David Shelton, the Knox County Clerk and Chairman of the Knox County Republican Party, is running for the Republican nomination for Indiana Secretary of State as a conservative reformer. His campaign website promises to “re-establish the office as a nonpartisan institution.” He talks about integrity and professionalism and putting public service ahead of self-interest.
His wife has spent nearly a decade selling adult products out of a branded party bus. And Shelton helped build it.
Rachel Shelton has operated a Pure Romance distributorship since at least December 2013, when she announced the venture on her Facebook business page, “Ladies Night Guru / PR by Rachel Shelton.” Pure Romance is a multi-level marketing company that sells intimate products, lingerie, and what the company describes as “relationship enhancers” through home parties and personal websites. A New York Times profile from 2012 described the company as operating on “the Tupperware sales model” for adult bedroom products. The company’s own website leaves little ambiguity about what those products are.
Rachel won multiple corporate sales awards from Pure Romance CEO Chris Cicchinelli, including recognition as the No. 1 “Activations Director” in her division. In one post, she disclosed $604 profit from a single four-hour party, and actively recruited new consultants.
She also outfitted a bus. A converted black shuttle with pink Pure Romance branding, purple LED interior lighting, zebra-print upholstery, product shelves stocked with merchandise, and a clothing rack hung with lingerie. She parked it at 1237 Washington Ave. in Vincennes for public shopping events.
That address was also the location of David Shelton’s private investigation firm, Illiana Investigations.
David was not on the sideline. In September 2015, Rachel posted a photo of David, shirtless, hand-painting a “Pure Romance by Rachel Shelton” sign for the bus, captioning it: “Still slaving away on the finishing touches for the bus!!” Days later, she posted a photo of David standing next to the finished vehicle, praising her husband “Dave” for rushing to fix a blown tire, driving the bus to a party, and waiting outside two hours to follow her home. By his wife’s own public account, the man now asking to be Indiana’s chief election officer served as mechanic, driver, and sign painter for a mobile sex toy shop.
Shelton disclosed his wife’s business on his Calendar Year 2021 financial disclosure statement filed with the Indiana Inspector General.
Under “Name of Spouse’s Business”: “Pure Romance by Rachel Shelton.”
Under “Nature of Spouse’s Business”: “direct sales.”
As of March 2025, Rachel was listed as an active distributor on PureRomance.com.
So here is what roughly 1,700 Republican convention delegates should know before they vote on June 20, 2026.
In 2020, Shelton’s investigation firm and his wife’s Pure Romance business both showed up in the same batch of applicants for state-funded COVID-19 relief grants administered by the Knox County Commissioners. This begs the question: why did the Shelton’s think it was appropriate to apply for a tax payer funded COVID-19 relief grant to subsidize a sex toy business?
The Pure Romance CEO whose name appears on Rachel’s sales awards, Cicchinelli, donated $2 million to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital for transgender patient care in 2018. The company’s website urges customers to oppose “anti-trans or discriminatory legislation.” That is the brand painted on the side of the Shelton family bus.
Shelton is challenging incumbent Secretary of State Diego Morales for the Republican nomination at the June convention. Shelton has never, so far as public reporting indicates, been asked about any of this. The contradiction between the conservative brand he is selling and the business his household operated is documented on his own financial disclosure and his wife’s public Facebook page.
The public has already noticed. A parody account on X called “Shelton Sex Bus” uses the photo of David standing next to the Pure Romance bus as its profile image. The bio reads: “I’m driving to be your next Secretary of Sex. The bus is stocked. Let’s roll.”
That exists today, before a single dollar of general election money has been spent. Delegates should ask themselves what a Democratic campaign does with this material in October, and whether Republicans want to find out.
In politics, things like this do not stay parked.
Logan Foster
Logan Foster founded Redress South Bend and reports on local government and public records in South Bend and St. Joseph County. He is 31 years old and is majoring in finance. He is a Cleveland sports fan and a longtime season ticket holder of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
