Former Republican Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill is considering a 2024 run to succeed term-limited Gov. Eric Holcomb.If she enters the race, Hill, who ran unsuccessfully for the late Rep. Jackie Walorski’s seat in 2022, would join retired Sen. Mike Braun, Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch and businessman Eric Doden in an expensive and star-studded primary field.Hill said he and his wife “are praying carefully for guidance” as he explores a potential campaign for the Hoosier state’s highest office, according to a statement obtained by The Associated Press.
Former Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill is considering whether to enter the 2024 Republican gubernatorial race, nearly three years after his re-election bid was derailed by allegations that he drunkenly groped four women during a party.
Hill built a following among social conservatives during his time in office, and his entry into the governor’s race could further complicate what is already shaping up to be an expensive battle for the Republican nomination. U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch and Fort Wayne businessman Eric Doden are already vying to replace Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb, who cannot seek re-election due to term limits.
Hill expects to make a decision in the coming weeks as he and his wife “are praying carefully for guidance,” he said in a statement provided to The Associated Press by his political consulting firm.
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“At a time when Hoosiers are hungry for new leadership, it’s crucial that we distinguish between those who truly represent conservative values and those who simply say they do,” Hill said. “Our state deserves a proven conservative who has the courage to challenge the status quo in Indianapolis and the heart to stand up against the washington dccrowd.”
Hill, 62, won election as the state’s attorney general in 2016 after 14 years as prosecutor in northern Indiana Elkhart County. Hill had been seen as a rising African-American star among Republicans and became an anti-abortion, tough-on-crime crusader, making appearances on Fox News to discuss issues such as San Francisco’s problems with homelessness.
Hill faced calls for his resignation from Holcomb and several other state GOP leaders after allegations that he groped women during a 2018 party at an Indianapolis bar became public. He denied wrongdoing, but the state Supreme Court ordered a 30-day suspension of his law license after finding “by clear and convincing evidence that (Hill) committed the criminal act of battery” against three legislative staffers and a state lawmaker during the party.
The allegations were a key campaign issue when he narrowly lost the 2020 Republican attorney general nomination for re-election to Todd Rokita, who took office in January 2021.
Hill failed in another political comeback attempt last year when she lost a vote among Republican district committee members to replace U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski on the runoff ballot. his death in a highway accident. Business executive Rudy Yakym won the GOP nomination and election for the Northern Indiana 2nd District seat.
Although Hill finished a distant second, the caucus vote showed Hill still had a base of supporters and could further divide conservative voters in a competitive race for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, said Steve Shine, who has been the Republican chairman in Allen County, which includes the state’s second-largest city, Fort Wayne, for more than 30 years.
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“Add that to what has had to happen, because if he was so damned, he wouldn’t have finished second. It would have been at the bottom of the pack rather than at the top,” said Shine, who has not endorsed a candidate.
Hill, however, would enter the race well behind in campaign fundraising.
Braun, Crouch and Doden started this year with campaign bank accounts approaching or exceeding $3 million and have raised at least hundreds of thousands more since then. Hill’s state campaign reported that he finished 2022 with about $20,000.
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Whoever captures the Republican nomination will look to extend the party’s dominance in the state, which includes winning five consecutive gubernatorial elections since 2004. Former state schools Superintendent Jennifer McCormick, who won election as a Republican in 2016 along with with Hill and Holcomb, but then broke with the Statehouse GOP, is the only declared candidate for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.
