With Baron Hill’s exit, Democrat Evan Bayh officially announced today he is seeking his old Senate seat.
“With the challenges facing Indiana and our country, I can no longer sit on the sidelines and watch as partisan bickering grinds Washington to a halt. Hoosier families deserve more and I’ve decided to run to take their cause to the U.S. Senate,” Bayh said in a statement.
Bayh is a two-term senator and two-term governor who is seeking to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Dan Coats.
Bayh’s entrance will reportedly make the race more competitive due to nearly $10 million in campaign money.
However, Bayh will have to show he’s not out-of-touch with the current state of affairs after choosing to forego re-election in 2010 because he said the Senate had become too “partisan and dysfunctional.”
Republicans have already attacked Bayh for the work he’s done since leaving the Senate, which includes lobbying positions and stints at a private equity firm.
Indiana Republican Party Chairman Jeff Cardwell made the following statement after the breaking news of Evan Bayh joining the Indiana Senate race:
“The Indiana Democrats are so desperate to put together a ‘winning’ ticket for November that they placed another re-tread, out-of-touch, lobbyist on the ballot. Evan Bayh is not the solution to the troubles and out of control problems in Washington, D.C. He states that the reason for joining the race is that the political process is too partisan- let’s not forget that that is the same reason he gave for leaving the Senate in 2010.
“We need a Senator that will fight every day for Hoosiers in Washington, that will keep the ideals and concerns of Hoosiers at the center of his campaign, and won’t leave when the job becomes too hard. We have all of that and more in Todd Young.”
