By Leslie Bonilla Muñiz
Indiana Capital Chronicle

INDIANA — Two more Hoosiers — a Republican and a Democrat — are launching bids for U.S. Senate, with each hoping to take Indiana’s seat currently held by Sen. Mike Braun. But it’s unclear if one of the newly announced candidates will be eligible to run.

Braun’s leaving the position to run for Indiana Governor, opening the doors to a growing slate of potential successors.

Republican John Rust, chair of a major egg farm, filed a statement of organization with the Federal Election Commission on July 1, while Democrat Keith Potts, a member of Indianapolis’ City-County Council, announced his Senate run Thursday, July 6.

John Rust

Rust joins Republican frontrunner U.S. Rep. Jim Banks in the fight for the GOP nomination. Potts will face off against former state lawmaker Marc Carmichael for the Democratic nomination. A spate of additional candidates from a variety of parties have also registered with the FEC.

Rust chairs the board behind a major Hoosier egg producer, Rose Acre Farms, and says he’s a sixth-generation farmer.

Potts, meanwhile, works in the music and arts industry outside his part-time legislative position. That includes teaching after-school music classes and working with local theaters and orchestras, according to his council biography.

Former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, a Republican, was widely rumored to be considering a Senate run in January but backed away shortly after a conservative super PAC with ties to Banks aired an attack ad.

Potential challenge

Though Rust has filed campaign finance paperwork, he may not be eligible to seek the Republican nomination.

To run in a party’s primary, Indiana law requires a candidate to belong to that party — listing two ways to prove affiliation.

The simplest is a voting record. For the most recent two primaries in which a candidate voted, they must have pulled a ballot for that party.

Keith Potts

But Rust hasn’t, as first reported in Adam Wren’s Importantville newsletter. Rust took part in the 2016 Republican primary, according to voting records obtained by the Capital Chronicle. But his second-most recent primary vote, in 2012, was in the Democratic primary.

That means he’ll have to prove his party using the second method: getting his county chair to certify that he’s a Republican, and filing the document with the state.

Rust’s filing said he’s based out of Seymour. Jackson County Republican Party Chair Amanda Lowery said Rust had asked her for a meeting, and that she was hoping to schedule one for next week.

But Rust’s voting record has led opponents to pounce.

“Indiana is a conservative state and deserves a conservative Senator,” Banks said in a statement. “John Rust is a liberal Democrat trying to run in the GOP Primary but Hoosier Republicans won’t buy it.”

Rust declined to comment on his eligibility.

State campaign finance records contained no entries for a John Rust from the Seymour area. But he’s chair of Rose Acre Farm’s board, and that entity donated roughly $42,000 to Republican candidates over the last two-plus decades — including $5,000 to Braun in 2022.