Diego Morales is surrounded by controversy. Democrats hope to capitalize on it.

The Indiana secretary of state race is shaping up to be a referendum on the character of the Republican candidate, opening up one of the Democrats' few shots at a statewide office in the past decade.

Political insiders say the GOP should have seen it coming long ago, certainly before party delegates resoundingly rejected Gov. Eric Holcomb's choice to fill the seat, incumbent Holli Sullivan. Long before Republican candidate Diego Morales jumped into the race, in fact, caution signs began to appear.

The year was 2018, and Morales, who was attempting a run in the 4th Congressional District, was criticized for exaggerating parts of his resume and for being fired from the secretary of state’s office, the very office he now is seeking to manage. He lost that Republican primary.

How to register to vote in Indiana:Voter registration deadline is Oct. 11

Since he defeated Sullivan to become the Republican nominee in June after a messy convention fight where a relatively small amount of delegates have the nominating power, the list of controversies associated with Morales have only grown.

• A political writer published the accounts of two women who said Morales sexually assaulted them, and the state party chair confirmed to IndyStar that one of those women had shared their story with him more than a month prior. Morales has denied those allegations.

• He’s been accused of exaggerating his military experience, with records showing he spent three months and 18 days on active duty as part of his training period, and separated before his 8-year commitment was up.

• He spent almost $44,000 purchasing a campaign car he received just days before the Republican convention, a move that raised eyebrows.

• Morales pledged to cut the number of early voting days and then appeared to have later changed his mind.

• He called the 2020 election a scam and then appeared to walk back the statement. There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election that would have resulted in a different outcome. But one thing is clear, Morales wants to lead the office that will certify the votes in the next presidential election.

Experts say the lengthy list could hurt his campaign to become the state’s head election officer, and benefit his Democratic opponent Destiny Scott Wells in what has been an easy race for Republicans to win for decades. Libertarian Jeff Maurer could also siphon away some disgruntled Republican voters.

Morales has struggled to divert media attention away from the controversies that surroundhim and instead focus on what he wants to accomplish as secretary of state. That's put some diehard Republicans who may not agree with typical Democratic election policies in a bind over whom to vote for.

But the way Morales sees it, his campaign hasn't been controversial.

"There is no controversy," he told IndyStar, a day before the sexual assault allegations broke. "The Democrats, they are the ones making this campaign controversial."

Some big name Republicans have thrown their weight behind Morales. But while state party leadership still publicly supported Morales and released a statement defending him, other Republicans have formed a Republicans for Destiny group.

A survey of 600 likely voters conducted by Indy Politics and Illinois-based ARW Strategies between Sept. 25-26 found that Wells had the support of 36% of likely voters surveyed, compared to 32% for Morales and 7% for Maurer. The remaining 25% of voters surveyed are undecided, the poll with a margin of error of 4%, showed. The survey demonstrates that Morales' big issue has been solidifying the support of his Republican base.

"I think we can win," Wells told IndyStar, "and since the nomination of Diego Morales, I think we will win."

But this is Indiana, a state where no Democrat has won statewide elected office since 2012 and Republicans have a supermajority in both legislative chambers. Meanwhile national Democrats have largely counted the red state out, and no Democrat has won the secretary of state’s office since Joe Hogsett, who is now the mayor of Indianapolis, claimed victory in 1990 — at the time a very different Indiana.

While some well-known Hoosier politicians have gotten their start in the office, the average voter typically doesn’t know who the candidates are in a secretary of state race because it’s not a particularly high-profile position, said Andy Downs, professor emeritus of the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics at Purdue University Fort Wayne. Instead they typically vote by party, which generally would favor Morales.

“However he’s had a fair amount of controversy around him,” Downs said, “and if that becomes understood, while there still will be some people who stick with him because of party affiliation or because of what they hear from Destiny Wells, or because they agree with some of the more controversial statements, there could be some folks who peel off and vote for Destiny because it’s a winnable race.”

He added one caveat: she needs to be raising a considerable amount of money, the kind that can get a candidate on TV, in order to get her message out there. It's unclear at this time how the financial landscape looks, because campaign reports are due in mid-October.

Morales’ ‘American Dream’ story soiled by controversy

Morales advertised himself during the Republican convention process in June as somebody who embodied the American Dream.

He immigrated from Guatemala in high school, a rare Latino Republican statewide candidate in Indiana. He graduated from Indiana University Southeastin New Albany before getting an MBA from Purdue University. He joined the National Guard, got married, landed various jobs in state government and until last month co-owned Ventures USA, a property management services and staffing company, according to Secretary of State documents.

