Indiana Rep. Jim Banks Begins 2024 Senate Run, Highlighting Record as ‘Conservative Fighter’

Republican Rep. Jim Banks says “Indiana deserves a conservative senator” and emphasizes that he “was the leading conservative voice in the House of Representatives.”

Banks, a former state senator and Afghanistan War veteran who is representing a county in northeast Indiana in his fourth term, formally announced his candidacy for the 2024 Senate on Tuesday to succeed GOP Senator Mike Brown, who announced last month, that he is running for Governor of Hoosier State rather than seeking re-election.

Banks, in an interview with Fox News ahead of his announcement, said he intends to “go to the Senate and be the kind of conservative fighter that the Hoosiers expect from their senator.”

“I am 100% pro life, pro family, pro military, pro veterans, focused on the issues that voters care most about today, which is holding the Biden administration accountable and rebuilding America while fighting for our conservative values. putting America first, and that’s what I want to do in the Senate,” he said.

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Banks launched his Senate campaign with a statement and video and announced it live on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends” nationwide interview. He says he will travel across the state to meet with friends and supporters and speak to local media in the coming days.

He’s showing two big endorsements as he jumps into the Senate race: Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, a rising star in the Republican Party, and Rep. Larry Buckshon, who represents Indiana’s 8th congressional district in the state’s southwest corner.

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Banks, who has spent the past two years chairing the Republican Research Committee, an influential group of conservative House lawmakers, said: “I feel called to step up and run for the Senate because we need new, fresh conservative leadership in the United States Senate. This is what Indiana expects. This is what Indiana deserves – a conservative fighter in the Senate.”

“The United States Senate is the place where I can do even more for the conservative values ​​that excite me and Indiana voters,” he said.

Banks said the rising national debt, the threat from China and Buddhism are “the three biggest challenges facing our country today.”

Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana speaks at the Allen County GOP Dinner in Fort Wayne, Indiana, October 12, 2022.
(Rep. Jim Banks campaign)

Claiming that China is a threat to “our American way of life,” Banks said he “was the leading voice in the House of Representatives holding China accountable for stealing our jobs and giving us COVID, and the Senate represents an even greater platform to do more.” to fight the Chinese threat and hold China accountable.”

He called Wakeism “a cancer in America, and if we allow Wakeism to continue to take over our institutions, our schools, our military, our government, corporations, it will be death for all of America.” [this] country. I led the fight in the House of Representatives, and the Senate is an even bigger platform to fight against critical race theory, anti-Americanism and revival.”

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And said “omnibus [bill] what the Senate passed was frankly a key factor in my decision” to run for the Senate because it was “an indication that we need fiscal conservatives in the Senate who will resist big spending bills rather than go along with them. “

The huge bipartisan spending bill that prevented a government shutdown was backed by longtime GOP Senate leader Senator Mitch McConnell.

Asked if he would support McConnell, Banks said: “I think we need new conservative voices and leaders in the Senate. That’s why I’m running. there are many other examples of Republican Senators in the U.S. Senate agreeing with Democrats and accepting Biden’s radical agenda. And I want to go there and fight back.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
(Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images/File)

Indiana was once a general election battleground, but has gone all red over the past decade, and the open race for Senate seats could get crowded. Although Banks is the first major GOP candidate to enter the race, he is likely to face competition for the Republican Senate nomination.

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Supporters of Republican Mitch Daniels say the two-term former governor, who was known as a fiscal conservative during his time in Indiana, is seriously considering the Senate proposal. Last week, the Growth Club, a well-known free-market advocacy group that runs in the GOP primary, launched a publicity charge that a “moderate Mitch” was “wrong” for the Senate. The small promotional purchase was a sign that Daniels could face opposition from the right if he put forward the Senate proposal.

Others considering the proposal include Republican Victoria Spartz, who represents a central district that includes parts of Indianapolis and its suburbs.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, California, left, and Rep. Jim Banks, Indiana, hold a press conference on Capitol Hill, Washington, June 9, 2022.
(Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Banks, who narrowly lost to Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota in November, the chairman of the Congressional Republican National Committee for the past two cycles, in the race for the majority whip in the House of Representatives, who is the No. 3 leader in the new Republican majority in the House, is a long time was an ally and strong supporter of former President Donald Trump.

The former president, who announced his third White House proposal in November, remains one of the most popular and influential politicians in the Republican Party.

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“I am a big fan of President Trump and what he has done for our country, what he has done for the Republican Party. He is still very popular in the state of Indiana and of course I would like to have the support of President Trump because this is a significant show of support from a man who fought hard to put America first and who I fought against. together when he was president,” Banks said.

The congressman said he “has been a leader in the fight to secure our borders and America First foreign policy, America First economic policy, to put American workers first, and our immigration policy, trade policy. President Trump knows this, and I would be very happy to support him.”