Between now and the Indiana state Democratic Party convention, Hoosier Lemon will be making the case that Beau Bayh is NOT the right person to represent the party as nominee for Secretary of State in 2026, nor should be the person to lead Indiana Democrats into the future. A pretty face and a fat bank account are no substitute for leadership — and Beau’s deep connections to the corporations, billionaires, and special interests that play both sides of the aisle should make the delegates who vote on this nomination think long and hard before casting their votes.
Indiana voters are about to choose the official responsible for policing the securities industry. But the man who wants to be the watchdog is bankrolled by the very wolves he’d be sworn to guard against.
Meet Beau Bayh.
His father, Evan Bayh, takes a paycheck from Apollo Global Management, a private equity giant that pocketed $180 million from Indiana’s public pension fund in 2024 alone. On January 5, 2026, Apollo co-founder Marc Rowan chipped in $25,000 to Beau’s campaign.
That is a direct line from the top of a firm profiting off Hoosier retirees to the candidate who’d oversee them.
The Apollo Problem
Apollo Global Management isn’t just any investment firm. Co-founded by Marc Rowan and Leon Black (who resigned amid ties to Jeffrey Epstein), Apollo has a rap sheet that includes the largest fine in SEC history for misleading retirees. Despite this, the Indiana Public Retirement System (INPRS) doubled down in 2024, handing Apollo a $180 million allocation of Hoosier teachers’ and police officers’ pension money. Indiana also became the first state to force public pensions into crypto. Another massive win for industry. Go figure.
Evan Bayh, Beau’s father, works for Apollo. He reportedly made millions as a “senior advisor.” When Evan ran for Senate in 2016, he was hammered for these ties.
Now, Beau is asking for a promotion to the very office that regulates Apollo.
This is a textbook case of regulatory capture.
If elected, Beau would oversee the Securities Division, the cops on the beat for Indiana’s investment industry. That means he would have the power to investigate, fine, or license the firms managing Hoosiers’ retirement money.
Including the one that pays his father a seven-figure salary.
This isn’t just bad optics. It’s a structural conflict of interest—and it’s Indiana teachers, police, and firefighters whose retirements are riding on the answer.
But Apollo is only the beginning.
Let’s Put A Number On It
On October 3, 2025, Robert Johnson—founder and chairman of RLJ Companies LLC, RLJ Equity Partners LLC, and RLJ-McLarty-Landers Automotive Holdings—wrote a $300,000 check to Beau Bayh’s campaign.
That’s not a typo, dear reader. Three hundred thousand dollars. From one private equity billionaire to the candidate who wants to regulate auto dealers, hotels, and securities in Indiana.
Johnson made his fortune as the founder of BET, but his private equity empire—RLJ Equity, RLJ-McLarty-Landers Automotive Holdings, RLJ Lodging Trust—now reaches deep into Indiana.
Consider the auto dealers.
RLJ Equity owns RLJ-McLarty-Landers Automotive Holdings (RML Automotive), which has deep, revolving-door ties to Asbury Automotive Group—one of the nation’s largest auto retailer that owns Hare Honda, the Estes dealerships, and more across Indiana. According to RML Automotive’s own website, the Vice Chairman, Thomas F. “Mack” McLarty, helped take Asbury Automotive public in 2002. The Secretary of State licenses and regulates every single one of those dealers. David W. Hult, the current CEO of Asbury Automotive, previously served as Chief Operating Officer of RLJ-McLarty-Landers. That’s the same RLJ that donated $300,000 to Beau Bayh.
Asbury Automotive is also known for its exploitative practices toward employees and customers alike. My husband, a mechanic in central Indy, has encountered issues from failing to provide meal breaks to wage theft—and we’ve experienced some of these ourselves. In August 2024, the FTC began an enforcement action against three Asbury-owned Texas dealerships for allegedly selling unauthorized add-ons and targeting Black and Latino consumers with higher-priced extras.
And who investigates complaints regarding dealer practices? Well, the complaint is filed with the Secretary of State’s office.
Now consider the hotels.
RLJ Lodging Trust bought up Indiana-based White Lodging Services Corp., acquiring 100 hotels in a $1.7 billion deal. That includes properties in Indianapolis, Merrillville, and across the state. The Secretary of State oversees business regulations, charitable gaming, and liquor licenses that apply to those hotels.
Robert Johnson—the man who controls all of this—is spending $300,000 to put Beau Bayh in the office that would oversee every single one of those businesses.
That’s not a campaign contribution. That’s an investment.
[No Labels Enters the Chat]
On the last day of March, another private equity executive wrote a six-figure check. Andy Bursky—founder of Atlas Holdings—donated $100,000 to Beau Bayh.
Andy Bursky is a private equity guy through and through. And he’s also a major donor to No Labels, the self-styled “commonsense” political organization.
Now look at No Labels’ own website. Listed as a “National Leader” of No Labels? Former U.S. Senator Evan Bayh—Beau’s father.
That’s right. The same Evan Bayh who takes a paycheck from Apollo Global Management and sits on the board of RLJ Lodging Trust is also a national face of No Labels.
So the owner of a private equity firm and a major No Labels donor pumps $100,000 into Bayh’s campaign for Indiana Secretary of State, and the Indiana Democratic Party wants Hoosiers to believe that’s purely coincidence?
The Anti-Corruption Candidate Bankrolled by P.E.
Here’s the cruelest irony: Beau Bayh is running on an anti-corruption platform. He talks about transparency, about cleaning up the Secretary of State’s office, about being a watchdog who puts Hoosiers first.
But his campaign finance records tell a different story.
But his campaign is a slush fund from the very industries he’d be sworn to police. The Simon family—billionaires who built their fortune in real estate and have since ventured into private equity—have poured hundreds of thousands into Beau Bayh’s campaign. Along with at least eight other private equity executives who have also written checks to Beau Bayh’s campaign. That’s a small army of industry insiders funding the man who would regulate their industry.
Let me be clear, private equity doesn’t write $25,000, $100,000, or $300,000 checks out of civic virtue. It buys access. It buys a regulator who will look the other way and not ask questions.
You cannot take six-figure checks from the wolves and then promise to guard the henhouse.
The Question for Indiana Voters
Do you want a Secretary of State who answers to you?
Or to the private equity wolves who wrote his campaign checks?
Beau Bayh has raised nearly $2 million in 2025, far outpacing incumbent Diego Morales or primary challenger Blythe Potter. He has the money. He has the name recognition. And he has the private equity donors, including one who gave $300,000 in a single check, and another tied to his father’s own political network.
The only question is what they expect to get in return.