He had what appeared to be an upward battle into the nomination. While Morales made it clear he was running for secretary of state years ahead of the election, Holcomb nominated Sullivan in 2021 to replace the retiring Connie Lawson. Sullivan serves through years' end.

Morales, though, easily won the Republican nomination in part due to a distaste among right-leaning delegates, who are still angry over the state's coronavirus restrictions, for anyone connected to Holcomb.

Morales also has built grass-roots relationships in the party over the years, making appearances at countless Lincoln Day Dinners throughout a majority of Indiana's 92 counties.

"I truly believe I'm living the American dream, and I hope I can open the door for other minorities," Morales told IndyStar. "It's never been about me, and I'm going to continue to give back to Indiana and America that has given me everything."

His attempts to paint himself as an example of the American Dream has some holes though.

When Morales worked for then-Secretary of State Todd Rokita in 2009, he was terminated for "incomplete event planning and management," "inefficient execution of assigned deliverables" and "lack of focus on strategy and planning," personnel file documents obtained in an IndyStar records request show. The office also cited his "lack of professionalism."

In 2011, under then-Secretary of State Charlie White, Morales was presented with a work improvement plan within one month of starting the job, due to "poor execution of required daily tasks" and "incomplete event planning and management." He refused to sign the form and resigned one day later to pursue what he called "new experiences."

Morales previously told IndyStar that the documents were a smear campaign tactics.

"Anybody can you write you up at any time, because their envy, selfish office rivalry, whatever you may want to call it. That's exactly what happened," Morales told IndyStar during a May interview, referring to the personnel documents showing he was fired. "I have no control of that."

Likewise, in recent weeks, questions have been raised about his decision to center his campaign around his veteran status, despite his stint with the National Guard consisting of three months and 18 days on active duty as part of his training period. The problem with so heavily leaning in on his military record is that Wells is an an Afghanistan Army combat veteran and an Army Reserve lieutenant colonel and Maurer is enlisted in the Indiana Air National Guard.

Plus, Morales has not been transparent about why he separated from the National Guard before his full 8-year obligation was completed, choosing to spend his remaining time on Individual Ready Reserve in order to meet that obligation, he said. That means he could be called upon to serve if needed.

Morales, whose Twitter avatar is a picture of him in uniform, told IndyStar there was nothing out of the ordinary about his decision to separate from the National Guard before his obligation was completed, and federal documentsthe Indiana Republican Party provided sayhe was honorably discharged. However, Morales declined to say why he went on what's called Individual Ready Reserve, instead of serving out his full obligation.

"I did serve my entire time; I did not leave early. This is just military talk," Morales said, referring to the two years he spent on the Individual Ready Reserve. "I'm very proud of my service in the military. And like I said, you can call the Department of Defense, the Indiana National Guard or the U.S. Army."

Despite the negative attention, Morales continues to benefit from some key Republicans' support. Rokita, for example, joined him at a fundraiser last month and former Vice President Mike Pence is slated to appear at a fundraiser for him this week. Ahead of the convention Rokita provided Morales with a note saying Morales left his office on good terms.

Likewise, Rokita and Ed Simcox, both former Republican secretary of states, penned an op-ed arguing that Hoosiers should vote for Morales.

"This year, a vote for Diego Morales for Indiana Secretary of State is a vote to keep our elections running smoothly and securely and our economy one of the most business friendly in the nation," they wrote.

The questions about his past may have turned off some Republicans, but Mike Murphy, a former Republican lawmaker, still thinks Morales will win in part because of the natural Republican makeup of Indiana, a state Trump won by 16 percentage points in 2020.

"People's attention spans are so narrow these days," Murphy said. "We as a state are so tribalized that people tend not to believe anything the other side thinks and they lump all reporters in, claiming all reporters are Democrats."

Murphy, usually a straight ticket Republican voter who has concerns about Morales, said he hasn't decided for whom he will vote.

The last statewide elected Democrat

Wells' campaign, on the other hand, has drawn less negative attention and been absent of any notable gaffes.

Wells, 38, grew up on a family farm in Morgan County southwest of Indianapolis and enlisted in the Army National Guard after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack. She graduated from Indiana University and obtained her law degree from the University of Texas. She worked as an attorney for the state under Attorney General Curtis Hill for a year, before she resigned because of a pay dispute over what she at the time called systematic veteran discrimination. She felt her military service time should have counted for her experience level, but the state disagreed.

