Former Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) will announce a bid for Senate on Monday and replace the current Democratic nominee in the race, Baron Hill, CNN reported Monday morning, citing an unnamed source.
Hill, who already won the Democratic primary, announced Monday morning that he that he is dropping out of the race.
“While our campaign had been making great progress and building momentum all over Indiana, it is simply not enough to fight back against the slew of out-of-state, special interest and dark money that is certain to come our way between now and November,” Hill said in a statement.
“Democrats have a very real chance at winning this Senate seat, especially with a strong nominee who has the money, name identification and resources to win,” he continued. “I do not want to stand in the way of Democrats winning Indiana and the U.S. Senate. That would not be fair to my party or my state. And, the stakes are far too high in this election not to put my country above my own political ambitions.”
Once on the ballot, Bayh will run against Rep. Todd Young (R-IN) to fill an open seat left by Sen. Dan Coats (R-IN).
Bayh suddenly left the Senate race in 2010 after winning the nomination. When he decided to leave, the senator criticized Senate gridlock and inaction and called for significant reform and better relationships across the aisle in a New York Times editorial.
Democrats have been heavily recruiting Bayh to run for the seat, in part because he had $10 million in a campaign account when he retired, according to CNN. Bayh currently works for the lobbying firm McGuire Woods and serves on the board of several companies.
From the bio: Sen. Bayh is also a partner with McGuireWoods LLP and a senior advisor at Apollo Global Management in New York. Senator Bayh serves on the board of directors for Fifth Third Bank, Marathon Petroleum Corporation, Berry Plastics Corporation, RLJ Lodging Trust, and McGraw Hill Education.
lets see: lobbyist, private equity, banking, oil, petrochemicals, real estate, and private education publishing. im sure he’ll be a real ally when it comes to minimum wage, carried interest tax, bank regulation, environmental regulation, work place safety, and public education. great job dems!
Well, here’s your pragmatism test for the day. While I’m also not super excited about Bayh’s stands on things, He’s loads better than Coats and I imagine loads better than Todd Young, who,. based on his Congressional career thus far, is a far right robot. I’d rather have Bayh’s vote to organize the chamber, even if we don’t get many useful votes out of him thereafter. Young will screw us every time. Bayh, only some of the time.
Dems prospects for this year MUST be good, the blue dog rats are actually jumping back ON the ship.
I still remember when Bayh bailed at the last moment the first time he left the Senate leaving the Democrats with no way to recruit a viable replacement, all but handing the seat to the Republicans on a silver platter.
Prior to that I remember his career as being one long screwfest to the party by giving the Republicans political cover by being the Democrat who sided with them over and over again whenever there was a close vote or a controversial issue. There’s one, repeat, ONE reason why this could even be remotely close to good news and that is that if we get 50+1 Democrats in the Senate then we get the chance to flip the Supreme Court.
Otherwise I’d be happier if this corporate owned candidate had never resurfaced. Although knowing him his first act will probably be to oppose Hillary’s nominee to the court.