Seven years ago, Rep. Jim Banks made a decision to run for Congress in the 3rd congressional district of Indiana. He felt he could make an impact in the U.S. House of Representatives with his previous experience.
After graduating from Columbia City High School in 1997, Banks attended Indiana University for his undergraduate degree. Subsequently, he later attended Grace College to obtain a masters degree in Business.
Before running for larger offices in the Indiana Senate and U.S. Congress, Banks served as a leader throughout many different organizations. In 2007, he was the Chairman of the Whitley County Republican Party for four years. He was also the President of the Rotary Club in Columbia City, along with being a member of the Northeast Indiana Workforce Development Board and the Whitley County Council. Long before running for an official office, he remained very active in Northeast Indiana.
For six years, he was a State Senator in the 17th district of Indiana. From 2010 to 2016 when he was in the Indiana Senate, he was the Chairman of the Senate Veteran Affairs and the Military Committee.
In 2016, Banks decided to make a bold move of running for office in the U.S. House of Representatives. According to Banks, it was not a planned run but instead, the incumbent was leaving office and he had an opportunity to take a risk.
"Well, I had just returned from serving overseas in Afghanistan and my Congressman at the time, Marlin Stutzman, decided to run for the Senate, so it opened up a rare and unique opportunity to serve in the United States House of Representatives," Banks said. "It doesn't come open that often but when Marlin ran for the Senate and it opened up, we had a hard fought six-way primary in the 2016 election."
When making the decision to run for this higher office, Banks felt as if he could bring the values he fought for in the Indiana Senate to the U.S. House of Representatives. Since then, Banks mentioned he has done everything he can to represent Northeast Indiana to the best of his ability.
Now running for his fourth term, Banks has also had dozens of interns working in his Washington D.C. and congressional district offices throughout the last five years. A former intern, Matthew Stachler, has known Banks, since he first ran for U.S. Congress in 2016, as Stachler lives in Banks' district. After interning for Banks in his Fort Wayne office in the summer of 2021 and now his Washington D.C. office this past summer, he spoke on how much he enjoyed working with Banks and his favorite memories.
"Since I've known him for so long and he's been one of my mentors and people I've looked up to since I first got involved in politics, it was just ideal that I would intern for him in D.C.," Stachler said. "He made it very fun. Instead of just answering phone calls every day, that's part of the job, which was fun, but I also enjoyed going to the RSC lunches, networking with the other members of Congress, and just getting to meet people on the Hill."
Stachler mentioned he had such a great experience that he is even looking to intern for him again. He also worked with a few other interns throughout the summer, so he was able to interact with other young people in the office, which some were from the district and some were from other states. Overall, he feels that Banks fights for Conservative values and represents Northeast Indiana very well.
Currently, Banks is the Chairman of the Republican Study Committee, which his term will be ending soon. He is often seen on many national news outlets, such as Fox News, Newsmax, and more. Overall, Banks has not announced if he will ever run for any other offices, so it will be interesting to see what lies in his future.
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