Indiana

What to know about the candidates and issues in Indiana's open U.S. Senate race

Published

1 year ago

September 17, 2024

What to know about the candidates and issues in Indiana's open U.S. Senate race

Indiana’s 2024 elections feature a rare open U.S. Senate seat, as it is being vacated by Republican Mike Braun to run for governor.

The competition in the race up until this point has been minimal, with only a contested Democratic primary earlier this year. Here’s what you need to know about the candidates and some of the campaign issues in this race.

Jim Banks

Jim Banks, currently the congressman for Indiana’s 3rd District, was uncontested in the Republican primary to become the Hoosier State’s next U.S. senator.

The Columbia City congressman launched his campaign in January 2023 and gained major endorsements from Republicans inside and outside of the state. Banks is a military veteran and served in the Indiana Senate prior to his election to Congress. Here are some of the key issues for his campaign:

Rep. Jim Banks speaks in Indianapolis on Monday, Nov. 6, 2023, during a town hall-style meeting to discuss PublicSquare, which dubs itself as an “anti-woke” shopping app. Rep. Jim Banks is seeking a U.S. Senate seat during next year's elections. — Rep. Jim Banks speaks in Indianapolis on Monday, Nov. 6, 2023, during a town hall-style meeting to discuss PublicSquare, which dubs itself as an “anti-woke” shopping app. Rep. Jim Banks is seeking a U.S. Senate seat during next year’s elections.

Immigration: Banks said he has and will advocate for a secure border and reinstating Trump administration policies, such as requiring migrants to remain in Mexico before their asylum claims are heard in the U.S.

“Pro-life” policies: The congressman’s campaign site states that he will advocate for anti-abortion policies, including allowing no federal tax dollars to go to Planned Parenthood and voting for judges that “respect the Constitution.”

Veterans: Banks, a veteran, said he wants to continue to make sure veterans receive care and benefits they are entitled to.

Economy: Per his campaign site, Banks said he would support “pro-growth policies” like Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and efforts to fill the “skills gap” between training and available jobs. The congressman said he also would seek to reduce the national debt.

Education: Banks opposes critical race theory and “liberal propaganda” being taught in schools. He also seeks to “protect girls’ sports,” messaging conservatives use to object to transgender children participating in sports.

National security: Banks said he wants to give service members the ability to defend the country from outside threats, but in a financially responsible way. Banks’ website also states that the U.S. has a “moral obligation to protect Israel.”

Valerie McCray

McCray, a clinical psychologist from Indianapolis, won the May primary to become the Democratic nominee in the U.S. Senate race. She previously ran for president during the 2020 election cycle. The issues in her platform include the following:

Foreign policy: McCray said the country should follow foreign policy that values “human life.” Her website states this policy should include an “immediate ceasefire” in the Israel-Hamas war and a return to a two-state solution.

Economy and housing: McCray’s website says she would support less burdensome taxes on middle-class families. She also supports unions and efforts for fair wages. She views affordable housing as a right and said she would support efforts to make it easier for Hoosiers to find housing they can afford.

Immigration: McCray would advocate for “comprehensive immigration reform,” which would include expedited work permits, more efficient asylum and increasing funding for federal efforts such as asylum judges and border patrol. She said she would support the president shutting down the border if the immigration system becomes overwhelmed.

Andrew Horning

Horning is the Libertarian candidate for Indiana’s 2024 U.S. Senate race. The Freedom, Indiana, resident has run for various offices over the last 30 years, including governor, U.S. House and U.S. Senate. Horning is retired and previously worked for medical technology companies, according to his campaign website.

Horning writes on his website that he advocates for constitutional design, which he said means that the government should do business based on the “clear written law.” He believes some of the country’s issues that need to be addressed include:

Two-party political system: Horning argues the U.S.’s two major political parties are “anti-constitutional,” “suppress competition” and have contributed to divisiveness throughout the country.

Foreign policy: Horning writes that the U.S. should no longer fund and train its foreign and domestic enemies and focus on “dangers” within the country’s own borders, such as immigration and threats he describes from the Chinese Communist Party.

Immigration: The Libertarian said he supports efforts to fix the “border crisis,” including addressing the cost of “legal” labor so employers don’t seek “illegal” workers at a lower cost. He also suggests making immigration laws more consistent to stop migrants and employers from remaining quiet and breaking the law. Finally, Horning writes that the U.S. should stop foreign involvement that make other countries “practically uninhabitable” and force those citizens to seek new places to live.

Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Brittany Carloni at brittany.carloni@indystar.com or 317-779-4468. Follow her on Twitter/X @CarloniBrittany.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana’s U.S. Senate race is open. Here are the candidates and issues

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Indiana

Indiana University reverses course, allows student newspaper to resume print

Published

10 hours ago

October 31, 2025

Press Room

Indiana University reverses course, allows student newspaper to resume print

In a reversal, Indiana University Bloomington Chancellor David Reingold will allow the Indiana Daily Student to resume print editions this semester.

In a letter to the IDS editors, Reingold said he will allow the paper to use its budget through the end of the fiscal year as the editors see fit. He also called for a “reset” with the paper and asked to “affirm what unites us.”

IDS co-editors-in-chief Andrew Miller and Mia Hilkowitz described it as a win for student media but cautioned the campus community against considering the matter resolved.

“We do want to make sure that we ourselves and our community and our faculty and our alumni and everybody keep the administration here to their word,” Miller said to WFIU/WTIU News. “Thus far, it’s been kind of hard to trust their word, quite honestly.”

“The last time IU had a committee to look at student media, they didn’t fully follow their recommendations,” Hilkowitz said, referring to a recently announced task force on press freedom and the existing student media plan.

“We would want more confirmation that that’s going to be binding. Also, I’m going to stand by the fact that I think our staff and the faculty and students of the media school deserve an apology.”

The university’s decision to end print editions coincided with it firing the director of student media Jim Rodenbush, who refused to remove news from a planned Homecoming edition at the university’s direction.

Earlier Thursday,Rodenbush filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Indiana claiming IU violated his First Amendment rights.

Since then, the perception that IU censored its student paper has cost the school at least $1 million in donations and provoked the ire of faculty.

Reingold said the perception that he attempted to censor editorial content was “not grounded in fact.”

“Indiana University has never attempted to censor editorial content, period,” he wrote. “The IDS is, and remains, editorially independent.”

He did not address the directive given to Rodenbush to remove news from the Homecoming print issue.

The chancellor admitted the “campus has not handled recent matters as well as we should have. Communication was uneven and timing imperfect.”

He stopped short of an apology, saying that the decision to end print editions was a long-term financial plan to staunch the paper’s nearly $300,000 annual deficit.

The student media plan calls for limiting print to a few special editions per semester, but it also calls for preserving the IDS print product as a “critical learning experience for student media workers.”

Ethan Sandweiss is a multimedia journalist for WFIU and WTIU.

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Indiana

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to speak in NW Indiana Thursday

Published

1 day ago

October 30, 2025

Press Room

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to speak in NW Indiana Thursday

CHICAGO (WLS) — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem will visit northwest Indiana Thursday.

She’s expected to bring updates on the immigration enforcement that’s happening across the area.

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Secretary Kristi Noem will give an update on recent immigration enforcement deemed “Operation Midway Blitz,” which Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino has called “wildly successful” in an interview with ABC News earlier this week.

She will be joined by Indiana governor Mike Braun in Gary along with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, among others.

Indiana

Indiana BMV reports another text-related scam impacting Hoosiers

Published

2 days ago

October 29, 2025

Press Room

Indiana BMV reports another text-related scam impacting Hoosiers

INDIANAPOLIS — Officials with the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles are warning Indiana residents of a new scam that is being sent to Hoosiers via text.

According to a news release from the Indiana BMV, the scam asks the user for overdue payments over text, including traffic violations or unpaid tolls. The text reportedly “strongly” mimics the BMV’s mobile website and improperly cites Indiana code.

Officials said the messages should be considered fraudulent. The BMV is urging people who receive the message to delete it immediately and not click on any links.

This is not the first time that the Indiana BMV has been the subject of scam texts. According to previous reports, a scam was sent out to some Indiana residents from the “Indiana Department of Vehicles” regarding outstanding traffic tickets in early June.

“We want to make it clear that these messages are not from the Indiana BMV,” the release said. “The BMV does not send SMS text messages about outstanding penalties. In fact, the fees outlined in the messages are not ones that the agency actually collects.”

For a list of known BMV-related scams, click here.

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