Opinion

Steve Ellis is ready to be Vigo's sheriff

Fourteen years running Top Guns, nearly two decades as a reserve deputy, and a firm stand for the Fourth Amendment make "Top Guns" Ellis the right choice for Vigo County sheriff.

Written by Indiana · District 8October 27, 2026

Opinion. This piece reflects the views of its author. It is not a news report. See our standards.

This is an opinion column and an endorsement. It is based on an interview a Hoosier First correspondent conducted with Ellis, along with the public record.

The sheriff is the one law enforcement officer in Indiana whom the people elect directly. Indiana's Constitution creates the office in every county, and each county's voters choose who holds it. A sheriff answers to his neighbors. That is the frame I bring to this race, and it is why I am endorsing Steve "Top Guns" Ellis, the Republican, for Vigo County sheriff on Nov. 3.

Start with the strongest argument against him, because Ellis does.

Sheriff Derek Fell, the Democrat, is a full-time career officer with more road experience than Ellis. Ellis says so himself. "I don't deny that my opponent has more road experience than I have," he told Hoosier First. "But this job is not about road experience."

That candor is worth something. Ellis does not claim to be what he isn't. He told the Tribune-Star in April that he has about 17 years as a reserve or special deputy, and he told Hoosier First he has been involved with the sheriff's department for about 30 years. To become a reserve when he joined, he said he completed a 40-hour pre-basic course, then 100 hours each on the road, in the jail, and in dispatch; he became a certified emergency medical dispatcher before more road hours, and a test allowed him to take calls. He also holds a criminology degree from Indiana State.

"If you dial 911 and you live in the county, and a deputy shows up at your door, I can assure you, you will not know if that's a full-time merit deputy or if it's a reserve that showed up," he said. "They answer the same calls."

As a reserve, Ellis has answered those calls himself. "I've been on calls with shots fired. I've been on calls with people being shot," he said. "I've been in physical confrontations."

And he makes a fair point about the top job. "I would be shocked if you found a sheriff anytime in recent history that's written a speeding ticket or pulled a vehicle," he said. "It's just not what they do."

A sheriff runs one of the county's largest budgets, plus a jail, a dispatch center, and a payroll. Ellis has run a business since Top Guns opened in 2012, moved it into its larger home on South Seventh Street in 2017, and serves as president of the Vigo County Council. The office needs a manager and a leader, and Ellis has done both.

Ellis's best answer in our interview was about picking his second in command. He said he would not walk in with a chief deputy already chosen. He told Hoosier First he would interview every officer willing to sit down with him and ask for their recommendations first.

That is how you earn a department's trust before you ask for its loyalty. Ellis also told Hoosier First that more than 60% of deputies have endorsed him without being asked. I can't verify that figure, and readers should weigh it as his claim. If it is close to true, it says the people who do the work are ready for him.

He plans to put more of them where residents can see them. His campaign promises more deputies on patrol "with no additional expense to the taxpayers." He told Hoosier First he would do it by moving certain roles that don't require a merit deputy, such as jail commander, to non-merit staff, which he says would free three to six deputies for the road.

He also talks about keeping them. He wants to hire locally, from people who already love this county, and he told Hoosier First that morale is the key to retention. Deputies who feel heard tend to stay.

Ellis differs most sharply from the current sheriff on surveillance. Vigo County had 18 Flock license plate cameras in operation as of January, Fell told the Tribune-Star, and he has defended them, saying the data "can be extremely helpful" in investigations. Terre Haute city officials have made the same case.

Ellis sees it differently, and so do I. His campaign site says plainly, "I stand firmly against Flock." He told Hoosier First that while the cameras have helped solve crimes, citizens' rights come first. He compared the network to the Patriot Act. He said that as sheriff he would begin "deflocking" the county to the extent of his authority.

That comparison lands. Americans have learned, again and again, that surveillance power granted in an emergency is rarely handed back. A network that photographs every passing car, ready to be searched later, sits uneasily with the Fourth Amendment's promise that we are secure in our persons, houses, papers and effects. A sheriff willing to give up a convenient tool to protect that promise is one worth having.

The same principle shapes his view of the red flag law. Indiana's statute is the Jake Laird law, written after Indianapolis police officer Jake Laird was killed in 2004 by a man whose seized guns had been returned to him. It lets police take firearms from a person a court finds dangerous.

Ellis opposes it, and he asked that his opposition never be reported without his reason. Here it is. He told Hoosier First that some petitions under the law have been vindictive, aimed at people who never threatened anyone, and that a sheriff swears an oath to uphold the Constitution. In a state that has allowed permitless carry since July 2022, a sheriff who weighs every seizure against that oath is doing his job.

His store also factors into how he would serve. Ellis told Hoosier First that Top Guns will provide free safety training to any Vigo County school that wants it, win or lose on Nov. 3.

He also faced the obvious question about his business. He told Hoosier First he would let the sheriff's office use the Top Guns range for free, and he would not sell guns to the office. On ammunition, he told Hoosier First that on a recent sheriff's office ammunition order, Top Guns quoted about $6,000 and the next-closest quote was about $9,000. But he said selling ammunition as sheriff would carry "the perception of a conflict of interest," and so he "would probably avoid it altogether." He told Hoosier First he has recused himself from several council votes involving the sheriff's office.

On the council, Ellis serves on the budget committee, a seat he told Hoosier First he took only because no one else would, and he voted with the 4-2 majority that passed the 2027 budget on Oct. 26. That budget carries a $12 million general-fund deficit, and critics have been sharp. Commissioner Mark Clinkenbeard called it irresponsible, and the president of the county's Oversight Board said it likely ends the proposed county partnership on new school buildings. Ellis answered that putting every cost in the budget up front means fewer surprise requests later. "Now you know what your budget actually is," he told WTHI, adding, "We need to take care of county affairs first." Voters can judge that record for themselves.

His view on the schools is consistent. He supports new buildings, he told Hoosier First, if taxpayers consent to paying for them through a referendum. You can disagree with where that leaves the West Vigo plan, but asking the people before spending their money is an old and honorable principle.

When asked about drug enforcement, he declined to share tactics. I respect that. A sheriff shouldn't announce his plans to the dealers he wants to catch.

He is also running without donors. Ellis has pledged to take no campaign donations. He told Hoosier First he is paying for the campaign himself. "I'll probably be in for about 25,000," he said. He added that Top Guns, which he owns outright, has given in-kind help, such as his shop's editor cutting campaign videos. "In the effort of being transparent," he said, "I did put it down as well." A sheriff who owes no donors owes only the voters.

The sheriff's race is the closest most of us will ever come to choosing who carries a badge in our name. That is a remarkable trust for a free people to hold, and Vigo County is using it: in-person early voting is running 13% ahead of the last midterm.

Early voting ends at noon on Monday, Nov. 2. Polls are open 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3. Bring a photo ID.

My father and his fathers before him believed that a community is held together by people who love their neighbors, keep their word, and see every neighbor as a child of God worth protecting. I believe that too, and I believe Steve Ellis will serve that way. Whomever you choose, choose. The ballot belongs to you, and so does the county.

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Sources

Written by a Hoosier First contributor and reviewed by our editors before publishing, under our editorial standards.

Filed underU.S. House 8 Vigo County