It’s Diego Morales’ Last Stand - Page 5
- Engling's endorsement from Senator Jim Banks, a respected Republican, will likely sway delegates away from Morales.
- Mudslinging and 'childish accusations' have marked the race, with concerns about other candidates' backgrounds.
- The race is wide open, with delegates in key counties holding the key to victory.
It’s Diego Morales’ Last Stand
The Indiana Secretary of State race is heating up, and it’s anyone’s game. With the recent entry of Max Engling into the mix, the dynamics of the race have shifted significantly. Tony Katz is joined by Professor Martin Sweet, a lecturer at Purdue University, to break down the latest developments and what they mean for the Republican Party.
As Sweet points out, “it’s really anyone’s game at this point. Conventions are effectively an open process, and you know, while it’s true that you need eighteen hundred or eighteen hundred delegates, you need a majority. In effect, what you really have to do is run a delegate race within effectively about twelve counties. And if you can run through those twelve counties, the most populous counties in the state, you stand a pretty good shot here.”
The entry of Engling into the race has caused a stir, particularly given his connection to Senator Jim Banks, a long-time Trump supporter. Sweet notes that “Jim Banks obviously is probably the most respected Republican in the state, and with his endorsement, that should carry a lot of weight.” However, he also expects that on the first ballot, many delegates who have close individual relationships with Diego Morales will still hold on to that, but once they see the insufficiency of those numbers, they’ll likely switch to Engling.
The mudslinging that’s been going on in the recent days has been a notable aspect of the race. Sweet notes that the recent days have been marked by childish accusations:
Martin Sweet:
When I meant childish… Even the charges of sort of the egging of a street sweeper or whatever that was about, was a very sort of childish kind of thing, something that would obviously have no bearing on Max Engling as a you know, a fully formed forty-year-old man. So, I do think that Engling probably has the inside track. I don’t anticipate they’ll get it on the first ballot. You know, the Shelton thing is a little interesting in that he has sort of a pretty good hold and on a fairly loud number of delegates. I don’t know that it’s particularly widespread. And he also has some frankly kind of weird stuff in his background that I think is troubling to a lot of folks. Jamie Reitenour is an interesting case, right, you know, has run for statewide office before and so is not a completely unknown entity.
Listen to the “It’s Diego Morales’ Last Stand” discussion in full here:
