Amid quiet U.S. Senate race, Indiana candidates criticize ‘invisible’ GOP frontrunner Banks
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Two weeks out from Election Day—and just days ahead of a scheduled debate—two of Indiana’s U.S. Senate hopefuls say they’ve heard nothing from sitting Republican Congressman Jim Banks, the frontrunner in the race.
Democrat Dr. Valerie McCray and Libertarian Andrew Horning agreed to a debate hosted by the Indiana Debate Commission, which is set to take place on Tuesday, Oct. 29. The debate commission said the two agreed to debate options in early July. Banks has not indicated a willingness to join, however.
Both McCray and Horning told the Indiana Capital Chronicle they’ve never met their GOP competitor before, and they don’t expect to before the November election.
“I’m a little livid about the fact that Jim Banks has refused to debate,” McCray said. “I’m not sure whether it’s arrogance or fear that’s motivating this, but it’s disrespectful, given that this is the first time a woman has been on the ballot and the first time a senatorial candidate has refused to debate. And if nothing else, it’s disrespectful to the Indiana voters, and especially to women who have not had the space to be heard.”
Banks represents the state’s 3rd Congressional District, centered around Fort Wayne—a seat he has held since 2017. He did not respond to numerous Capital Chronicle requests for comment.
The trio are running to fill the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Mike Braun, who is vying for the Indiana governorship.
Banks runs a quiet campaign
Banks, the GOP favorite, has already spent nearly eight years in Congress, has a multimillion-dollar campaign war chest and an endorsement from former President Donald Trump.
He was previously a member of the Indiana state Senate from 2010 to 2016 and is now part of the slim U.S. Republican House majority. He previously campaigned to be the House Majority Whip, narrowly losing on a 115-106 vote.
In Congress, Banks has focused on veterans issues and holding China accountable. He served in Afghanistan for parts of 2014 and 2015 while serving in the state senate.
His congressional duties most recently took him to Washington D.C. for a three-week session in September before going on break until Election Day in November. Another “lame duck” session will occur following the election before a new Congress convenes in January.
Banks was ultimately unopposed on the ballot in the May primary after Seymour egg farmer John Rust was removed due to Indiana’s two-primary rule.
In the months leading up to the Indiana Election Commission’s decision to keep Rust off the ticket, Banks repeatedly attacked underdog Rust with statements and campaign ads.
After securing the nomination, Banks has largely gone quiet aside from his usual social media posts.
When previously asked whether he would participate in the Senate debate, Banks’ campaign spokesperson said in a statement that the congressman is instead, “focused on representing northeast Indiana in Congress, spending time with his family, and running a statewide campaign to be the next conservative U.S. Senator for Indiana.” The candidate’s team said he would “entertain debate options as we get closer to Election Day,” though.
Top-of-list issues for Banks include border security, veteran support, national defense and “opposing wokeness” in schools.
His campaign website cites support for numerous Trump administration priorities and points to “pro-growth” economic policies—like tax cuts—as well as decreased government spending and “conservative” election integrity reforms like “voter ID, fair poll watching, and swift counting of ballots.”
McCray criticizes Banks, tries to connect with undecided voters
McCray, a clinical psychologist, is the first Black woman to become a nominee for the U.S. Senate in Indiana.
The Democrat first launched a Senate campaign two years ago. She didn’t get enough voter signatures to make it on the ballot, however.
Her current campaign priorities largely center around reinstating abortion rights, tackling ongoing immigration issues and finding solutions to the “Israeli-Palestine issue.”
“My opponent tends to go off on the on these weird tangents about anti-woke policies—things that just have nothing to do with the day-to-day issues of Indiana Hoosiers. He’s on these fringe, sanctimonious agendas that have nothing to do with the price of eggs or the price of anything,” McCray said.
“We have to focus on getting jobs—the good paying jobs—to Indiana,” she continued. “We have to make sure that we center our conversations and our policies around the everyday Hoosiers, around the middle class, around the working people — the people that have to deal with these policies on an everyday basis. Republicans, and Banks, seem to be centered on the ultra-rich, those people that need help the least, and making the rich even richer.”
McCray champions mental and reproductive healthcare, too, emphasizing that her work in the field, as well as her “personal and up close experiences as a female,” make her best suited to tackle policy solutions on those topics.
“First and foremost, women want the respect of being trusted to make their own medical decisions,” she said.
With early voting already underway, McCray said her grassroots team is specifically trying to engage undecided Black males, and “any undecided people across the board.”
“We want to make sure their voices are heard, and actually want to hear them out, because I think the more that they are able to talk, they can see the flaws in the law,” McCray said.
Without “big dollars” to support the campaign, the Democrat’s team is dependent on a “deep pool” of volunteers, she added. That’s made it challenging at times to earn recognition with voters, “but that’s OK—because we’re not a typical campaign.”
“Our brand is about getting out among the people, not necessarily the big commercials and the big corporate money behind us,” McCray said. “We’ve never measured ourselves by the dollars. We’ve measured ourselves by the contacts and the relationships we have with the people of Indiana. It’s a different measuring stick. I have been in awe of the enthusiasm, and I think that has been like snowballing.”
Horning, frustrated, pushes forward with campaign
Horning was selected as the Libertarian party’s candidate during its annual convention in March.
He’s run for a myriad of offices, including several other statewide positions. Professionally he works in the tech field, helping to develop and implement medical technology. He largely focuses on restraining government, as well as national debt, foreign relations and immigration.
In an interview with the Capital Chronicle, Horning emphasized that “this has been the most unusual campaign in my 30 years of doing this.”
“I think people are disgusted and kind of checking out,” he continued, noting that numerous candidate forums he has attended during the 2024 election cycle have been mostly unattended by voters. “I used to get more emails and calls from people—not really getting that now.”
Horning pointed to “extremely high tribal passions” in Indiana and across the country resulting from the presidential race. After “decades of lesser evil choices, things are just getting more evil all the time,” he said, adding that, “I don’t see a good outcome if people don’t wake up and do something different.”
The Libertarian expressed concern that Hoosier voters are hyper-focused on national politics and tuning out Indiana’s U.S. Senate race. He said many are “stuck” thinking about politics “as just a two-party system,” even though many recognize “how divisive and divided it has made us.”
Horning said, too, that the country is at a “critical” moment—“on the verge of WWW III and socioeconomic collapse”—which he said should increase urgency for voters.
“We’re still comfortable enough that we’re not shaken out of our torpor,” Horning said. “I really don’t talk to anybody who doesn’t agree with with most of what I’m talking about. … But our government doesn’t lead us. It’s a reflection of us. Our government is just the avatar of our sins. And if we’re a weak, foolish people, our government is going to be awful.”
Without Banks at next week’s debate, Horning said he “(doesn’t) expect there to be much in the way of fireworks.”
“Frankly, Banks has got so much money that he could just hide until his victory speech on Election Day, and he’s been doing that,” Horning said. “He’s kind of made the race invisible by avoiding any controversy, avoiding any questions, avoiding any case where it’s, ‘The Republicans said this, the Democrats said that.’ And of course, as the Libertarian, I’m always at the bottom of a list of everything.”
“I’m sure Banks thinks he’s got it in the bag,” Horning added. “I don’t like it from a strategic point of view. If you don’t show up to the job interview, you shouldn’t get the job. If voters don’t care and they vote for him anyway, then he’s probably making the smart move to avoid any public entanglements. But it is frustrating.”
The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, not-for-profit news organization that covers state government, policy and elections.