A judge is sending back to the Indiana Election Commission a dispute over whether one of two women with the last name Wilson can remain on the Republican primary ballot for a state Senate seat.
The legal fight has political significance because of its possible impact on the campaign prospects of Brenda Wilson, a Vigo County Council member who has President Donald Trump’s endorsement against current Sen. Greg Goode of Terre Haute following the senator’s December vote against the Indiana congressional redistricting plan.
Supporters of Brenda Wilson are trying to have Alexandra Wilson removed from the primary ballot, arguing that she’s ineligible because of a 2010 criminal conviction.
The four-member Election Commission split 2-2 during a February hearing on the challenge to Alexandra Wilson’s candidacy, with the tie vote leaving her name on the ballot.
Alexandra Wilson has since had her conviction for resisting law enforcement at the age of 19 expunged by a Vermillion County court.
Putnam County Superior Court Judge Charles Bridges cited that action in an order this week following a court hearing on an appeal of the Election Commission’s action.
“Remand to the Indiana Election Commission is appropriate because circumstances of the case have changed,” the order said. “The Indiana Election Commission has not had an opportunity to consider Wilson’s notice of expungement and whether her candidacy is disqualified in light thereof.”
Prominent conservative attorney Jim Bopp, who is a top political ally of Gov. Mike Braun and is supporting Brenda Wilson, said Friday he had asked the Election Commission to quickly set a new meeting to reconsider the challenge for Alexandra Wilson’s candidacy.
Bopp maintains that Alexandra Wilson’s eligibility should be determined by her status when she filed her candidate paperwork in February.
“At that time, she had been convicted of a felony and was disqualified from being a candidate,” Bopp told the Indiana Capital Chronicle. “The expungement of her felony conviction more than six weeks later is not retroactive and is thus irrelevant.”
Alexandra Wilson’s attorney has argued that she remained eligible since her 2010 guilty plea to a low-level Class D felony charge was accepted by a judge as a Class A misdemeanor.
Attorney General Todd Rokita’s office has argued the same in defending the commission.
An Election Commission meeting had not been announced as of Friday afternoon.
Indiana Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Indiana Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Niki Kelly for questions: info@indianacapitalchronicle.com.
