The 2010 Indiana State Treasurer election was held in on Tuesday, November 2, 2010, as part of the 2010 Indiana elections, held during the 2010 midterms.
Incumbent Republican Treasurer Richard Mourdock won reelection. His Democratic opponent was Navy veteran Pete Buttigieg.
Debate in the campaign largely centered around Mourdock's decision to invest $43 million of state pension funds and other state funds in Chrysler junk bonds (losing Indiana a large amount of money due to the restructuring of Chrysler during the company's bankruptcy, and his subsequent decision to launch unsuccessful litigation in an effort to stop Chrysler's bankruptcy plan (including the Chrysler-Fiat merger) from taking effect.
The 2010 elections was anticipated to be (and ultimately was) a Republican wave election, and Indiana was a Republican-leaning state. Therefore, as the Republican nominee, Mourdock's prospects were favored by prognosticators. With the 2010 election conditions in Indiana favoring Republicans, Buttigieg had hoped to persuade voters that were planning to vote Republican in other races to split their ticket for him. Ultimately, Mourdock defeated Buttigieg by a wide margin.
Mourdock would go on to run unsuccessfully for the United States Senate in 2012 before resigning as treasurer. Buttigieg would go on to be elected mayor of South Bend in 2011, ultimately serving two terms. In 2020, Buttigieg would run an unsuccessful but competitive campaign for the Democratic nomination for U.S. president. During this campaign, he attained broad prominence; subsequently, he was appointed U.S. secretary of transportation in 2021 by newly elected president Joe Biden.
Background Incumbent Republican Richard Mourdock had won election four years earlier 52% to 48%, which was considered to be a relatively narrow victory. The 2006 election cycle had been nationally considered a favorable cycle for the Democratic Party, nationally being considered a Democratic wave election.Multiple sources:Multiple sources: Contrarily, 2010 was considered to be a favorable cycle for the Republican Party. 2010 ultimately proved to be an immense Republican wave election.Multiple sources:
Indiana was considered to be a Republican-leaning state. Republicans had held the Indiana State Treasurer's office since 1979.
During his term, Mourdock had invested $43 million of state pension funds and other state funds in Chrysler junk bonds. This move by Mourdock lost Indiana a large amount of money due to the restructuring of Chrysler during the company's bankruptcy. Mourdock unsuccessfully would take legal action to attempt to stop Chrysler's bankruptcy plan (including the Chrysler-Fiat merger) from taking effect. These actions would become a central issue of the 2010 election campaigning.
Nominations Democrats nominated Pete Buttigieg. Buttigieg was the only candidate to seek the Democratic nomination, and was formally nominated at the Democratic state convention in Indianapolis on June 26.Multiple sources: (
Republicans formally renominated incumbent State Treasurer Richard Mourdock at their state convention on June 19.
Campaigning Buttigieg's campaign Buttigieg launched an exploratory campaign in March 2010. That month, he resigned from his job at the consulting firm McKinsey & Company in order to campaign full-time.Multiple sources: Buttigieg formally launched his candidacy during South Bend's Dyngus Day celebrations on April 5.Multiple sources:
Buttigieg was ultimately unchallenged for the Democratic nomination and was formally nominated at the Democratic state convention in Indianapolis on June 26.
Buttigieg was considered a long-shot. Buttigieg was a political newcomer, a first-time candidate, and had never held public office, even proclaiming on his campaign website, "I'm a businessman who has never run for office before, but I have the education, experience and energy to lend a hand at this critical time in our state's history." Buttigieg also lacked name recognition.
Buttigieg raised $287,000 in campaign contributions. He refused to accept campaign contributions from banks or bank PACs. He also placed limits on the amount of contributions accepted by his campaign from individuals who work at banks, refusing to accept contributions from bank employees in excess of $2,300. Buttigieg expressed a belief that the acceptance of campaign funds from banks, bank executives, and political action committees connected to banks would be a conflict of interest for a state treasurer candidate.
If elected, Buttigieg would have been the first elected State Treasurer to hail from South Bend.
Buttigieg criticized Mourdock for having invested state pension funds and other state funds in Chrysler junk bonds. He also criticized the legal action which Mourdock took in an attempt to stop Chrysler's bankruptcy plan from taking effect, arguing that this could have imperiled a company which Buttigieg described as being, "one of the most important employers in the state of Indiana," and the jobs which it provided the state.Multiple sources: Placing emphasis on the potential job loss that could have occurred due to Mourdock's lawsuit, Buttigieg even had his nomination seconded at the state convention by Richie Boruff, the president of Kokomo's United Automobile Workers Local 685. Buttigieg also argued that, had the lawsuit been successful, it would also have led to further losses in the value of the junk bonds. Buttigieg further criticized Mourdock for choosing costly out-of-state firms to manage the lawsuit, which charged the state $2 million for their services, arguing that he could have saved money and better benefited the state by using less expensive in-state law firms.Multiple sources: Ultimately, the issue of the Chrysler junk bonds and the lawsuit against Chrysler emerged as the central issue of the campaign between Buttigieg and Mourdock. Potential evidence of the failure of Buttigieg to gain traction on his argument about the risk of job loss that could have occurred due to Mourdock's Chrysler lawsuit was that Howard County, home to Kokomo (and 6,000 Chrysler jobs) was ultimately carried by Mourdock by a margin of 15,631 to 9,677.
