Theodore Edward "Todd" Rokita ( ; born February 9, 1970) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 44th and current Attorney General of Indiana. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he served two terms as Secretary of State of Indiana from 2002 to 2010. When Rokita was elected to office in 2002 at age 32, he became the youngest secretary of state in the United States at the time.
Rokita was a candidate to replace Mike Pence in the 2016 Indiana gubernatorial election after Pence withdrew from the race to be Donald Trump's running mate in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. He lost to Eric Holcomb, Pence's lieutenant governor. Rokita vacated his U.S. House seat and unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in 2018 losing the Republican primary to Mike Braun. In 2020, Rokita defeated incumbent Curtis Hill for the Republican nomination for Indiana Attorney General, and won the general election. He was considered a possible candidate for United States Senate or Governor, but ultimately ran for reelection, winning a second term as attorney general in 2024.
Early life and legal trouble Rokita grew up in Munster, Indiana and attended Munster High School. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana.
In 1990, Rokita, then 20, was arrested in Bloomington, Indiana, and charged with possession of false ID and illegal consumption. The arrest occurred during a traffic stop for speeding in which Rokita allegedly provided false identification and appeared intoxicated. In 2018, while running for US Senate, Rokita acknowledged he was underage and possessed alcohol, passed a sobriety test, and that the arresting charges of underage consumption and possession of a false ID were dismissed. The IndyStar reported that it was unclear if the charges were dropped because of his participation in a diversion program or other reasons.
Rokita has a J.D. degree from IUPUI Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. Rokita was a practicing attorney. In 1997 he joined the secretary of state's office as general counsel. He later became deputy secretary of state. In 2000, Rokita served as legal counsel for seven Florida counties during the recount for the George W. Bush presidential campaign.
Indiana Secretary of State Rokita was Indiana Secretary of State from 2002 to 2010. Elected in 2002, Todd Rokita became the youngest Secretary of state in the United States at the time. Rokita was active in the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), and after serving as the elected treasurer, he became the President for the 2007–2008 term. He was elected by his peers nationally to serve on the nine-member federal executive board of the Election Assistance Commission.
Voting rights
Rokita was a named defendant when Indiana's voter identification case went before the U.S. Supreme Court on January 9, 2008; the combined cases of Crawford v. Marion County Election Board (07-21) and Indiana Democratic Party v. Rokita (07-25). In April 2008, the Supreme Court upheld Indiana's voter photo ID law. Following the ruling, the New York Times's Adam Cohen suggested the court's conservative majority has "become increasingly hostile to voters" by siding with Indiana's voter identification laws which tend to "disenfranchise large numbers of people without driver's licenses, especially poor and minority voters". Senator Al Franken criticized the ruling for "eroding individual rights."
Redistricting In September 2009, Rokita outlined a plan called "Rethinking Redistricting" to reform how Indiana's legislative districts are drawn to reduce gerrymandering. He proposed making it a felony for lawmakers to use political data or incumbents' addresses when drawing electoral maps. Rokita said boundaries should follow existing county and township lines, and that each of the 50 Senate districts should be divided into two House districts, claiming that would lead to more competitive legislative elections.
The reform plan sought to achieve these five objectives:
Keep communities of interest together Create more compact and geographically uniform districts Reduce voters' confusion about who represents them by following already existing political boundaries, such as county and township lines Not use any political data, including incumbent addresses, for partisan reasons "Nest" two House districts under the existing lines of a Senate district
Controversial comments In April 2007, Rokita was speaking at a Republican event, and encouraged Republicans to reach out to African Americans, mentioning 90 percent of African American voters vote Democratic, after which he asked, "How can that be? Ninety to ten. Who's the master and who's the slave in that relationship? How can that be healthy?". During the course of the same private meeting Rokita was told his office should reflect the diversity of the state, at the time of his remarks 89% of the employees in Rokita's office were white. Four days after making those remarks, he apologized. Rokita also met privately with eleven members of the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus to apologize for the comment. Representative Vernon Smith, D-Gary, told reporters, "He apologized to our satisfaction. We do believe he was sincere in his apology."
U.S. House of Representatives Rokita was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 2011 to 2019, where he served as vice-chair of the Budget Committee.Ellis, J., Race is on to chair House budget committee, Politico, published November 29, 2016, accessed November 14, 2023 Rokita vacated his House seat to run for the Indiana U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Joe Donnelly, losing the Republican nomination to eventual senator Mike Braun.
