Editors note: This is part of a series of stories covering the 2024 elections. Read the rest of the stories here.
Democrat Beth White, an attorney with more than 30 years of experience, is running for her party’s nomination in Indiana’s attorney general race.
As one of two Democrats in the race, White hopes to unseat incumbent Attorney General Todd Rokita, who has held the position since 2021.
White kicked off her campaign in January 2024. In a press release announcing her campaign, White said she would focus on protecting rights, rather than taking them away, if elected. Specifically, she listed stopping human trafficking and child predators and disciplining organizations that defraud senior citizens as her priorities. White also said she would expand consumer protections for reproductive healthcare information in the state.
“My entire career has been about fighting to protect Hoosiers — kids, crime victims and voters,” White said in the release. “I’ve taken on the tough, meaningful fights, and that’s what I will do as Indiana’s next Attorney General.”
White, a native of Bloomington, attended IU for undergrad and received a bachelor’s in political science before receiving her law degree from Georgetown University. She currently serves as the president and CEO of the Indiana Coalition to End Sexual Assault and Human Trafficking.
According to her LinkedIn profile, White served in various litigation roles since graduating from law school in 1990. She served as deputy prosecutor for the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office from 1992-94 and later joined the Marion County Office of Family and Children as its chief legal counsel. She then worked for the Indiana Department of Workforce Development as its chief legal counsel and director of job training from 1998-99. White worked for the City of Indianapolis in several different legal roles from 2000-06.
In 2006, Marion County constituents elected White as the county’s clerk — a role she served until 2014. White received 77.74% of constituents vote in the 2006 election. She later served as the executive director of the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee from 2016-2022.
In her campaign announcement, White criticizes Rokita, the incumbent candidate, for being more interested in politics than fulfilling his duties as attorney general.
“His ideologically driven lawsuits are a waste of taxpayer money, and his attacks on private citizens are disgraceful,” White said in the release. “Rokita’s ongoing disciplinary saga further underscores his inability to execute the duties of one of the most important elected offices in our state.”
The Indiana Supreme Court publicly reprimanded Rokita in November 2023 for comments he made about IU OBGYN Caitlin Bernard, who performed an abortion on a 10-year-old girl in June 2022. In an interview with Fox News in July 2022, Rokita said Bernard was an “abortion activist acting as a doctor — with a history of failing to report.” The court found Rokita violated the rules of professional conduct for lawyers by making these statements and fined him $250.
White will face the former Deputy Attorney General, Destiny Wells, for the democratic nomination in the race. The Indiana Democratic Party will select its nominee for attorney general during its primary convention in July 2024. Whoever the party selects as its candidate will run as the Democratic party’s nominee in the general election in November.
White did not respond to requests for comment before publication.
