Exclusive — Rep. Jim Banks Lays Out Path to GOP-Controlled Senate: Could Be ‘Strongest Republican Majority in My Lifetime’

Republicans are aiming to take back the Senate in November after floating in a 49-51 Democrat majority following the less than ideal results of the 2022 midterms

But more than tying or simply surpassing Democrats by one or two senators, Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) — who is waging a Senate campaign to replace departing Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) — said during a sit-down interview with Breitbart News at the Republican National Convention that Republicans have enough strong candidates to potentially see the “strongest Republican majority in my lifetime.”

During the interview on Tuesday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Breitbart’s Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle predicted that Republicans would need to take West Virginia, keep Indiana, Florida, and Texas, and secure Ohio and Montana to retake the majority in the Senate, and he asked Banks to lay out what he sees to be the path forward for the GOP. 

“Well, keep in mind that picking J.D. Vance in Ohio is a big boost to Bernie Moreno for Senate in Ohio,” Banks began, referring to Sen. Vance (R-OH) as former President Donald Trump’s VP pick and calling Moreno a “strong candidate…next door to Indiana who appeals to working class voters.”

“So, Bernie Moreno [would need to] win in Ohio. Tim Sheehy [would need to win] in Montana. Montana and Ohio are just alike. They are two pro-Trump, red states that have Democrat senators…Right off the bat, that gets you to 52 Republican senators,” he said.

Banks continued by noting that the assassination attempt of former president Donald Trump on Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania, could also serve to galvanize support for Republican candidates in states like Michigan.

“But I think what happened on Saturday, and the coattails of Donald Trump and how powerful of a candidate and historic of a candidate he is, helps us win in Michigan with Mike Rogers. That’s another working class blue-collar state where those voters have turned on Democrats,” he said. 

“Sam Brown is a great candidate in Nevada with a powerful story as a veteran, injured in a war overseas. You have Dave McCormick in Pennsylvania, Eric Hovde here in Wisconsin. You have Kari Lake in Arizona,” he continued. “We have great candidates all over the board.” 

 “I mean, there is a map here that could get us to 55, 56, even 57 Republican senators in the Senate, for not just a Republican majority, but as strongest Republican majority in my lifetime,” he said. 

Banks further noted that Republicans have a strong chance of doing well in House elections because Donald Trump “is on the ballot in a big way in November.”

“I expect us to win a dozen or more seats in the House and come out of this election cycle with a strong majority in the United States Senate because of Donald Trump,” he projected.