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Philip Foust, a former deputy prosecutor in the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office, has filed to run against Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears in the November election.
Foust, a Republican, worked in the Prosecutor’s Office under Mears and the late Terry Curry, both Democrats, from 2015 to 2021. During that time, Foust said he saw “how dramatically it has drifted from its core mission,” he said in a Thursday press release announcing his candidacy.
“For too long, Prosecutor Mears has lost sight of his most basic responsibilities: justice and public safety,” Foust said. “The law is not being enforced, criminals are facing fewer consequences, and victims are paying the price. That has to change.”
In January 2023, a caucus selected Foust to fill a vacancy as clerk-treasurer for the town of Speedway, and voters cemented him in that role the following year. His term expires in 2028.
Foust said in his announcement that the job of prosecutor “isn’t political to me,” but that Mears and city leadership “prioritize ideology over enforcement, excuses over accountability, and offenders over victims.”
If elected, Foust said he will work closely with local law enforcement, neighboring counties and state and federal officials “to take violent offenders off the streets and stop repeat criminals.”
Mears, who has been prosecutor since 2019, has become a target of frequent attacks from state lawmakers and conservative pundits who describe his prosecution approach as being soft on crime and that it allows criminals to run rampant.
Still, Mears has proven to be popular with Marion County voters. In the 2022 election, Mears bested Cyndi Carrasco, now a GOP state senator, by nearly 20 percentage points – despite Carrasco fundraising more during that election cycle and a national political action committee paying $350,000 for ads supporting her.
During his Jan. 27 reelection bid announcement, Mears pointed to high conviction rates in key areas as signs of sustained success. In 2025, the Prosecutor’s Office had a 90% murder trial conviction rate, a 100% conviction rate for child molestation cases and a 77% conviction rate for gun-related crimes, a campaign spokesperson told IBJ.
Foust was born in northern Indiana and raised in Pike Township. He has a bachelor’s degree in history from the former Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and a law degree from Harvard School of Law.
He currently lives in Speedway with his wife, Christi, and their three children.
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