Indiana
Wells seeks to remake ‘culture and climate’ of Indiana attorney general’s office
Editor’s note: This story is the second in a two-part look at the race for Indiana attorney general in 2024. A look at Republican Todd Rokita’s reelection bid may be found here.
For Destiny Wells, it was a 13-month tour of duty in Afghanistan that spurred her into politics.
“I flew in with Barack Obama, and I flew out with Donald Trump,” said Wells, a U.S. Army Reserve lieutenant colonel and Indianapolis attorney. “There was obviously a shift.”
She recalled writing a letter to a friend working for then-Sen. Joe Donnelly’s reelection campaign about volunteering. Donnelly was no longer accepting new volunteers, but Wells found a rudder with Democratic leadership academy Hoosier Women Forward. She rose from volunteer to deputy chair for the Indiana Democratic Party after the 2020 cycle, hosting Zoom calls and working to get out the vote.
“I really felt like I needed to do more when I got home,” said Wells, who is now in the thick of her second consecutive statewide campaign — a challenge to the state’s entrenched but oft-controversial attorney general, Todd Rokita.
Having defeated a serious challenger for the nomination at the Democratic state convention in July, Wells, 40, cemented herself as part of a new guard of young leaders looking to guide the party back to respectability on the statewide stage.
“She brings a lot to her campaign,” Indiana Democratic Party Chair Mike Schmuhl said of Wells. “This is a tremendous opportunity for us. Todd Rokita has been very extreme and partisan in his approach to the job.”
Wells hopes the lessons learned from a heavy defeat in the 2022 secretary of state race will serve her this time around, but Rokita holds almost every discernable political advantage — more money, better name recognition, experience in the position, an Indiana voter base that leans to the right.
“Destiny Wells continues to advance a radical agenda that’s out of touch with Indiana,” Indiana Republican Party Chair Randy Head said. “Rokita has a solid record to stand on and is in a great position to win in November by a large margin.”
From Martinsville to the military
Wells was born and raised on a farm in Martinsville, where her family has lived since the town’s founding in 1822. She attended Indiana University, where she enlisted in the U.S. Army National Guard during her freshman year.
After graduation, she worked full-time in the military and subsequently earned a law degree from the University of Texas School of Law. After time spent stationed in Germany, she ran a private practice in Martinsville before being reassigned to what was then Fort Hood in Texas.
Wells eventually worked as a deputy attorney general under then-Attorney General Curtis Hill and served as associate corporation counsel for the City of Indianapolis and Marion County.
Defeat in 2022
Wells brought her politically desirable background into a 2022 race for secretary of state against Republican Diego Morales, who had defeated incumbent Holli Sullivan at the Republican State Convention.
Morales, a former aide to Gov. Mike Pence, was accused of inflating his military service record, supporting unfounded claims that President Joe Biden was not duly elected in 2020 and several other controversial actions during the campaign.
Nevertheless, he easily defeated Wells by nearly 14 percentage points.
Wells told State Affairs her campaign was caught “flat-footed” in some areas, including expecting a higher Marion County turnout and fewer Republicans to vote straight along party lines.
“What we proved in ’22 is that we had a winning strategy,” Wells said. “We just didn’t have the money to put behind it. I raised almost $1 million, and we overperformed five points ahead of the ticket.”
Recalibrating the party
Wells faced an unexpected challenger for her party’s attorney general nomination in former Marion County Clerk Beth White, who campaigned as the more experienced choice.
Wells treated the Democratic nominating convention as a referendum on the party, appearing alongside fellow up-and-coming Democrats in state Sen. Andrea Hunley and Terre Haute Mayor Brandon Sakbun.
“What we’re doing is trying to recalibrate the party at large to be oriented on winning,” Wells said, “because it’s our generation that’s living the public outcomes that don’t align with our values.
“We live in a Republican supermajority,” she continued. “That doesn’t align with my values. That doesn’t align with the life that I want for my children.”
Hunley told State Affairs that Wells’ recent history of overperforming Democratic expectations was a determining factor for her endorsement.
“She had a recent proven track record of making people see there’s an alternative choice,” Hunley said of Wells.
Wells won the nomination with 69% of the vote.
“It was really important to me to take this opportunity to get the others [Hunley and Sakbun] onstage so that people can see we’ve already arrived,” Wells said. “And that’s why we asked the question, if not now, when?”
Wells’ vision
Wells hopes to use her military leadership background to “change the culture and climate” of the attorney general’s office, which she said has grown far too partisan under Rokita.
She cited two examples: Rokita’s statements last year attacking an Indianapolis physician who performed an abortion on a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio, and his creation of a “Parents’ Bill of Rights” that includes an online portal to report complaints against teachers.
