INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana officials rejected on Friday an attempt to kick Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Banks off of the ballot over claims that he violated the Constitution by allegedly supporting last year’s U.S. Capitol insurrection.
The state election commission, which is made up of two Republicans and two Democrats, voted unanimously against the challenge filed by a long-shot Democratic candidate for Banks’ northeastern Indiana district.
An attorney for Banks argued that the allegations were baseless and that removing Banks from the ballot would deprive his supporters of their preferred representative in Congress.
“Congressman Banks has publicly commented that he did not support that conduct, nor did he engage in it, and he has also called for the prosecution of unlawful conduct that occurred that day,” attorney Paul Mullins said.
Democrat Aaron Calkins, of Fort Wayne, told the commission he believed Banks violated the 14th Amendment’s ban on members of Congress engaging in “insurrection or rebellion” by backing the efforts of then-President Donald Trump and his supporters to overturn President Joe Biden’s election.
Banks, an outspoken Trump supporter, was rejected last year by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the top Republican for the committee investigating the Capitol insurrection, which was followed by House GOP leadership boycotting the panel.
A similar challenge on 14th Amendment grounds is pending against North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn.
The Indiana commission also voted to remove one Republican and two Democratic candidates from the May primary ballot for U.S. Senate for failing to meet the state requirement for filing petitions signed by at least 500 registered voters from all nine congressional districts by the Feb. 4 deadline.
The decision leaves Republican Sen. Todd Young and Hammond’s Democratic mayor, Thomas McDermott Jr., running unopposed for their parties’ Senate nominations for the November election.
