in this case because of the two primary rule, according to the filing.

Dietrick noted that it appeared the Republican party — which made the unprecedented move to endorse Rust’s opponent, U.S. Rep. Jim Banks — benefited from this law, rather than the state and Hoosiers.

“The distinction between wholly internal aspects of party administration on one hand and participation in state run and state financed elections on the other is at the heart of this case. Therefore, it is the State’s asserted interests, not the interests of the Indiana Republican Party,” the ruling said. “There is no compelling or even rational government interest being served here.”

Dietrick continued to say that Hoosiers have the freedom to vote in either party primary and that voting “is not indicia of party membership or loyalty.”

He noted that the U.S. Supreme Court had struck down similar restrictions to party membership that lasted 23 months while this law restricts voting Hoosiers for 48 months or more. Additionally, two candidates openly calling themselves Republicans qualified for the Democratic ballot in Owen County in 2022 — an outcome which Dietrick said “is compelling proof that the statute does not work to serve the alleged state goal.”

Dietrick noted the Indiana Constitution requires a candidate to live in Indiana for two years preceding the election to be eligible. The law in question essentially doubles that.

Further, according to the state constitution, a state representative may be twenty-one years old. But with the voting age set at eighteen, most candidates would not have voted in two primaries until reaching the age of twenty-two,” the ruling said.

Dietrick added that the law didn’t give Hoosiers guidelines for qualifying if they needed a party chair’s approval. Notably, he said, Rust didn’t get a list from Lowery “until after she denied him certification and only because he filed suit.”

An uphill battle for Rust

Thursday’s ruling doesn’t guarantee Rust a spot on the Republican ballot — he must still gather 500 signatures from each of the state’s nine congressional districts — but means he cannot be denied from participating due to his voting history.

His primary opponent, Banks, continued to denigrate his “Democrat” opponent and referenced a recent court battle involving the Rust family, including John Rust.

Egg farmer Rust stepped down from his embattled family farm, Rose Acre Farms, earlier this year. Last month, a jury found that Rose Acre, one of the nation’s largest egg distributors, had purposefully manipulated its supply with competitors to increase the price of eggs. The egg farms have been fined millions.

“If Democrat John Rust gets his name on the ballot, then I look forward to comparing his liberal background and criminal price gouging scheme with my conservative record,” Banks told the Capital Chronicle. “As an Afghanistan veteran I will never back down from a fight to save our great country from the radicals who want to tear it down.”

But Rust likened it to the biblical story of David and Goliath, in which a smaller and weaker party overcame a giant.

“I think everything they’ve done against me to try to keep me off the ballot has made me stronger because it’s David versus Goliath. They keep trying to stone me, to say, ‘You know, you should not run; you’re not allowed to run. You’re not one of us; you’re not an establishment candidate. And that’s not me,” Rust said. “I’m an outsider; I’m a farmer. I am committed and I am going to run and I will absolutely win.

“And that’s because Indiana is sick of what the establishment is doing to them,” Rust concluded.

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The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, nonprofit news organization dedicated to giving Hoosiers a comprehensive look inside state government, policy and elections. The site combines daily coverage with in-depth scrutiny, political awareness and insightful commentary.

You can read the original version of the story here.

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