Delph Won't Run For U.S. Senate

INDIANAPOLIS -- Next year’s Republican primary for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Dan Coats will remain at three challengers with State Sen. Mike Delph's announcement Tuesday that he will not enter the race. 

Sen. Coats’ announcement earlier this year that he wouldn’t run for re-election took many by surprise.  Almost immediately Coats advisor and former State GOP Chair Eric Holcomb threw his hat into the ring.  He was followed by Congressmen Marlin Stutzman and Todd Young.  And State Sen. Mike Delph, an outspoken conservative who’s often courted controversy, says he was urged to make his own bid for the seat and sought advice from grassroots activists and GOP donors. 

But Delph says after discussing it with his wife and five daughters, he determined that a run for any office next year would be too great a burden on his family.  That also rules out a bid for Indiana Attorney General, where incumbent Republican Greg Zoeller isn’t seeking re-election.