Republican Indiana Senator Mike Braun announced he is running for governor of Indiana in 2024.
Braun, who was elected to the Senate in 2018, filed campaign finance paperwork to run for the governorship on Tuesday, and made his candidacy public on Wednesday morning. Braun’s gubernatorial run leaves his Senate seat open, and names are already being floated for the seat, including Republican Congressman Jim Banks.
“Mike Braun has filed his paperwork to run for governor and will be making an official announcement of his candidacy very soon,” Braun’s senior political adviser and chief of staff told Politico Wednesday. Braun himself also confirmed the news to the outlet. “That filing did occur yesterday,” he told Politico. “We’ll talk to you down the road.” Braun’s candidate committee filing is publicly available on the Indiana Secretary of State’s website.
Braun is seeking to replace incumbent governor Eric Holcomb, who is prevented from running for a third term. There are no term limits per se under Indiana state law, but the state constitution prohibits him from holding office for more than eight years out of any 12-year period. Holcomb could run for another term, but he would have to wait at least four years.
Braun will likely face a hotly-contested primary. Eric Doden, a businessman who served as president of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation under former Governor Mike Pence, announced he was running for the governor’s mansion in June of this year, and current Lieutenant Governor Suzanne Crouch is expected to mount a run as well, Politico reported.
Braun was elected to the Senate in 2018; he fought in a tough primary against Reps. Todd Rokita and Luke Messer, then upset incumbent Democrat Joe Donnelly in a race that helped Republicans hold the Senate. He previously served in the Indiana House of Representatives. Before that, he was CEO of an auto parts distribution business.
Names already being floated to replace Braun in the Senate in 2024, include Republican Reps. Jim Banks and Victoria Spartz. A spokesman for Banks told the Daily Caller Wednesday that he is mulling a run for Senate. “Rep. Banks’ conservative record and relationships put him in an excellent position to win a statewide race in Indiana,” the spokesman said. “Hoosiers deserve principled representatives like Senator Braun who will fight for their values in Washington.”
“Rep. Banks is strongly considering running if Senator Braun doesn’t seek a second term and over the upcoming holiday will talk to his family and friends around the state about how he can best serve Indiana,” he added.
Banks has served in Congress since 2017, and was just elected to a third term in Congress in the 2022 midterm elections. He currently serves as chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, and mounted an unsuccessful bid to become House GOP whip in the next Congress.
Spartz, meanwhile, was elected in 2020, and was also re-elected to Congress earlier this month. An immigrant from Ukraine who came to the U.S. in 2000, Spartz’s profile has been raised in recent months due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.