“Todd likes to use our children as a wedge issue more than actually protecting them,” Wells said.
The Indiana Supreme Court reprimanded Rokita for his comments on the abortion doctor. Rokita has insisted his comments were accurate and said he agreed to the reprimand to save taxpayer money that would otherwise be used on disciplinary hearings.
If elected, Wells plans to create a workers’ rights task force that would help other agencies and prosecutors with labor issues, such as wage theft and worker misclassification.
Her other platforms include safeguarding the medical privacy of women who seek abortions in Indiana and “restoring integrity” to the attorney general’s office.
Wells would also seek to recruit more experienced attorneys to the office.
“There has been an exodus of institutional knowledge in that agency,” she said.
Rokita’s camp pushed back on Wells’ claims.
“Destiny Wells is the deputy chair of the Indiana Democratic Party,” campaign adviser Brent Littlefield said. “She has literally spent the last two years, after losing her last campaign, working for partisan gain. Todd Rokita is doing the work Hoosiers elected him to, including defending the laws passed by the Indiana General Assembly.”
Path to victory
Raising money and educating voters is at the heart of Wells’ campaign, she said. Last week, her campaign released a poll of 600 likely voters that showed Wells was trailing by 3 percentage points initially and then leading the race once respondents were read statements critical of Rokita and supportive of Wells.
These polls, often called push polls, are meant to show candidates whether their political messaging is effective in swaying voters.
Another poll, by Emerson College Polling/The Hill, surveyed 1,000 likely voters and found Rokita well ahead. He received 49% of support to Wells’ 35%; 16% of respondents were undecided.
Hunley agrees that money will be key to Wells’ chances. “Destiny is clearly the better choice in every aspect of policy,” she said. “For women, for teachers, for families, for doctors, for our economy. That does not matter if we can’t get her message out.”
Wells ended June with about $98,000 in her campaign account. She has received $65,000 in large donations since.
Fall fundraising will be key. In 2022, she pulled in more than $750,000 during the second half of the year.
Even if a strong late push materializes, it will take a lot to outraise Rokita. He finished June with more than $1.3 million in the bank, and he’s received $430,000 in large contributions since.
‘One to keep an eye on’
Paul Helmke, Republican former mayor of Fort Wayne and director of Indiana University’s Civic Leaders Center, believes Rokita has the clear advantage.
“Generally, the rule is Republicans win statewide elections,” Helmke said. “The only time that doesn’t happen is when someone does something very controversial.”
In 2012, Democrat Joe Donnelly defeated Republican Richard Mourdock in a U.S. Senate race after Mourdock made controversial statements about rape and abortion.
Democrat Glenda Ritz also upset incumbent Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett after he riled teachers, Helmke said.
Wells should enjoy some additional name recognition from her 2022 campaign, and she may be helped by Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential bid, Helmke said. But Rokita has endeared himself to former President Donald Trump’s voter base.
“If Kamala is running stronger than Biden or [former Secretary of State] Hillary [Clinton], then maybe there’s a chance,” Helmke said. “This is one to keep an eye on.”
Contact Rory Appleton on X at @roryehappleton or email him at [email protected].
Destiny Wells
- Title: Candidate for Indiana attorney general
- Age: 40
- Hometown: Indianapolis
- Education: Bachelor’s degree from Indiana University, law degree from University of Texas at Austin and U.S. Army advanced operator’s course
- Career: Candidate for secretary of state in 2022, attorney, former deputy attorney general, former associate corporation counsel for the City of Indianapolis and Marion County
- Family: Wells and her husband, Oliver, have two sons
- Hobbies: Shopping, hanging out with her kids
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For many Hoosiers living in rural Indiana, accessing health care can mean driving 30 minutes or even an hour to see a doctor or reach the nearest hospital. As workforce shortages and financial pressures challenge rural hospitals across the country, ensuring access to care close to home has become one of the most important health-care issues facing our state.
About one in four Indiana residents live in a rural community, yet access to health-care services in many of these communities continues to shrink. Across the nation, rural hospitals and clinics report extremely thin operating margins and often say workforce shortages and rising costs make it difficult to sustain services such as primary care, maternity care and behavioral health.
When rural communities struggle to maintain health-care access, the impact doesn’t stay confined to small towns. It ripples across the entire health-care system, contributing to increases in chronic conditions, reduced preventative care for children, and worsening outcomes for the sickest patients.
Communities such as Greater Lafayette serve as a regional hub for care, with hospitals like IU Health Arnett caring for patients from surrounding counties across north-central and west-central Indiana. That role is something we are proud to fulfill. But when rural residents must travel long distances for care that should be available closer to home, it places increasing pressure on emergency departments, specialty clinics and inpatient services at larger regional hospitals.
