Beau Bayh is taking on Diego Morales in a Republican-dominated state — and even his father, former U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh, has doubts.
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Dana Hunsinger Benbow, Indianapolis Star
Beau Bayh is sitting on a camp stool in an empty condo in Indianapolis’ Chatham Arch neighborhood.
“Gosh,” he tells me, “I spent tons of money on furniture, which sucks, but it’s coming in pieces, so hopefully by, like, mid-October, I’ll be fully moved in.”
The symbolism and Bayh’s aw-shucks demeanor are almost too on the nose. Bayh is a new arrival, a fresh face, a clean slate. Choose your own cliche.
He’s also a series of contradictions. Bayh is the heir to an Indiana political dynasty — “I’m the seventh generation in my family born in Indiana, and I was raised amongst public servants,” he tells me — whose formative education and professional experience came out of state before he moved to Bloomington in 2024. He’s emerging as a face, if not the face, of the Indiana Democratic Party, even as he seeks to transcend political labels.
There will be time to make sense of all that — and a rush to define Bayh and put him in one box or another. First, he has some things to say, as he’s sitting on his camp stool, apologizing for the echo in his empty room.
Let’s start here: Bayh is running for Indiana secretary of state in 2026.
Why secretary of state? Why now?
Indiana political observers have anticipated Bayh’s candidacy for statewide elected office almost since he was a child. Why now? Why secretary of state?
Bayh, 29, describes his political origin story like this: He forged his civic values while growing up in a storied family of public servants and then through becoming an infantry officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. (Bayh mentions the Marines almost as often as another political figure, Sen. Todd Young).
Now, Bayh says, he’s watching Indiana Republican Party officials use elected offices to serve themselves. That especially includes Secretary of State Diego Morales.
“I’m concerned about the type of leadership that we’re seeing here in Indiana today,” Bayh tells me. “Too often, I’m seeing folks in Indianapolis forgetting about the true essence of public service, which is about giving back and helping others.
“The secretary of state’s office is a perfect example of what’s gone wrong. The person serving that office (Morales) has bought a luxury SUV that cost $90,000 with Hoosier taxpayer money. That is more than the average Hoosier makes in an entire year.”
Morales has been steeped in corruption allegations beyond IndyStar’s reporting that he drives a state-owned GMC Yukon Denali. The secretary of state has taken much-scrutinized foreign “economic development” trips and has spent more than any other state leader on travel. The list goes on.
Morales is running for reelection, but he’ll face competition at next year’s Republican Party convention. Republicans could replace Morales with another candidate who doesn’t have the same baggage. Bayh says that wouldn’t matter.
“All of these things that are true of the secretary of state’s office exist regardless of who their nominee is,” Bayh says.
‘That’s nice, but …’
Bayh calls it a coincidence that he’s running for the same office his father, Evan Bayh, won in 1986 to launch his political career. If it’s part of some family script, well, even Evan Bayh apparently has doubts about whether his son can run it back.
“I’ll be honest with you, when I told my dad that I was thinking seriously about doing this, he was like, ‘What? Like, that’s nice, but …”
But, indeed.
Beau Bayh is a Harvard Law School graduate and recently completed a judicial clerkship for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He’d be a top candidate for a thousand prestigious jobs.
Indiana secretary of state is another matter.
Republicans’ longstanding dominance in Indiana, plus the prevalence of straight-ticket voting, puts even the best Democratic candidate at an immediate handicap.
Bayh has the potential to overcome those structural disadvantages because of his name ID and assistance from his father, a former governor and U.S. senator, who still has campaign cash at his disposal. Evan Bayh’s support for his son is assured. What that means is yet to be determined.
“I will never ask my dad for the money that he has in his campaign account. That is his money that he has raised with his donors, and that’s for him to decide,” Bayh says. “He’s like any other dad who loves his son, right? I’m sure he’s going to try and help me during this campaign.”
At the same time, Bayh adds, “We have had some early success fundraising.”
Whatever money Bayh collects will be crucial to buying ads and convincing Republican-leaning voters across Indiana to give him a shot. If he can get them to listen, he hopes they’ll hear that he doesn’t sound like other Democrats.
Bayh during our conversation repeatedly criticized partisan politics and positioned himself above it. He is shaking off the Democratic Party label even as he becomes the most prominent Democratic candidate in Indiana.
“People my age are kind of turned off by politics, just because you see the level of division and deception and everyone’s just angry and nothing’s getting done,” Bayh says. “But we have to have a better system in place. We have to have people who care about our state and country run for these offices. I feel like I can make a difference. Even if the odds are against me, I’m going to try.”
Voter ID is ‘law of the land’
The secretary of state’s race is the right campaign for a candidate building a brand on “bringing people together,” as Bayh said several times. It’s a mostly apolitical office that oversees election administration and business services.
Bayh is launching his candidacy by calling for an independent audit of the office.
“Let’s open the doors on this thing. Let’s see what actually is going on. I would welcome help from the governor, from any person of any political party in conducting that audit,” he says. “We need to make sure that the money is being spent effectively. I’m ready to work with anyone to do that.”
If he wins, Bayh says, he also wants to expand early voting hours and work to address voter apathy. Notably for a Democrat, Bayh expressed acceptance of Republican-passed voter ID, which has been one of the most contentious election issues in Indiana.
“It’s the law of the land. It’s in our state,” Bayh says. “I think a lot has been made of the voter ID issue. Most of the research that I have read shows that is actually not the biggest factor when it comes to lack of participation. It’s actually voter apathy, which drives our participation so low.”
Bayh is reserving some of his sharpest criticism for Republicans who support President Donald Trump’s push for mid-cycle redistricting in order to give the party one or two more House seats in next year’s midterms.
“Gerrymandering is going to take that apathy among voters and magnify it by 1,000 times,” he says. “People will probably justifiably think that their voice doesn’t matter.”
‘Bring people together’
Bayh used the word “gosh” nine times during our conversation, perhaps a tell that he is either consciously or subconsciously positioning himself as an everyman populist in contrast to his pedigree.
Bayh sidestepped questions about his political orientation within the Democratic Party while embracing his family’s most universally praised accomplishments. He talked about his grandfather, former U.S. Sen. Birch Bayh, co-authoring Title IX and his father, Evan Bayh, creating the 21st Century Scholars program as Indiana governor. He held up those policies as examples of the ideals he would work toward.
“We have a diverse state in a lot of ways and one of those ways is politically,” Bayh says. “True leadership is taking a group of people from every walk of life, from every political background and finding things that we can agree on and bring people together.”
That’s the message you’ll likely hear over and over from Bayh. Nonpartisan. Public service. Marines! Fighting corruption.
He’ll face skepticism on the left from progressives who are tired of Indiana’s moderate Democrat era. He’ll face skepticism on the right from Trump-leaning voters who haven’t cast their ballots for a Democrat since … well, perhaps since Bayh’s father was on the ballot.
Bayh has more than a year to win people over and he’ll have more resources than any other conceivable Democrat in Indiana to do it. His mission, starting now, is opening doors to conversations.
He’s also looking forward to opening doors for furniture delivery.
Contact James Briggs at 317-444-4732 or [email protected]. Follow him on X and Bluesky at @JamesEBriggs.
