Republican Max Engling is threatening to sue Democrat Beau Bayh over a new television advertisement that Engling claims makes defamatory statements about his driving history, escalating tensions in their Indiana secretary of state election campaign.
Engling alleges that references in the ad, suggesting he had been convicted of reckless driving, constitute "defamation on its face." The Bayh campaign is defending the commercial, which features a uniformed sheriff’s deputy stating that Engling "has been convicted and investigated at least eight times for reckless driving and reckless behavior."
Engling’s campaign released a statement acknowledging that his driving record includes eight speeding tickets. These infractions, the campaign noted, were all traffic infractions, not misdemeanor charges or convictions, with the most recent occurring 16 years ago. Engling directly challenged the ad's claims, stating, “Beau Bayh can spend money repeating this claim, but he cannot produce a reckless driving charge against me because there isn’t one. If Beau has evidence, release it. Otherwise, pull the ad and tell Hoosiers the truth.”
A search of online Indiana court records for Engling indicates eight speeding tickets in Hamilton or Marion counties between 2006 and 2010, when he was between 19 and 23 years old. These records do not show other court cases or any "reckless driving" criminal charges against him.
The Bayh campaign, however, provided a timeline supporting its advertisement. This timeline included an expunged misdemeanor criminal reckless case from 2007, detailing an incident where Engling threw eggs at passing vehicles from a U.S. 31 overpass in Carmel. It also cited a 2023 speeding ticket in Arlington, Virginia. The Bayh campaign's timeline did not include specific "reckless driving" criminal charges against Engling.
In turn, Engling’s campaign has called for Bayh to "withdraw his latest attack ad and correct its false claim about Engling’s driving record, or face a lawsuit." Bayh’s campaign manager, Jack Tormoehlen, responded to the dispute via email, stating it “is reckless for Max to drive 87 in a 60mph zone. It is reckless of Max to throw things from an overpass at moving cars.” Tormoehlen concluded, “His driving is reckless. His behavior is reckless. His threats of frivolous lawsuits are reckless. This ad is accurate and Max Engling needs to take a deep breath.”
The dispute over Engling’s driving record follows previous attack ads from Engling concerning Bayh’s voter registration history. Engling's campaign previously ran an ad claiming Beau Bayh "voted in Indiana elections 14 times. Had his ballot mailed to his parents’ D.C. mansion. Sounds like voter fraud."
Bayh first registered to vote in 2014 as a high school student in Washington, D.C., using the address of an Indianapolis condominium owned by his father, former U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh. Bayh, who has never been charged with voter fraud, cast ballots regularly in Indiana throughout his time as a student at Harvard and during his service with the Marine Corps, often by mail but sometimes voting early in person. He relocated full time to Indiana in 2024 after graduating from Harvard Law School.
Bayh has defended his Indiana voting, asserting he always considered the state home, despite largely growing up in the Washington area after his family moved there when he was three years old, following his father's election to the U.S. Senate. The Indiana Supreme Court ruled in 1988, in a case involving Evan Bayh’s residency, that physical presence in a location is only one factor in determining domicile, and that a person’s residency ultimately hinges on their intent.