In many cases, what might have been a routine appointment, preventive screening or early diagnosis in a local clinic becomes far more serious by the time a patient reaches a larger hospital. A missed screening can escalate into a medical emergency.
That reality makes strengthening rural health care more important than ever — not just for rural communities, but for the health of the entire state.
One of the most important steps we can take is investing in the next generation of health-care professionals who will care for these communities.
At IU Health, we are working directly with local schools and community partners to help build that workforce pipeline. Across the region, IU Health has partnered with the Greater Lafayette Career Academy and area school districts to introduce students to health-care careers earlier and provide hands-on learning opportunities that bring those careers to life.
Through these programs, students explore health-care pathways and earn certifications such as certified nursing assistant, medical assistant or emergency medical technician while still in high school. Many participate in job shadowing opportunities, clinical experiences and mentorship programs, giving them valuable exposure to the field before they graduate. In fact, since the first cohort in 2023, IU Health has extended job offers to more than 70 students.
The goal is simple but powerful: help students see that meaningful careers in health care exist in their own communities and create pathways that allow them to stay and serve those communities.
For rural health care, this approach is critical. Students who train and develop personal mentorship connections locally are far more likely to remain in the region after completing their education. By helping young people build skills and connections early, we can create a sustainable workforce that strengthens health-care access in both rural communities and regional centers, including Greater Lafayette.
Since launching the $200 million Community Impact Investment Fund in 2018, IU Health has invested more than $40 million in community grants supporting workforce development, education and school-based programs that build Indiana’s health-care talent pipeline. This includes funding for the Indiana Latino Institute, which placed Latino students in health-care internships, supported career pathways, and provided medical interpreter training and college coaching to communities across the state.
Our goal is to make Indiana one of the healthiest states in the nation, and this is one way we work toward that in partnership with our communities.
But workforce development is only part of the solution.
Strengthening rural health care will also require continued collaboration between health-care providers, educators, community leaders and policymakers. Expanding telehealth access, supporting rural hospitals and investing in primary care and behavioral health services are all critical steps toward ensuring patients can receive care close to home.
Greater Lafayette will always play an important role as a regional health-care center, providing specialized care and advanced services for patients across a broad region. But the long-term health of Indiana’s health-care system depends on maintaining strong local access points for care in rural communities.
When rural clinics and hospitals can provide preventive care, manage chronic conditions and connect patients with the services they need early, the entire system works better.
Patients receive care sooner, communities stay healthier and larger hospitals can focus on the complex cases they are designed to treat.
Healthy rural communities do not just benefit the towns where they are. They strengthen Indiana’s entire health-care system by ensuring that every Hoosier — no matter where they live — has access to the care and resources they need to live healthier lives.
When rural health care succeeds, all of Indiana benefits.
Gary Henriott is a lifelong resident of Lafayette and the retired CEO and Chairman of Henriott Group. He is the chair of the IU Health West Region board of directors and the Wabash Heartland Innovation Network, and president of Lafayette’s Board of Public Works and Safety.
INDIANAPOLIS (WKRC) — An Indianapolis mother is now facing criminal charges after her 2-month-old baby died in an apparent improper co-sleeping environment, according to investigators.
According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by FOX 59/CBS 4, police were called to an area hospital on Sept. 19, 2024, following the death of 27-year-old Brooklyn Davis’ son. The boy had been found unresponsive in his family’s home early that morning, and Davis attempted CPR before he was rushed to the hospital.
The affidavit says the boy had been sleeping on Davis’ bed with his 6-year-old brother. Davis later showed investigators a video showing the baby sleeping chest down on the 6-year-old’s chest.
An autopsy concluded the baby’s cause of death was “sudden explained death of an infant” with an intrinsic factor, which included being “placed to sleep in a queen-sized mattress being shared with a 6-year-old sibling, along with numerous blankets and other miscellaneous items; discovered unresponsive in a prone position with his face turned to the side and partially covered with a blanket.”
A report from the Department of Child Services (DCS) indicated the boy had no known health issues and that Davis ran an FSSA-licensed day care and has “extensive training on child care and safe sleeping environments.”
Davis had been known to DCS prior to the baby’s death. The boy had been born marijuana-positive and, on July 2, 2024, Davis had reportedly signed a “Safe Sleep Safety Plan,” acknowledging she understood that the safest places for her baby to sleep were in a crib, pack-and-play or bassinet and warned that co-sleeping places the baby at risk of suffocation and sleeping areas should be kept free of blankets, pillows and other items. The plan also included a provision that Davis not use marijuana while caring for her children, but she told investigators during an interview that, the morning of her baby’s death, she had gone downstairs to smoke marijuana and left the children alone upstairs.
