Young to enter Senate race next week
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The 2016 race for U.S. Senate will get more crowded next week as Congressman Todd Young is set to enter the race.
Young (R-9th District) reported earlier this week that he raised $1 million in the second quarter of 2015.
It’s an eye-catching total, and now he’s putting together campaign events for next week.
Young will give up his seat in Congress to seek the GOP Senate nomination next May, but he will immediately become the best financed candidate on the Republican side.
“If he’s raised a million in a quarter and he’s not an announced candidate,” said Republican Mike McDaniel on Indiana Week in Review, “then you gotta believe he can do better than that once he’s an announced candidate.”
Former state GOP Chairman Eric Holcomb raised just $200,000 but may become Young’s toughest competitor.
“What you’ve got here is you’ve got somebody who’s shown real capability to raise money and is favorite of the moneyed interests,” said political analyst John Ketzenberger, “and then you’ve got Eric Holcomb who’s got contacts all over the state.”
Congressman Marlin Stutzman is also in the GOP race. He raised $600,000 in the second quarter.
Retiring Senator Dan Coats worries about the competition he created.
“I don’t want to be in a situation where we end up like we were in an earlier race here which divided our party,” he said in reference to the 2012 race won by Democrat Joe Donnelly.
If Young wins the GOP nomination he will likely face Democrat Baron Hill, and that would be a rematch of the 2010 race for Congress in the 9th district won by Young.
Democrats don’t fear Young, however.
“He’s had a pretty undistinguished career so far in Congress,” said Democrat Ann DeLaney, “so it’s only fitting he would try to follow in the footsteps of Dan Coats who has a pretty undistinguished career as a U.S. Senator.”
Young has already announced plans for what he calls a “special campaign event” in Sellersburg on July 18.
Look for a less formal campaign kickoff early in the week.