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Valerie McCray, a clinical psychologist from Indianapolis, will seek the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Republican Mike Braun, who is running for governor.
McCray announced her candidacy Thursday in a press release that said she would approach the Senate “through a mental health lens,” work to restore a tone of dialogue in Washington and build a “just and inclusive economy.”
Her campaign website, valeriemccray.org, lists her priorities as creating more affordable housing, eliminating interest on student loan debt, ensuring ethics in technological advances and protecting women’s rights.
If elected, McCray would become the first woman and the first Black person to represent Indiana in the U.S. Senate.
In political circles, the most well-known candidate among the five people seeking the Democratic nomination in the May 7 primary is Marc Carmichael, a former state legislator and former president of the Indiana Beverage Alliance.
Keith Potts, a former City-County Councilor, recently dropped out of the race.
The Indiana Republican Party has endorsed northern Indiana Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Banks for the Senate seat, making him the favorite. Former U.S. President Donald Trump has also endorsed the congressman, who reported nearly $2.7 million cash on hand at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Banks faces a potential primary challenger in John Rust, a wealthy egg farmer who is in the midst of a legal battle with the state over a law that would bar him from from running as a Republican because he hasn’t voted in the past two Republican primaries and does not have permission from his county party chair.
A Marion County judge recently ruled in Rust’s favor, declaring the legal barrier against his candidacy as unconstitutional. But the state is appealing the decision.
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Please tell us more about this new Democrat candidate for the United States Senate from Indiana! This announcement should be about Valerie McCray.
Does she have a website? What is her background? Why did she decide to get in the race?
Don’t just cut and paste the information about the Republicans running for this office.
Indiana is hungry for an alternative choice to Jim Banks.
Or at least it should be!
The law is the law, and it must be enforced equally. Bad law is bad law and it still needs to be enforced. While I don’t understand that it is unconstitutional, I think it is bad law. Bad law must be changed. While the legislature is at it, it needs to strengthen sub paragraph 5. All that is required is that the candidate assert that they have not be convicted of a criminal offense If we have a county chairman checking up for party affiliation, shouldn’t (s)he check on whether they have been convicted as well? The hubris and hipocracy of our politicians, all of them, is astounding.
I was referring primarily to the Rust/Banks legal situation in my comment, not the Democratic candidate.