Republican Sen. Mike Braun: Sen. Mike Braun (R-Indiana) filed paperwork to run for governor of Indiana on Wednesday morning, leaving his Senate seat vacant in 2024.
The paperwork was filed on Wednesday morning, according to a filing from the Indiana Secretary of State’s office, putting to rest speculation over whether Braun would run for a second term in the Senate or to replace term-limited Governor Eric Holcomb.
“Mike Braun has filed his paperwork to run for governor and will be making an official announcement of his candidacy very soon,” Josh Kelley, chief of staff and senior political advisor to Braun, said in a statement. Politico was the first news source to say that Braun had filed paperwork to run for office.
This decision comes a few weeks after Braun and a few other Republicans voted for Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), the chair of the Senate GOP campaign arm during the last midterm elections, to be their leader in the upper chamber. However, that vote failed and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was relected.
Eric Doden, a former aide to Gov. Mike Pence, has already said he will run for governor, and Reps. Victoria Spartz and Jim Banks, both Indiana House Republicans, are reportedly thinking about running for the Senate.
“Congressman Banks is seriously thinking about running for U.S. Senate, and he has a good chance of winning both the primary and general election in Indiana. A Banks spokesperson said in a statement, “He will spend the holidays talking with his wife, family, and friends from around the state about how he can best serve Indiana.”
Given that more Democrats are up for reelection in 2024 than Republicans, and that Indiana is a red state, it is unlikely that an open Senate seat in Indiana will change the Senate math for Republicans.
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