Why I Am Running

I am not running to build a life-long political career. I am running because this office touches the daily life of every Hoosier who has ever voted, started a business, or needed a public record — and it deserves someone who will actually show up and do the job.

As Secretary of State, I am focused on three core priorities:

• Protecting the Integrity and Privacy of Indiana Elections 

• Serving Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs 

• Educating and Empowering Indiana Voters

About Me

I grew up in rural Indiana — on one of the oldest original family homesteads in the state, along the Tippecanoe and Montgomery County border where my parents still live today. My dad fixed things for a living. My mom ran a one-chair beauty salon. I was waitressing at fourteen because that is what you did. I detasseled corn to pay for my own car insurance.

That is where I come from. It is also where I am going back to, in the sense that the people I grew up around are exactly the people this office is supposed to serve. And right now it is not serving them well enough.

I am not a career politician. I am a Creative Director at the University of Indianapolis, the CEO of Pirate Smile Media, a small business I have run since 2000, and the Chairwoman of the Hamilton County Libertarian Party. I hold a Bachelor's degree in Community and Nonprofit Leadership from the University of Indianapolis and a Certificate in Servant Leadership from the Montgomery County Leadership Academy. I have spent more than twenty years building systems that work for people, fixing ones that do not, and leading teams through the kind of operational challenges that government agencies rarely face accountability for.

I ran for Indiana's 5th Congressional District in 2024 as a Libertarian because I recognized something that has only become clearer since: the people making decisions for Hoosiers are increasingly disconnected from the lives they are making decisions about. I got into this race for the same reason.

The Indiana Secretary of State's office registers every business in this state. It administers elections for seven million voters. It maintains public records that belong to the public. None of those functions require ideology. They require competence, transparency, and someone who gives a damn about doing the job right — not about where it leads next.

I have been on the receiving end of Indiana's government systems as a business owner. I know what it costs in time and money when they do not work the way they should. I know what it feels like to navigate a website that should take twenty minutes and takes two hours. I know what it means to be a working Hoosier who just needs the government to do its job without making it complicated.

I am also a lifelong advocate for the values that brought me to the Libertarian Party: individual liberty, privacy, accountability, and the belief that government exists to serve people, not the other way around. I have watched this office be used as a partisan instrument, a stepping stone, and a platform for political ambition. I am running because someone should actually just do the job.

That someone is me.

I am Lauri Shillings. I am the Libertarian nominee for Indiana Secretary of State. I am not running for the next thing. I am running for this — for you, for every Hoosier who deserves a government that works, and for the thirty-year Libertarian ballot access that proves we are not going anywhere.