--- title: Senate Democrats' Hopes Bolstered by Evan Bayh's Senate Run description: Former Indiana Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh has decided to run for the open Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Dan Coats. canonical: https://time.com/4401261/indiana-evan-bayh-senate-democrats/ author: NBC News article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-11T16:06:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:10:17.537Z article:section: Politics og:title: Why Indiana Just Gave Democrats Hope of Retaking the Senate og:description: Former Democratic Senator Evan Bayh has decided to enter Indiana's Senate Race og:url: https://time.com/4401261/indiana-evan-bayh-senate-democrats/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb841d4e65d6b6fd/69889b6ccd1bba3d2a7016eb/evan-bayh-indiana-us-senate.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Key Speakers At The Milken Institute Global Conference og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Indiana Just Gave Democrats Hope of Retaking the Senate twitter:description: Former Democratic Senator Evan Bayh has decided to enter Indiana's Senate Race twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb841d4e65d6b6fd/69889b6ccd1bba3d2a7016eb/evan-bayh-indiana-us-senate.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Indiana Just Gave Democrats Hope of Retaking the Senate by [Mark Murray and Jack Bohrer / NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## Mark Murray and Jack Bohrer / NBC News Jul 11, 2016 4:06 PM UTC  Former Senator Evan Bayh, senior advisor with Apollo Global Management, participates in a panel discussion at the annual Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., on Tuesday, May 1, 2012. Former Senator Evan Bayh, senior advisor with Apollo Global Management, participates in a panel discussion at the annual Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., on Tuesday, May 1, 2012.Jonathan Alcorn—Bloomberg / Getty Images by [Mark Murray and Jack Bohrer / NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## Mark Murray and Jack Bohrer / NBC News Jul 11, 2016 4:06 PM UTC Former Indiana Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh has decided to run for the open Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Dan Coats, giving Democrats a significant recruiting victory that increases their odds of winning back the U.S. Senate. NBC News confirmed Bayh’s decision Monday morning. The news was first reported by CNN. Former Rep. Baron Hill, D-Indiana, already won the Democratic Senate primary back in May, to face off against Republican Congressman Todd Young, R-Indiana. But Hill announced Monday that he intends to step aside, saying in a statement (which did not mention Bayh by name) that his campaign’s efforts… [_Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News_](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/win-senate-dems-bayh-will-run-indiana-n607166?cid=par-time-article%5F20141002) Senate Democrats' Hopes Bolstered by Evan Bayh's Senate Run ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4401261/indiana-evan-bayh-senate-democrats/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4401261/indiana-evan-bayh-senate-democrats/"},"headline":"Why Indiana Just Gave Democrats Hope of Retaking the Senate","datePublished":"2016-07-11T16:06:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:10:17.537Z","description":"Former Democratic Senator Evan Bayh has decided to enter Indiana's Senate Race","url":"https://time.com/4401261/indiana-evan-bayh-senate-democrats/","keywords":["Congress","democrats"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb841d4e65d6b6fd/69889b6ccd1bba3d2a7016eb/evan-bayh-indiana-us-senate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mark Murray and Jack Bohrer / NBC News"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb841d4e65d6b6fd/69889b6ccd1bba3d2a7016eb/evan-bayh-indiana-us-senate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Key Speakers At The Milken Institute Global Conference","caption":"Key Speakers At The Milken Institute Global Conference","creditText":"Jonathan Alcorn—Bloomberg / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4401261/indiana-evan-bayh-senate-democrats/","name":"Why Indiana Just Gave Democrats Hope of Retaking the Senate"}}]}] ```