INDIANAPOLIS – U.S. Senate hopeful John Rust will be kept off the GOP primary ballot in May, while former president Donald Trump has secured his spot against Republican challenger Nikki Haley.
The Indiana Election Commission made the ballot decisions during a long Tuesday meeting in Indianapolis. The state panel — split with two Republicans and two Democrats — voted 3-1 to keep Trump on the ballot. They were unanimous in their decision against Rust.
Six challenges to the Seymour egg farmer’s candidacy were filed earlier this month by Hoosiers in Monroe, Harrison, Marion, Whitley, and Hamilton counties. They pointed to Indiana law that prohibits candidates from running whose last two primary votes don’t match the party they wish to represent.
Rust’s two most recent primary votes were Republican in 2016 and Democrat in 2012 — meaning under the law he can’t appear on the Republican ballot for the 2024 May primary election.
“It’s very disappointing,” Rust said after the decision, adding that he thinks the Indiana Republican Party “is trying to keep me off the ballot because I’m not under their control.”
“(Rust) could have done all kinds of things … he could have played by the rules,” said Commissioner Suzannah Wilson Overholt, a Democrat. “If you want to run as a candidate in this state, there are rules you have to follow.”
Rust said Tuesday he will appeal the election commission’s decision to the Marion County Superior Court and that he also plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, pending a complete ruling from the Indiana Supreme Court.
Read the full Casey Smith story for the Indiana Capital Chronicle, here.
Smith-Courtesy-ICC