In October 2013 during the American government shutdown, Rokita was interviewed by CNN journalist Carol Costello. Her pointed questions about Rokita's defense of the shutdown that furloughed hundreds of thousands of government employees without compensation while he continued to receive his paycheck, were eventually countered with his statement that she was "beautiful but you have to be honest" and that journalists were part of the problem. The Congressman's office issued a statement that he intended no offense by his comments.
Attorney General of Indiana In 2020, Rokita challenged incumbent Attorney General of Indiana Curtis Hill for the Republican nomination. Rokita defeated Hill for re-nomination in mail-in voting at the Republican state convention, gaining 52% of the vote on the third round. Rokita's nomination marked a political comeback after his unsuccessful runs for governor in 2016 and U.S. Senate in 2018. In the general election, Rokita faced Democratic nominee Jonathan Weinzapfel, a former mayor of Evansville. Rokita defeated Weinzapfel in the November election, the sixth consecutive election in which Republicans retained control of the AG's office.
Rokita was sworn in as Attorney General in January 2021. In 2021, Rokita faced scrutiny for collecting tens of thousands of dollars in payments for advisory roles from various healthcare and pharmaceutical companies while holding public office. In July 2022, Lauren Robel, former Indiana University provost and law school dean, sent a three-page letter to the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission calling for a disciplinary investigation into Rokita, alleging he made "false or baseless" statements on Fox News concerning an Indiana doctor who performed an abortion for a 10-year-old Ohio rape victim.
Election reform Rokita led a letter signed by 20 Republican state attorneys general opposing the For the People Act, election reform legislation introduced by Democrats in the United States House of Representatives. In March 2021, Rokita testified in the U.S. Senate Rules Committee in opposition to the legislation, threatening to sue if the bill became law. Rokita asserted voting laws should be based on voters' perceptions, rather than any actual evidence of fraud. Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff, responding to Rokita's statement, said he took exception to the notion "that public concern regarding the integrity of the recent election is born of anything but a deliberate and sustained misinformation campaign led by a vain former president unwilling to accept his own defeat" and that said he found it disturbing that a state attorney general "would indulge in that kind of misinformation and spread those kinds of conspiracies".
Lawsuits against the Biden administration Rokita joined other Republican state AGs in suing the Biden administration over an executive order on environmental protection and climate change.
Abortion case
After a 10-year-old rape victim received a lawful abortion in Indiana, Rokita told Fox News in July 2022 that Caitlin Bernard, the gynecologist who performed the abortion, was an "abortion activist acting as a doctor with a history of failing to report" abortions, indicating that Rokita would investigate whether the gynecologist had fulfilled the reporting requirement in this case, and threatening a suspension of her medical license or criminal prosecution if that was not done. Indiana government records released through a public records request by Fox 59 showed that the gynecologist had filed the report within the required three-day timeframe. Rokita's office responded that they would continue investigating the gynecologist.
A lawyer for the gynecologist sent a cease-and-desist letter to Rokita stating "Your false and defamatory statements to Fox News on July 13, 2022, cast [the gynecologist] in a false light and allege misconduct in her profession" and "mislead consumers and patients". In November 2022, the gynecologist sued Rokita in Indiana Commercial Court, alleging that he improperly launched investigations into her based on meritless consumer complaints that were filed by individuals who had not actually interacted with the gynecologist, but made the complaints based on reading about the case of the 10-year old receiving an abortion.
On November 30, 2022, Rokita sent a complaint about the gynecologist to the Indiana Medical Licensing Board, asking for sanctions on the gynecologist. The complaint alleged that the gynecologist broke privacy laws and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act when discussing the case with the media, even though the gynecologist did not reveal the girl's identity. The complaint also alleged that the gynecologist did not immediately report the abuse to Indiana authorities. The gynecologist testified in court that she had informed her hospital's social work department about the abuse even before the 10-year-old travelled to Indianapolis, and also testified that the hospital's social work department handles the submission of abuse reports to authorities.
In December 2022, Marion County Superior Court Judge Heather Welch found that Rokita "clearly violated Indiana law", specifically "the licensing statute's confidentiality provision by discussing the statutorily confidential investigation [against the gynecologist] in statements to the media" in July 2022 and September 2022 before making a complaint to the Medical Licensing Board in November 2022. The judge elaborated that Rokita's "comments do constitute irreparable harm" in relation to the gynecologist's "concerns about reputational and professional harm". However, the judge rejected the gynecologist's request to stop Rokita from obtaining the medical records of the gynecologist's patients, leading to the gynecologist withdrawing her lawsuit.
In September 2023, Rokita sued Bernard's employer, hospital system IU Health, claiming that it had failed to protect the 10-year old's privacy.