On January 17, 2023, Banks announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Mike Braun in 2024.[1] After winning the Republican nomination unopposed, he defeated Democratic nominee Valerie McCray in the general election.[2]
In 2010, Banks was elected to represent the 17th district in the State Senate. 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 replaced by his wife, Amanda Banks, during the 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 run for the Republican nomination to succeed retiring Indiana senator Dan Coats.[18] The Club for Growth endorsed Banks.[19]
Banks defeated five opponents in the primary 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 second, businessman Kip Tom, raised $950,000, including $150,000 he loaned from his personal funds.[20]
Banks was reelected; 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 was elected to a third term, defeating physician Chris Magiera[22] in the Republican primary[23] and 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 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 committee's ranking member even though he had been rejected from it.[37] In one September 2021 letter, Banks requested that the Department of the Interior give him 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 wrote 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 Tom Emmer, 115-106.[42][43]
Banks is politically conservative, with some outlets labeling him far-right.
Student debt forgiveness
After the Biden administration announced a plan to forgive $10,000 in federal student debt and 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 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 bill's passage, 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 Roe v. Wade, and praised Dobbs, the 2022 decision that overturned it.[62][63][64] The National Right to Life Committee, an organization dedicated to opposing abortion, gave him a 100% lifetime rating.[65] In 2023, Banks voted for the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.[65] He opposes federal funding of abortions, as well as Planned Parenthood.[51]
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 January 27, 2023, Banks reintroduced the MAHSA Act (H.R. 589), which sanctions Iran's leaders for terrorism activities and human rights violations after the nationwide uprising from the Mahsa Amini protests.
In December 2024, Banks announced his intention to steer Republican policy toward a more pro-worker and pro-American-industry stance, as outlined in his memo "Working Families First". In this memo, Banks calls for a shift in party focus away from Wall Street and toward supporting the working and middle classes. His suggested policy changes include expanding access to apprenticeships and technical training and increasing opportunities through Pell Grants to prepare people for the workforce.[78][79]
Banks emphasizes the need for Republicans not to take America's working population for granted. He advocates a detailed strategy to incentivize domestic investment and enhance the U.S. industrial base, particularly in defense sectors.[79]
U.S. Senate
2024 United States Senate election
Banks with fellow incoming Republican senators meeting Sen. Mitch McConnell, November 2024
^"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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