Editors note: This is part of a series of stories covering the 2024 elections. Read the rest of the stories here.
Incumbent Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita is seeking re-election this year after first being elected in November 2020. Rokita confirmed he was seeking re-election on X, formerly known as Twitter, last February.
According to his campaign website, Rokita’s key issues include fighting crime and keeping Hoosiers safe, protecting healthcare coverage access for pre-existing conditions, supporting a strong economy, stopping waste, fraud, corruption and inefficiency in government, combatting federal overreach, “holding China accountable,” defending religious liberty and constitutional freedoms, limiting access to abortion resources, protecting elections and stopping robocalls.
Rokita plans to partner with law enforcement to create prosecution assistance units, like the one he created as Indiana Secretary of State to fight white collar criminals targeting senior citizens and families for financial fraud. Rokita also plans to work with the state university system to make cybercrimes and digital media analysis programs available to prosecutors across the state.
Rokita also supports having an Indiana law that would protect access to healthcare coverage for those with pre-existing conditions. These reforms, he said, include a guaranteed benefits pool for those with pre-existing conditions.
If re-elected, Rokita plans to work with other state Attorney Generals to prevent other states from impacting Indiana job growth, as part of his plan to protect Indiana jobs and the economy.
Rokita also plans to act as a watchdog against waste, fraud, corruption and inefficiency in government. As Secretary of State, Rokita said he ran the office on less taxpayer funds than predecessors and annually reverted funds back to the state instead of asking for increases.
Rokita plans to “hold China accountable” through the Foreign Powers Sovereignty Act and by disinvesting from property owned by the Chinese government in the U.S. and specifically in Indiana. He also plans to help state businesses diversify their supply lines to become less reliant on China, or any nation.
He also says he will protect citizens’ Second amendment rights but did not lay out any specific plans. In 2021, Rokita asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lower court decision that would allow federal regulators to criminalize bump stocks according to a press release.
While in Congress, representing district four, Rokita opposed taxpayer funding for abortion and supported the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. He served as a representative from
2011 to 2019. As Secretary of State, he led the passage and implementation of Indiana’s Voter ID law and plans. He also plans to update Indiana’s robocall laws and ensure the current law is enforced.
This month, Rokita published a dashboard that would allow members of the public to report “objectionable” school materials or policies. Though it doesn’t specify what counts as “objectionable,” the dashboard has published almost 30 examples from 13 school corporations and one university campus.
In November 2023, Rokita was reprimanded by the Indiana Supreme Court for committing “professional misconduct” for comments he made about IU Health OBGYN Caitlin Bernard, on Fox News in July 2022.
Rokita referred to Bernard as an “abortion activist acting as a doctor with a history of failing to report.”
Rokita asked the Indiana Medical Licensing Board to investigate Bernard’s handling of information in 2022 related to a 10-year-old patient who she performed an abortion on. The Board ruled Bernard violated patient privacy laws in May 2023 and was ordered to pay a $3,000 fine.
Additionally, Rokita had to pay $250 to the Clerk of the Indiana Supreme Court. Despite admitting he engaged in “attorney misconduct” according to the Supreme Court opinion, Rokita continued to defend his statements.
Lawmakers added language to a bill in February that would disqualify candidates for Attorney General from running if they face certain sanctions from the Indiana Supreme Court according to an article from Indiana Public Media.
Candidates would be disqualified under this new language if the Supreme Court disbars them or suspends their law license without automatic reinstatement within a year of the election. Legislators insist that the provision isn’t aimed at Rokita.
Election forecast organization, Sabato’s Crystal Ball, placed Rokita’s race as leans Republican, a shift from safe Republican. According to Sabato’s Crystal Ball, this is the only attorney general race to prompt a rating shift so far this year.
At the time of publication, Rokita’s campaign has not responded to requests for comment.