Buttigieg touted himself as having a fiscally conservative record.
Buttigieg additional stated that he believed that the State of Indiana needed to be more selective about what banks it did business with, using the "power of the purse" to pressure and reward banks.Multiple sources: Buttigieg wanted the state to start doing more business with local banks. Buttigieg proposed taking an "Indiana first" policy when selecting banks in which to deposit state funds. Buttigieg pledged that he would use the State Treasurer's office to pressure banks to be more "consumer friendly". Buttigieg argued that the state should only invest tax dollars in financial institutions that had demonstrated that they treat customers well, such as those that gave to small businesses and kept residents from losing homes to foreclosure. Buttigieg wanted banks to create more "job friendly" loan programs. Buttigieg also said that he would pressure banks to act more responsibly. He proposed setting guidelines for what banks Indiana would do business with which would include requiring that banks Indiana deposited money with had an Indiana headquarters, or have a large proportion of their employees (at least 50%) being in-state employees.Multiple sources: His proposed guidelines would also require that banks comply with obligations with the Community Reinvestment Act, comply with the future requirements of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and have a track record of community-oriented financial innovation (such as lending to micro enterprises). He would also require banks have, "a record of resolving distressed home mortgages through re-negotiation" and a "commitment to small business lending, including lending to minority-owned and women-owned enterprises". Buttigieg also spoke of a desire to invest in Indiana corporate bonds.
Buttigieg had a proposal that he had dubbed as the "Hoosier Capital Connector" under which he would return money deposited out-of-state to the state, depositing it at in-state financial institutions. Under the plan, money (including $100,000 million from the state's $3 billion general fund) would be deposited in local banks that agreed to lend cash at lower interest rates to local small businesses which pledge to generate or preserve jobs. The treasurer's office would connect such businesses with lower interest loans, and the program would require that the businesses and the participating financial regularly file reports with the treasurer's office. Buttigieg pointed to other states, such as Missouri, where similar policies had been implemented.
Buttigieg criticized the lack of transparency in the state treasurer's office. Buttigieg proposed measures to increase the transparency of the state's financial transactions. This would include increasing the frequency of reporting on the state's investments and its holdings, which were at the time annually reported, to at least quarterly. Buttigieg's plans also entailed being more transparent and standardized in the decision process of where the treasurer deposited state money, including publishing online the criteria expected of financial institutions where money would be deposited. It would also entail posting online of investment policy statements for each fund managed by the state treasurer's office, as well as information and links to outside firms managing state funds. Buttigieg's plans would also entail increasing the transparency of investment policy statements and state treasury records, making them accessible online. It would also involve employing an online tracking system for all public information requests. It would also involve an increase of public input in investment decisions, holding at least twice-annually a series of town halls. His plans would also place a prohibition on former employees of the treasurer's staff lobbying or doing business with the office for two years after they leave.
Buttigieg argued that, by keeping better track of deposits and lending, the state could free credit up and stimulate job growth. Buttigieg pledged that, as treasurer, he would seek to reinvest state funds in assets that were issued by companies based in Indiana wherever they would generate good returns on investment. Buttigieg also argued that the role of treasurer should be depoliticized.
Buttigieg called for the position of treasurer to have more stringent ethics codes. Buttigieg promised, if elected, to partner with the Indiana State Legislature to pass ethics standards to that would ensure that no investments would not be influenced by corporate campaign contributions. Buttigieg promised to work with the Indiana State Legislature to seek legislation prohibiting political contributions from banks to anyone running for state treasurer,Multiple sources:
Buttigieg argued that Indiana had not been wisely investing taxpayer money. For instance, he criticized the investment of hundreds of millions in tollway revenue into junk bonds. Buttigieg argued that the state treasurer's office could be more efficiently and profitably managed. Buttgigieg argued that wiser management of the states finances would decrease the necessity for cuts, such as those that had been recently made to education.
Buttigieg pledged to commission a review of the state's investments in order decrease the state's Indiana's vulnerability to risky debt.Multiple sources: Buttigieg also promised that, within his first 60 days in office, he would assemble a committee that would inform his principles and develop reporting procedures. Such a committee would be made up of financial businesses, labor representatives, academic leaders, and consumer advocacy leaders.