Davis’ two other children were removed from the home, and interviews with them revealed that co-sleeping with the infant happened often.
Investigators say they attempted to contact Davis several times after talking to her children.
“She called me on February 18, 2025, and said she didn’t do anything wrong, her baby died of SIDS,” the detective wrote in the affidavit. “Brooklyn never came in for an additional interview.”
Court records indicate the case was filed in March 2026. Davis was booked into jail on April 1 on three counts of neglect of a dependent. An initial hearing was held on April 7, and a bail review hearing is planned for Monday.
The start of training camp officially marks the beginning of the 2026 WNBA season. The Indiana Fever were fairly quiet during free agency after successfully retaining most of their top-tier talent such as Kelsey Mitchell, Aliyah Boston, Lexie Hull, and Sophie Cunningham. Though they still managed to add a few solid pieces to further stack their depth.
Last season the Fever made an impressive postseason run despite facing multiple injuries, particularly in the backcourt. The front office clearly prioritized guard depth as a result, as well as looking to upgrade at the power forward position.
The Fever brass aimed to shore up any defensive deficiencies on the perimeter in the draft by adding guard Raven Johnson out of South Carolina, who brings a reputation as a defensive stopper. As for bolstering the frontcourt, to play alongside, and even provide some relief for Aliyah Boston, newly acquired 6-foot-4 Monique Billings and veteran forward Myisha Hines-Allen fit the bill. Indiana also picked up another solid player in Tyasha Harris at the guard position to provide backcourt depth and relieve pressure on Kelsey Mitchell and Caitlin Clark.
As for the starting lineup, here’s who the Indiana Fever are projected to run with:
Caitlin Clark, Guard
This comes as no surprise, but Clark will look to lead the way for the Fever in one of the two starting guard roles. Coming off of a season riddled with injuries, her return is highly anticipated. In true Clark fashion, she showed positive signs of production during the FIBA World Cup qualifiers where she led Team USA in assists and points.
Clark is expected to return to form in 2026. She provides speed in transition, is a deep threat from beyond the arc, and is elite at setting up her teammates. The only thing standing in the way of a productive season for Clark is remaining healthy for the duration of the season.
Kelsey Mitchell, Guard
Re-signing Kelsey Mitchell was yet again the main offseason priority for the Fever and they did just that. Coming off of a career year, Mitchell will be a key component in the Fever reaching a championship. She averaged 20.2 points per game last season and carried the team on her back during Clark’s absence.
As a premier scoring guard, she complements Clark’s game well and when the two are on the floor together, they’re easily the most explosive backcourt in the entire WNBA. Mitchell has exceptional speed and is a gifted isolation scorer. Her ability to quickly cut and drive to the rim makes her a nightmare for opposing teams to defend and contributed to her earning a 2025 All-WNBA First Team selection.
Mitchell is one of the most dangerous clutch situation players in the league making her a stellar weapon for the Fever.
Lexie Hull, Forward
Entering her fifth WNBA season, all with the Fever, no other player on the roster has grown as much as Lexie Hull. Her steady development has made her a key piece and earned her a starting role in the rotation as last season progressed. Listed as a guard, her defense and versatility has allowed her to frequently fill the role of small forward. She impacts the game on both ends of the floor and saw career highs in 2025 in points per game (7.2), rebounds per game (4.3), assists per game (1.8) and steals per game (1.2).
Her impactful instincts even contributed to her being near the top of the WNBA in offensive fouls drawn last season. With her high-percentage shooting from beyond the arc, solid perimeter defense, and elite hustle, Hull fills the wing role nicely for the Fever.
Monique Billings, Forward
Heading into the 2026 season, the Fever desperately needed to add talented size up front to complement Aliyah Boston’s skill set. With the departure of veteran Natasha Howard in free agency, the Fever acquired their likely next starting power forward in Monique Billings.
Billings is a strong finisher around the basket, has soft hands, runs the floor well, and is adept at screening for guards. She can also defend multiple positions and is a more than capable rebounder. Billings checks all of the boxes of a needed component for Indiana.
Aliyah Boston, Center
After making WNBA history with a record contract, Aliyah Boston looks to continue to elevate her game. Boston has quickly ascended as one of the league’s biggest threats in the middle of the floor. What makes this season even more promising for Boston is the dominant performances she put on display during Unrivaled.
She’s in peak physical shape, faster and has worked on her three-point shooting – an area she committed herself to improving on in the offseason. The three-time All-Star has already established herself as a force on the block due to her combination of size and footwork. Her step-through moves have increased her efficiency in scoring under the basket.
Boston seems poised to have the best season of her career in 2026.
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