Former Democratic Congressman Baron Hill is running for the U.S. Senate—although he doesn’t plan to officially announce until June.
Hill told a group of Bartholomew County Democrats Thursday night he plans to run for the Senate seat Republican Dan Coats is vacating after 2016.
Hill is the first Democrat to throw his hat in the ring.
Two Republicans—Third District Congressman Marlin Stutzman and former Coats chief of staff and state GOP chairman Eric Holcomb have already announced they’re running.
The Democratic Congressman from Seymour served as the state’s 9th District representative from 1999 to 2005 and then again from 2007 to 2011.
Hill says he thinks his time out of office will work to his advantage.
“First of all, I have the Washington experience, and I know how the place operates,” Hill said, “but being away from Washington for the last four years has given me a new appreciation for what’s going on with people on the ground here in Indiana.”
If he receives the Democratic nomination, Hill faces an uphill battle. The last time Indiana had two Democratic senators in Washington was 1977.
