Former Rep. Baron Hill, D-Ind., told a crowd at a Jefferson Jackson Dinner in Columbus, Ind., that he’ll run for the open Senate seat in the Hoosier State in 2016, becoming the first Democrat to enter the contest.
“I want to be your next senator,” Hill told the audience, according to the Republic, a local newspaper based in Columbus.
While Hill’s announcement makes him the first top-tier Democrat to enter the race to replaceretiring GOP Sen. Dan Coats, national Democrats have their eye on another potential candidate: former Sen. Evan Bayh.
Bayh’s 2010 retirement led to Coats’ return. He left the Senate, citing the partisan gridlock as the reason for his exit, with more than $10 million in a campaign account. Though many Democrats don’t expect Bayh to run, operatives from both parties say he’d enter the contest as the front-runner.
Democratic state Rep. Christina Hale is also mulling a bid.
Hill represented Indiana’s 9th District for a decade. He lost re-election in 2004, but won a comeback bid in 2006. In 2010, he was taken down in a GOP wave by now-Rep. Todd Young, who is among the Republicans considering a Senate bid himself.
Two other Republicans have announced bids for the seat. Rep. Marlin Stutzman entered the race over the weekend, while Coats’ former Chief of Staff Eric Holcomb entered the race soon after Coats’ retirement.
Indiana’s Senate race is rated a Republican Favored contest by the Rothenberg & Gonzales Political Report/Roll Call.
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