By Phoebe Muthart
InkFreeNews

KOSCIUSKO COUNTY — Three candidates are seeking the position of U.S. Senator. Two are Democrats and one is a Republican. The candidates vying for the Democrat nomination are Marc Carmichael and Valerie McCray. The Republican is Congressman Jim Banks, who is running unopposed in the primary. Banks was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2016. Banks won reelection in 2018, 2020 and 2022.

Jim Banks

Congressman Jim Banks is a native Hoosier, born and raised in Columbia City. He earned an undergraduate degree from Indiana University and a master of business administration from Grace College. While serving in the Indiana State Senate from 2010 to 2016, he chaired the Senate Veteran Affairs and the Military Committee.

In 2014 and 2015, Banks took a leave of absence from the Indiana State Senate to deploy to Afghanistan during Operations Enduring Freedom and Freedom’s Sentinel. Banks was elected to U.S. House of Representatives in 2016 to represent Indiana’s Third Congressional District.

Banks and wife, Amanda, are the parents of three daughters: Lillian, Elizabeth and Joann.

Dr. Valerie Lin McCray

Dr. Valerie Lin McCray, a Democrat, was born in Indianapolis. McCray graduated from Arsenal Technical High School. She earned a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 2000.

McCray’s career experience includes working as a clinical psychologist with Reset Psychological Services, the clinical director of MHM Services, Inc., and the lead psychologist with Correctional Medical Services.

Marc Carmichael

Marc Carmichael, a Democrat, is a lifelong Indiana resident and a Notre Dame graduate. He was elected to the Indiana House in 1986 when he defeated the sitting Republican House Speaker. He served in the House until 1991. He was previously the Democratic nominee for Indiana’s second congressional district in 1996, losing to Republican incumbent David McIntosh.

In 1999, he took over as president of the Indiana Beverage Alliance, a statewide trade association for Indiana family-owned beer distributors, and retired from that position in 2002.

He is single and has three children and five grandchildren.