To say Vigo County Democrats are excited about the prospect of Evan Bayh running for U.S. Senate is a serious understatement. He would replace former U.S. Rep. Baron Hill, who announced Monday he was withdrawing as the Democratic Senate nominee.
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Multiple media sources were reporting Monday morning that former U.S. Sen. and Indiana Gov. Evan Bayh, who retired from the Senate in 2010, would announce later in the day that he would try to reclaim his old seat. “I will begin the process for the Democratic State Central Committee to fill the ballot vacancy in accordance with in state law”. Shortly after Hill’s email went out, former Senator Evan Bayh of IN announced he will run IN Hill’s place.
He believes the Senate race against Young “will be much tighter” with Bayh as the Democratic candidate. Evan Bayh to get into the race.
Hill said he’s dropping out because he doesn’t want to stand in the way of his party winning the open seat. He said there was too much polarization in the Senate; and he’s right in that account. One is money. Evan Bayh bring over $9M already in his war chest to this race, and Baron was struggling to be competitive financially. Bayh comes packaged with almost 10 million dollars in unspent campaign money left over from his previous Senate run, along with significantly higher name recognition. “That would have been good circumstances for the Democrats before”, she says, but with Bayh’s entry, “the circumstances for the Democrats are looking better and better”. Because of the way the Senate gives disproportionate power to small, rural states, which trend conservative ― Alaska and California, for instance, have the same level of representation ― Democrats, in order to control the chamber, need to hold on to seats in unlikely states such as Indiana. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Richard Lugar ran for re-election to a seventh term in 2012, but was defeated in the primary by Richard Mourdock.
Todd Young’s campaign manager, Trevor Foughty, immediately criticized the apparent switch and linked Bayh to the passage of the Affordable Care Act in a press release.
In a letter to supporters, Hill said “I have never run away from tough decisions or tough fights”. Please see our terms of service for more information.
Democrats and U.S. Rep. Marlin Stutzman challenged Young’s candidacy, contending he had not collected enough signatures of registered voters to qualify for the ballot.
In Indiana, Mr. Bayh is effectively the only Democrat who fits that profile. “This should have an impact on governor, Congress, and even some of the legislative races”.
Lanane said Bayh being on the November ballot will have an impact on state and county races. “Bayh presents a more formidable obstacle [to Republicans], although his post-Senate legal career is sure to be an opposition-research minefield for him, especially in an election defined by anger at big government and career politicians”, Politico observed.
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In addition to top-tier races in politically divided or Democratic-friendly states including Illinois, Wisconsin, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, Democrats have been promoting a second and third tier of Senate candidates in GOP-leaning states including Arkansas, Missouri, North Carolina and Iowa.
