Conservative Democratic Rep. Brad Ellsworth says he’s running for Bayh’s Indiana Senate seat

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Dem. Rep. Ellsworth to run for Bayh Senate seat

INDIANAPOLIS — Democratic Rep. Brad Ellsworth said Friday that he will run for Evan Bayh’s Senate seat, giving his party a socially conservative candidate who could have broad appeal with Indiana voters.

Ellsworth, 51, announced his decision to run in his hometown of Evansville. The two-term congressman issued a statement saying the problem-solving experience he gained during his 24 years with the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Department — the last eight as sheriff — would serve him well in the increasingly partisan Senate.

“Sheriff is a job that comes down to protecting families from harm, helping folks solve their problems or resolve their disputes, and just being willing to put your fellow citizens’ best interests ahead of your own,” Ellsworth said. “When I look at the U.S. Senate these days, I sure think they could use more folks with those same qualities.”

Ellsworth emerged as a leading Democratic choice after Bayh’s surprise announcement Monday not to run again. He is considered an attractive candidate because he won by big margins in both his campaigns in his largely rural congressional district in southwestern Indiana.

Others mentioned as possible candidates for the Democratic nod are Rep. Baron Hill, Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. and former Secretary of State Joe Hogsett.

The state Democratic Party’s 32-member central committee will ultimately pick a nominee because no candidate met this week’s filing deadline for the May 4 primary. The party has until June 30 to designate its candidate.

Former Democratic Indiana House Speaker John Gregg said Ellsworth represented the party’s best chance to hang onto Bayh’s seat.

“Aside from being electable, he’s really not been in Congress long enough to be termed an insider. He’s actually a conservative Democrat, which makes him a moderate, which is what most Hoosiers are — moderate to conservative. He is a hard worker, he is sincere and he listens,” Gregg said.

Ellsworth was one of 11 House Democrats who in January 2009 voted against an $819 billion stimulus bill backed by President Barack Obama. He later backed a scaled down $787 billion version.

Late last year, Ellsworth helped push through a House measure opposed by abortion rights groups that would bar anyone getting federal health subsidies from buying private insurance polices that included abortion coverage.

Abortion rights advocates called the measure the biggest setback to women’s reproductive rights in decades.

Ellsworth has stood by his stance, issuing a statement last month that said: “I will not support a bill that I believe would result in federal tax dollars being used to pay for elective abortions. Period.”

Republicans have criticized his votes in favor of the $787 stimulus package and the bailout of the banking system, and they’ve signaled they plan on tying Ellsworth to high federal spending by Washington and the muddled effort to reform the nation’s health care system.

State GOP Chairman Murray Clark said Ellsworth still has to clear the hurdle of getting the nod from the 32-member state Democratic Central Committee.

“Our view is if those 32 will support the failed policies of this administration in Washington for high spending and higher taxes and stimulus and government takeover of health care, Brad Ellsworth may very well be their man,” Clark said.

Former Sen. Dan Coats, who left office in 1998, is being backed by national Republicans in what is a crowded field in the primary for the GOP nomination. Other candidates include former Rep. John Hostettler — whom Ellsworth unseated in 2006 — and state Sen. Marlin Stutzman.

Democrats have attacked Coats for his work in the past decade as a lobbyist, but GOP officials believe Coats’ name identification and 10 years in the Senate make him an early favorite in the race.

Hostettler said after filing his candidacy Wednesday that he’d welcome another race against Ellsworth.

“Someone that ran as someone that was not very liberal in 2006 has a very different record that he gets to run on this time,” Hostettler said.

Among other possible Democratic candidates, Hill is in his fifth term from a southern Indiana district neighboring the one Ellsworth represents, and he has experience as a statewide candidate from his unsuccessful 1990 Senate campaign against Coats, who was appointed to the Senate after Dan Quayle was elected vice president.

But Hill’s House district could be more vulnerable to a GOP pickup as he’s had several close elections and could face a fifth straight challenge from Republican Mike Sodrel, who defeated Hill in 2004 before Hill won their rematch two years later.

Hill was out of town Friday and had no immediate comment on Ellsworth’s announcement, said his spokeswoman, Katie Moreau.

McDermott, the Democratic chairman in northwestern Indiana’s Lake County, the state’s second largest, said he was remained in the race and state party Chairman Dan Parker had assured him candidate selection would be an open process. A telephone message was left for Parker on Friday.

Hogsett said he still was considering seeking the nod, and hoped Hill would consider it, too. He said it was important for the party to keep the selection process open, transparent and inclusive.

Also Friday, Democratic state Rep. Trent Van Haaften of Mount Vernon filed for the May primary to run for Ellsworth’s congressional seat. Ellsworth has until noon Monday to remove his name from the May primary ballot, said Jim Gavin, a spokesman for the Indiana secretary of state’s office.

Heart surgeon Larry Bucshon of Newburgh is the most prominent of several Republicans seeking the congressional nomination.

Associated Press writers Henry C. Jackson in Washington, and Mike Smith and Tom Davies in Indianapolis contributed to this report.