Former Deputy Philip Foust Wants His Old Boss Ryan Mears’ Job — and a Different Direction for Marion County

INDIANAPOLIS — Philip Foust isn't running for Marion County prosecutor as an outsider wondering what happens inside the office. He worked there for six years.

The Republican challenger served as a deputy Marion County prosecutor from 2015 to 2021 under both the late Democratic Prosecutor Terry Curry and current Prosecutor Ryan Mears. He prosecuted cases ranging from juvenile offenses to robbery and murder before leaving the office and eventually becoming clerk-treasurer of Speedway. Now the Harvard Law School graduate is asking Marion County voters to put him in charge of the office where he once worked—and to replace his former boss.

That experience gives the 2026 prosecutor's race an unusual dimension. Foust isn't merely criticizing Mears's policies from across a partisan divide. He worked within the same criminal-justice system and says the office has moved away from what he regards as its fundamental responsibilities: enforcing criminal law, protecting the public and seeking justice for victims.

“For too long, Prosecutor Mears has lost sight of his most basic responsibilities: justice and public safety,” Foust said when announcing his candidacy earlier this year.

Foust's argument has increasingly found support among law-enforcement organizations. The Indianapolis Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 86 formally endorsed Foust this week, adding to his backing from the Indiana State Police Alliance. The Indianapolis FOP represents officers from IMPD, Speedway, Beech Grove and other Marion County agencies and earlier this year took a vote of no confidence in Mears.

FOP President Rick Snyder has been particularly critical of changes in the relationship between police and prosecutors. He has pointed to the disappearance of neighborhood-level prosecutors who previously worked more closely with IMPD districts, arguing that centralizing those prosecutors weakened communication on property crime, theft, robbery and other offenses affecting neighborhoods and businesses.

Foust says he would reverse course by putting experienced prosecutors back into police districts, restoring direct communication between law enforcement and prosecutors and treating the two as partners rather than separate parts of the criminal-justice system.

His most forceful issue, however, may be juvenile crime.

Foust spent part of his prosecutorial career handling juvenile cases and describes the current situation as a “five-alarm fire.” He points to carjackings, shootings, high-speed police pursuits and repeat juvenile offenders as evidence that intervention and consequences need to come earlier.

His approach is straightforward: Young offenders should have opportunities to turn their lives around, but serious criminal behavior should produce meaningful consequences. Foust argues that accountability early in a teenager's contact with the justice system can help prevent progressively more serious offenses later.

That represents a philosophical contrast with Mears.

Mears argues that public safety involves more than arrests, prosecutions and incarceration. His administration has emphasized prevention, community partnerships, housing stability, reentry programs and efforts to address underlying causes of crime. Mears also stopped prosecuting possession of an ounce or less of marijuana after taking office in 2019 and has said his office won't devote resources to prosecuting patients or medical providers for abortion care.

Mears says those choices allow prosecutors to concentrate resources on violent offenders, including homicide and sexual-assault cases.

There is also important evidence supporting Mears's argument that Indianapolis has made progress on violent crime. City officials report criminal homicides have fallen sharply from their 2021 peak, and Major Cities Chiefs Association data showed Indianapolis homicides down another 15% during the first half of 2026 compared with the same period in 2025. Robberies and aggravated assaults also declined substantially.

Those numbers are part of the record voters will have to consider. They don't, however, eliminate the policy question at the center of the Foust-Mears contest: What should a prosecutor's office primarily be?

Mears sees prosecution as one component of a broader public-safety strategy that includes prevention and intervention outside the courtroom. Foust argues that other institutions can address poverty, housing, addiction and social services while the prosecutor should concentrate his office's resources on criminal enforcement, victims and courtroom accountability.

Foust also wants an immediate examination of repeat offenders. He says that during his first 100 days he would assemble experienced prosecutors to review cases involving people repeatedly accused or convicted of serious crimes, determine whether appropriate charges and sentencing enhancements are being pursued and concentrate resources on offenders responsible for disproportionate amounts of crime.

The challenger brings credentials that make the race more than a conventional partisan contest. Raised in Pike Township by a single mother who worked as a registered nurse,

Foust attended IUPUI before graduating from Harvard Law School. He worked in private practice at an international law firm and then returned to Marion County as a deputy prosecutor. Today, as Speedway's clerk-treasurer, he manages a multimillion-dollar municipal budget while raising three children with his wife in the community.

His résumé also complicates attempts to portray the race simply as Republican versus Democrat. Foust worked as a prosecutor under Democratic administrations, including Mears's, and says his experience inside the office helped persuade him that its priorities need to change.

Mears has held the top job since 2019, when Democratic precinct committee members selected him to replace Curry following Curry's resignation during a battle with prostate cancer. Voters subsequently elected Mears to a full term in 2022, when he defeated Republican Cyndi Carrasco 59% to 41%.

That history means Foust is attempting something Republicans haven't accomplished in Marion County in years: winning a major countywide office in heavily Democratic territory.

Yet the contest also arrives amid an unusual degree of friction between the incumbent prosecutor and law enforcement. The Indianapolis FOP's endorsement gives Foust something more tangible than a campaign talking point. Police officers who work with the criminal-justice system every day are publicly siding with the former deputy prosecutor challenging the current prosecutor.

Foust has also pledged to serve the entire four-year prosecutor's term if elected. He has challenged Mears to make the same commitment amid speculation that Mears could eventually seek the Indianapolis mayor's office. Mears has not announced a mayoral campaign and recently said his focus remains on his current job.

Marion County voters therefore have a fairly clear contrast in November.

Mears is asking voters to continue an approach that combines aggressive prosecution of serious violence with prevention programs, community engagement and prosecutorial discretion over offenses his administration considers lower priorities. Foust is proposing a more traditional prosecution-first model centered on consequences, repeat offenders, juvenile crime, victims and a closer working relationship with police.

And Foust can make that argument from an unusual vantage point.

He isn't looking through the windows of the Marion County Prosecutor's Office and guessing how it operates.

He worked there. Now he wants to run it. What does he know?