Later she worked for the city of Indianapolis as associated corporation counsel.

Her biggest encumbrance: she's a Democrat running in a red state. While Wells will likely benefit from Morales’ liabilities, she still has an uphill battle. There’s some differences between two 2012 Democratic statewide victories and this race.

In 2012, moderate Democrat Joe Donnelly likely won his Senate race because he faced Richard Murdock, who defeated Richard Lugar in the primary and then went viral for saying a pregnancy caused by rape was "something that God intended to happen” during a televised debate. Numerous national outlets from Politico to The Washington Post picked up on his comment and he was widely criticized as being too extreme.

So far, Morales has not generated that kind of negative attention from national outlets.

That same year, Democrat Glenda Ritz pulled off an upset against Republican Tony Bennett to become the state superintendentof public education. That was another unique situation: Bennett had angered teachers in the state while advocating for education reforms, leading them to substantially back his opponent in a strong grassroots campaign.

Democrats hope another issue — abortion rights — leads to such support for Wells.

Kip Tew, a Democrat who has worked on multiple campaigns including Obama's, compared the support Ritz received from teachers, to the support he expects Wells to get from women angry about the state's recently-passed near-total abortion ban.

"To me that's what's similar this time with that race: women and others who support abortion rights are highly, highly motivated," Tew said. "What I am hopeful is that they're going to vote, and they're going to vote up and down the ticket to send a message to Republicans that you are too extreme, and that's our best shot."

Wells, the daughter of Republican farmers, thinks she will win the election partially because she is facing Morales, and partially because of frustration surrounding the state's new abortion law.

"I would like to say that I just have great bona fides, but we end up talking all the time about my opponent's character," Wells said. "I'm against an incredibly weak opponent."

Inconsistent message on election access

For all of Morales' attempts to avoid digs at his personal history, he hasn't dived into much specific policy questions, in the months following his Republican convention win.

So far he has refused to debate, and when asked why, he said he is talking to Hoosiers face-to-face and pointed to Democrats in other races who are not participating in debates.

He said his No. 1 goal is to increase voter confidence and roll out unspecified educational campaigns to encourage every Hoosier to be a part of the election process. He also previously mentioned plans to require Hoosiers to attach a photo of their ID in order to request an absentee ballot, in order to better match requirements for voting in person.

He's been more non-committal on other policy points.

When he won the convention in June, Morales shared he wanted to advocate for a reduction in the number of early voting days to 14, which would require the General Assembly to change the law. But when IndyStar talked to him last week he said "the way it is working right now will stay the same," and he declined to say why he changed his mind.

His stance on the validity of the 2020 election also appears to have shifted. Morales wrote in an op-ed before the Republican convention that Americans have "valid reasons to doubt the official vote tallies in key states," and called the election "tainted" and a "scam"

"The 2020 election was flawed and the outcome is questionable," he wrote at the time.

When asked if he stood by those comments last week, Morales repeatedly told IndyStar, "President Biden is in the White House and he's the legitimate president," and once again did not say why he changed his mind.

He also is endorsed by the America First Secretary of State Coalition, a group that wants to overhaul how elections are run, but declined to say whether he agreed with the goals of the group, which include eliminating mail-in ballots.

Wells, on the other hand, says she wants to expand voter access, by allowing allcollege students to vote with their school IDs. Right now, that right is reserved to those who attend state schools. She also wants to push for non-partisan redistricting, and try to improve communication with local election officers.

But she also emphasized she wants to be an advocate for people, not a party, which seems like a prudent thing for an Indiana Democrat with ambitions of winning to say.

"We as secretary of state have to be very mindful and responsible in how we message," Wells said. "It's our moral obligation not to perpetuate conspiracy theories."

Then again, it's hard to say how far any of this is penetrating the minds of voters. The U.S. Senate race is at the top of the ticket, and secretary of state generally has been a race in Indiana voters don't pay much attention to beyond party affiliation.

"The controversies, and candidates for that matter, only matter if people know," said Laura Merrifield Wilson, a political science professor at University of Indianapolis. "If people aren't aware or if they have a vague sense but not a strong enough idea to be impressionable, they have no tangible outcome on the race."

Election day is Nov. 8. The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 11.

IndyStar reporter Alexandria Burris contributed to this story.

Call IndyStar reporter Kaitlin Lange at 317-432-9270 or email her at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @kaitlin_lange.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana Secretary of State election: Diego Morales vs Destiny Wells