Cory Grass has worn a lot of hats. IU and Bloomington police officer. FBI agent. Monroe County Jail transition team director.
Currently, he’s a realtor, consulting and training company owner and government affairs director for political lightning rod Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith.
But the newest cap he’s donning is red. Monroe County Republican precinct committee representatives elected Grass, who was unopposed, chair of the Monroe County Republican Party during its reorganization Saturday.
He told the Indiana Daily Student he hopes to inject his party with new energy, with his boss Beckwith serving as a role model.
“I use that phrase a lot: I want to be cautiously aggressive,” Grass said Monday. “I don’t think being passive the last — in the recent past — has been helpful to our party at all, so I want to challenge the norm.”
Grass takes over for William Ellis, who served as chair from 2015 until he resigned in 2021. Then 18-year-old IU student Taylor Bryant won the vacant position. She resigned last July, and Ellis finished the rest of her term.
Grass aims to get the party more involved in Monroe County and Bloomington’s everyday life. His ideas include a fundraiser to support a baby box, cookouts, cornhole and other chances to show Republicans aren’t “crazy, radical people.”
Amid his daily commutes between Indianapolis and his home in Monroe County, he’s also connected with IU College Republicans. Grass met the recently-reformed organization’s leadership team, and on Monday, he attended the club’s meeting: not to speak, but just as a guest as he tries to establish himself as the “face” of a local party he said is aging.
Monroe County voted largely blue in the last two general elections. In the presidential race, Kamala Harris received about 63% of the vote. Joe Biden got nearly identical numbers in 2020. The majority of the county-wide, local races in 2024 were not contested by a Republican candidate.
The Monroe County races Republicans did win were in districts that cover outside of Bloomington, which has a blue city council and mayor. It’s likely influenced by IU students, which Grass said is “unfair” since many come from out of state and leave after four years.
Though Grass said he hasn’t had a chance to fully evaluate the upcoming local elections, he has spoken to a potential candidate about running for Monroe County Sheriff. He also said he would like to see challengers for county council, county commissioner and Bloomington City Council. The county council has one Republican, and the other two are fully Democrat-controlled.
He said a lack of difference of ideas and political challenges aren’t healthy for a community. Here, that’s Democratic dominance, but he said that elsewhere it could be the opposite. But Grass said he’s not interested in running “cannon fodder;” rather, he wants strong candidates who stand for what they believe in.
“I’m a big believer that if you’re going to complain about something, you should try and fix it,” he said.
His role as director of government affairs for Beckwith, which he started in January, has given him a chance to put his face behind his politics, something he couldn’t do during his more than 20 years at the FBI.
Grass said at a recent anti-abortion rally in Indianapolis, state Treasurer Daniel Elliott tagged him in a photo along with Beckwith, Gov. Mike Braun and other state leaders — something he found humor in.
He hopes to leverage those connections at the state level locally, including by asking Beckwith and Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales to attend the party’s Lincoln Day dinners.
Grass was drawn to Beckwith after hearing him speak on the radio, ultimately running as a delegate to support his lieutenant governor bid at the state party convention in June. Grass said he took a $30,000 pay cut by taking the lieutenant governor’s office job but was happy to because he believes in what Beckwith is doing.
“To be honest with you, he’s addictive. He is just a good guy,” Grass said. “Just a nice guy. He’s not a politician at heart.”
But that disruptor status hasn’t won everyone over. From the campaign trail through taking office, Beckwith, a self-described “Christian nationalist,” has drawn controversy for moments such as his comments on deporting legal Haitian immigrants, an online threat to the IDS and apparent social media use while presiding over the State Senate.
Grass said, though, he often hears from people who are surprised that Beckwith is not like they read in the news when they meet him.
But Beckwith doesn’t shy away from the people who may not like him, Grass said, including in public. He recalled a person who refused to shake his hand at one recent event. That’s a trait he wants to embody himself.
“It’s uncomfortable, but it’s okay to be uncomfortable,” Grass said. “Not everyone’s going to love you.”
