Ernie Wiggins, left and Jean Northenor, right, speak with Eric Holcomb, candidate for U.S. Senator. (Photo by Deb Patterson)

The campaign season for 2016 has officially started before the 2015 municipal election is complete. That was evident at the annual Kosciusko County Republican Lincoln Day Dinner Wednesday evening.

The announcement by U.S. Rep. Marlin Stutzman to seek Indiana’s U.S. Senate seat in the 2016 election, has resulted in an outpouring of candidate announcements and rumors of potential candidates for not only the U.S. Senate seat but also the 3rd District U.S. Representative position.

Eric Holcomb, Sen. Mike Delph, Dr. Pamela Galloway, Sen. Jim Banks, Bob Thomas, Michael Stinfer and Kip Tom were in attendance. Only Holcomb, Galloway and Banks have officially announced their candidacies. Surprise announcements were expected, but did not occur, from Delph, Thomas, Stinfer and Tom.

Erick Holcomb

Holcomb, who announced his candidacy in late March, is vying for the U.S. Senate seat. The former Indiana Republican chairman, adviser to former Gov. Mitch Daniels and Sen. Dan Coats, stated when Dan (Coats) made his announcement not to seek re-election, he decided a couple of days later to throw his hat in the ring. “I will be laser focused on three key areas: National security, how we are going to go about keeping America safe, quick withdrawing and strengthening. I’m going to focus on economic security by putting together an economic recovery program and I’m going to be talking about and hearing about returning to those days when we actually respected the rule of law in America. I think those are three threats currently we are facing as a nation. If we’re ever going to right the national ship we’re going to have to address that head on … .”

Sen. Mike Delph

Delph, who has served in the Senate for 10 years, stated “I’m not going to make any kind of announcement yet today,” he stated. “My wife and I are prayerfully considering this. We’ll take the next several months to talk, walk around the state, travel the state to see if it makes sense for a conservative, one that believes that social issues should have a place in government. One that believes prayer does have a place in government … we’re bankrupting the posterity of the country … Our posterity deserves better, our founding fathers …. prayed for us … they prayed for the posterity of America … that’s why I’m motivated to feel this out.”

Marlin Stutzman

Stutzman, who remained in Washington, D.C., voting, sent a video. “Now that we are finished with the municipal primaries, we look ahead to the November 2015 and 2016 elections … last week in Roanoke I announced I was running for the U.S. Senate, many of you were active supporters in this decision … as we move into the primary elections and into general elections let’s remember what binds us together as Republicans to push good candidates and policies forward for the betterment of our great state and our country.”

Bob Tomas

Anticipating an announcement for the governor’s race, Thomas was introduced. The Ford dealership owner briefly stated “I’m not running for anything. I made an announcement today that there is no announcement to be made. I’m thinking about things … .”

Heading over to U.S. Congressional seats, in which the county encompasses the 2nd and 3rd Districts, three individuals were introduced. U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski was not present, but is running for the 2nd District.

Michael Stinfer

Michael Stinfer, rumored to be considering a candidacy for the 2nd District, briefly spoke, stating he would “not be making any announcement tonight.”

Dr. Pamela Galloway

Galloway, the first to announce she was seeking the 3rd District position, stated she would be applying what she learned in medical school – problem solving and listening. Galloway has a three-part platform: Repealing Obamacare replacing with a free market solution; staunchly defend the Second Amendment; and do anything she can for faith, family and the country. She will be putting “one foot in front of the other and head for election day.”

Sen. Jim Banks

Banks, who returned home three weeks ago from serving nine-month in Afghanistan, announced his candidacy the previous day. He stated he learned a lesson in Afghanistan “we have an extraordinary military …  yet the administration in Washington, D.C., that has done more to decimate the greatness of our military than any other administration in modern history. We have an administration that has done more to decimate the VA …. That is exactly why I threw my hat in the ring yesterday to succeed a great conservative, a great leader Marlin Stutzman.”

Kip Tom

Tom, like Delph, stated he’s been encouraged to step into the role of 3rd District U.S. Representative. “The reason I’m looking at it, is I want to make sure that we still have the conservative values that are embedded in this district… .”

A special guest was introduced, Mitch Harper, who is running for mayor of Fort Wayne. Harper briefly spoke to the crowd. A political candidate eight times, he stated “I have never lost an election and don’t intend to this year.”