On January 17, 2023, Banks announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Mike Braun in 2024.[1] After winning the Republican nomination unopposed, he defeated Democratic nominee Valerie McCray in the general election.[2]
From 2008 to 2010, Banks served on the Whitley CountyCouncil from the at-large district.[6] He won the primary after defeating incumbent County Councilman Scott Darley.[7] He was succeeded by Paula Reimers on the County Council.[8] Banks also chaired the Whitley County Republican Party from 2007 to 2011.[9] He was succeeded by Matt Boyd as chair.[10] With assistance from the American Legislative Exchange Council, he has supported right-to-work legislation in Indiana.[11] Banks addressed the 2014 Conservative Political Action Conference in 2014 after he was selected as one of their Top 10 Conservatives Under 40.[12]
Banks was first elected to serve in the state senate for the 17th district in 2010, and upon military deployment to Afghanistan, he took a leave of absence from the state senate in September 2014.[13] Invoking an Indiana state law that allows state and local officeholders to take leaves of absence during active duty military service, Banks was temporarily replaced by his wife, Amanda Banks, who held the office for the senate's 2015 legislative session.[14][15] He returned to Indiana from overseas duty on April 14, 2015,[16] and resumed his duties as state senator on May 8.[17]
On May 12, 2015, Banks announced his candidacy for Congress. The incumbent, Marlin Stutzman, announced he would not run for reelection and would instead campaign for the Republican nomination to succeed retiring Indiana Senator Dan Coats.[18] The Club for Growth endorsed Banks.[19]
Banks won the primary election, separating himself from five other like-minded conservative opponents, with 34% of the vote. Spending in the campaign exceeded $2 million as Banks raised $850,000 before the primary and the candidate who finished in second place, businessman Kip Tom, raised $950,000, including $150,000 he loaned from his personal funds.[20]
Banks ran for reelection; he was unopposed in the Republican primary and defeated Democratic nominee Courtney Tritch in the general election[21] with 64.7% of the vote.
Banks ran for a third term and defeated physician Chris Magiera[22] in the Republican primary.[23] He then defeated Democratic nominee Chip Coldiron in the general election[24] with 67.8% of the vote.[25]
Tenure
Banks speaking at CPAC 2014.Banks with Mike Pence in 2018
In January 2020, Banks faced backlash after saying that remarks by Representative Ilhan Omar about her experiences with post-traumatic stress disorder were "offensive to our nation’s veterans." As a child, Omar fled civil war in Somalia and spent four years in a Kenyan refugee camp.[27]
After the January 6, 2021, United States Capitol attack, Banks expressed support for a bipartisan commission to investigate the riot. He later changed his mind.[32] On July 21, 2021, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi vetoed Kevin McCarthy's assigning of Banks and Jim Jordan to the January 6 Select Committee on the grounds that both had amplified Trump's false claims of fraud.[33] Banks subsequently claimed that Pelosi was at fault for the January 6 insurrection and that she was using the commission to cover up her role.[34]
In October 2021, Representative Liz Cheney, vice chair of the January 6 Select Committee, revealed that Banks had been sending letters to federal agencies, claiming to be the ranking member of that committee, even though he had been rejected from it.[37] In one September 2021 letter, Banks requested that the Department of the Interior provide him with information it had sent the committee. He also wrote, "Pelosi refused to allow me to fulfill my duties as Ranking Member", and signed the letter as "Ranking Member", which he was not.[38][39]
Also in October 2021, when Rachel Levine, who is transgender, became an admiral in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, Banks commented in his official Twitter account: "The title of first female four-star officer gets taken by a man." Twitter, which at the time prohibited "targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals", suspended his official account in response.[41]
Shortly after Republicans retook control of the House of Representatives in the 2022 midterm elections, Banks ran for the position of Majority Whip, the third highest ranking position in the Republican Caucus. He narrowly lost to Minnesota representative Tom Emmer, by a margin of just 115-106.[42][43]
After the Biden administration announced a plan to forgive $10,000 in federal student debt along with other provisions, Banks tweeted his opposition, writing, "Student loan forgiveness undermines one of our military’s greatest recruitment tools at a time of dangerously low enlistments."[49][50]
Banks has criticized Joe Biden’s immigration policy and called on him to reinstate Trump-era policies. Banks urged Biden to mention Laken Riley, a college student at The University of Georgia who had been killed by an illegal immigrant, in his State of the Union address.[54]
Economy
In December 2017, Banks voted for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.[55] Upon the passing of the bill, Banks said it was "a good day for the future of the American dream."[56]
In October 2016, Banks said, "I believe that climate change in this country is largely leftist propaganda to change the way Americans live and create more government obstruction and intrusion in our lives."[60][61]
Abortion
Banks opposes abortion. He long-opposed the Roe v. Wade decision, and praised the decision in Dobbs that overturned it.[62][63][64] The National Right to Life Committee, an organization dedicated to opposing abortion, has given him a 100% lifetime rating.[65] In 2023, he voted in favor of the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.[65] Banks opposes federal funding of abortions, as well as Planned Parenthood.[51]
LGBT rights
Banks opposes same-sex marriage.[66][67] In 2022, he voted against the Respect for Marriage Act, which repealed the Defense of Marriage Act and required the federal government, the states, and all territories to recognize the validity of same-sex marriages in the United States.[68]
In 2022, Banks was one of 39 Republicans to vote for the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2022, an antitrust package that would crack down on corporations for anti-competitive behavior.[70][71]
Foreign Policy
On 27 January 2023, Banks reintroduced MAHSA Act (H.R. 589) which sanctions the leaders of the regime in Iran for terrorism activities and human rights violations after the nationwide uprising in Iran from the Mahsa Amini protests.
On January 17, 2023, Banks announced his candidacy for the United States Senate in 2024 in a tweet.[1] He has received the endorsement of former President Donald Trump, and went on to win the general election.[78]
Personal life
Banks is Protestant and attends Trinity Evangelical Presbyterian Church.[79]
Electoral history
Indiana's 3rd Congressional District Election (2016)
^"20 Under 40: 2019". chicagotribune.com. THE COLLEGE: Indiana University Bloomington. June 4, 2019. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
^"Biography". banks.house.gov. Archived from the original on December 19, 2021. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
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