Scoop: Rep. Victoria Spartz eyes Senate
Plus: Inside the latest Indianapolis mayoral machinations.
Rep. Victoria Spartz is telling fellow Republicans she plans to run for the Senate in 2024 if fellow Hoosier Sen. Mike Braun launches a gubernatorial bid, according to three Republicans familiar with her plans.
This is a developing story.
MAYORAL MACHINATIONS
BALLARD BACK? One of the most bandied-about rumors in Indianapolis political circles in recent weeks is that former Republican Mayor Greg Ballard is weighing a return to the Circle City to mount another run for mayor in 2023. I spoke with Ballard, who confirmed he is returning to the city later this year. As for whether he is running for mayor, he has talked with Marion County Republican Chairman Joe Elsener, but that conversation was a while ago. “We’ll see what happens when I get back,” Ballard told me. “If it winds up being nothing then it winds up being nothing and I'll just do my own thing.”
WHOLE HOGSETT: A person close to current Indianapolis Democratic Mayor Joe Hogsett’s political team tells IMPORTANTVILLE that the mayor has privately instructed close political allies to begin laying the groundwork for a reelection announcement later this year. Meanwhile, his potential Democratic primary challenger State Rep. Robin Shackleford1 has been noticed as AWOL at recent Democratic events, including the Marion County Democratic Party annual picnic, one of the larger gatherings of party activists each year. Shackleford did not respond to a request for comment. In other news, Hogsett plans to do a fundraiser for the Democratic statewide ticket:
IMPORTANTVILLE READS
“The Christian nationalist boot camp pushing anti-trans laws across America,” by Insider's Sarah Posner
Amanda Banks has been the Academy's director since 2019. At an online conference hosted by the Family Policy Alliance last October, she lauded Lundstrum's role in authoring the SAFE Act, calling it "groundbreaking" legislation that "we hope will be replicated in many states in the coming year." This July the organization awarded Lundstrum its Coburn Statesmen Award, named for the late, ultraconservative Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who was a frequent speaker at the Academy's training programs.
Banks has said that the Statesmen Academy trains roughly 30 legislators each year. "That is going to multiply into effective policies, God-honoring policies," she said in a promotional video. "If they're all pursuing those biblical values through the work that they do, I think ultimately God is going to be honored, and His will is going to be done on earth as it is in heaven." The Family Policy Alliance did not respond to interview requests about the Statesmen Academy.
Banks is the wife of the hard-right, pro-Trump Congressman from Indiana, Jim Banks, who previously served in the Indiana legislature and is an alumnus of the Statesmen Academy. Banks has also worked as a National Field Director with Focus on the Family. Amanda Banks' own legislative experience was serving in the Indiana statehouse for one year when her husband was deployed to Afghanistan in 2014, and working as a federal policy analyst for Focus on the Family.
An earlier version of this piece said Shackleford did not attend the Marion County Democratic Party picnic. Dyna Kristine, the Indiana Young Democrats Executive Director, said she was in attendance. She arrived after the elected official remarks.