Pompeo endorses Rep. Jim Banks in Indiana Senate race

Mike Pompeo, the former secretary of state and CIA director under President Donald Trump, endorsed Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) in the Indiana Senate race on Tuesday.

“Jim Banks is the America-first leader we need in the United States Senate. Jim served our nation in Afghanistan, served Indiana in the State Senate, and fought unabashedly for a strong America in Congress,” Pompeo said in a press release disbursed by his political action committee, Champion American Values.

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“His conservative record is clear, and now more than ever, we need fighters like him who won’t back down on securing our border, strengthening our military, and pushing back against Biden’s woke agenda,” Pompeo added.

Banks, a staunch Trump ally, is running for the seat of outgoing Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN). The Republican congressman had been preparing for war with political heavyweight Mitch Daniels, the former governor of the state, but Daniels’s January decision to pass on a run appeared to spare the GOP a protracted and bitter primary.

Republicans, from Senate leadership to Trump to the anti-establishment Club for Growth, quickly coalesced around Banks, and one by one, his possible rivals decided not to enter the race.

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However, Banks is likely going to face a primary from a virtually unknown candidate in Republican politics, John Rust, who filed in early July. Rust is the chairman of Rose Acre Farms and a sixth-generation Indiana egg farmer.

“It is an honor to have Secretary Pompeo’s support in our campaign to bring our Hoosier conservative values to the United States Senate,” Banks said. “I am grateful for his hard and important work to champion our conservative, America-first values on the world stage during the Trump Administration and beyond. I hope to fight for these same principles in the Senate and am grateful for his support.”