In one September 2021 letter, Banks requested that the Department of the Interior provide him with information it had sent the committee.

In October 2021, Representative Liz Cheney, vice chair of the January 6 Select Committee, revealed that Banks had been sending letters to federal agencies, claiming to be the ranking member of that committee, even though he had been rejected from it. In response, the Campaign for Accountability, an ethics watchdog group, filed a complaint with the House Committee on Ethics and requested an investigation into Banks and the other lawmakers. He and the other members were actually attending the Conservative Political Action Conference, which was held at the same time as their slated absences. In late February 2021, Banks and a dozen other Republican House members skipped votes and enlisted others to vote for them, citing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Banks subsequently claimed that Pelosi was at fault for the January 6 insurrection and that she was using the commission to cover up her role. On July 21, 2021, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi vetoed Kevin McCarthy's assigning of Banks and Jim Jordan to the January 6 Select Committee on the grounds that both had amplified Trump's false claims of fraud. Īfter the January 6, 2021, United States Capitol attack, Banks expressed support for a bipartisan commission to investigate the riot. Banks later objected to the certification of the election results. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case. Īfter Joe Biden won the 2020 election and Donald Trump refused to concede while making false claims of fraud, Banks was one of 126 Republican members of the House of Representatives to sign an amicus brief in support of a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election. In January 2020, Banks faced backlash after saying that remarks by Representative Ilhan Omar about her experiences with post-traumatic stress disorder were 'offensive to our nation’s veterans.' As a child, Omar fled civil war in Somalia and spent four years in a Kenyan refugee camp. In December 2017, Banks joined Representatives Ron DeSantis, Scott Perry, and Robert Pittenger in co-signing a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson requesting that Tillerson release a classified counterterrorism agreement with Qatar. He is a member of the Republican Study Committee. House of Representatives Elections 2016 īanks was sworn in on January 3, 2017. He returned to Indiana from overseas duty on April 14, 2015, and resumed his duties as state senator on May 8. Invoking an Indiana state law that allows state and local officeholders to take leaves of absence during active duty military service, Banks was temporarily replaced by his wife, Amanda Banks, who held the office for the senate's 2015 legislative session.

īanks was first elected to serve in the state senate for the 17th district in 2010, and upon military deployment to Afghanistan, he took a leave of absence from the state senate in September 2014. Banks addressed the 2014 Conservative Political Action Conference in 2014 after he was selected as one of their Top 10 Conservatives Under 40. With assistance from the American Legislative Exchange Council, he has supported right-to-work legislation in Indiana. Banks also chaired the Whitley County Republican Party from 2007 to 2011. He was succeeded by Paula Reimers on the County Council. He won the primary after defeating incumbent County Councilman Scott Darley. įrom 2008 to 2010, Banks served on the Whitley County Council from the at-large district. From 2014 to 2015, he took a leave of absence from the Indiana State Senate to serve in Afghanistan. Banks serves in the United States Navy Reserve as a Supply Corps officer. He worked in the real estate and construction industry in Fort Wayne, Indiana, before serving in elected office. Early life and career īanks was born in Columbia City, Indiana. Senate seat being vacated by Mike Braun in 2024. On January 17, 2023, Banks announced his candidacy for the U.S. A Republican, he previously served as a member of the Indiana Senate from 2010 to 2016. representative for Indiana's 3rd congressional district since 2017. James Edward Banks (born July 16, 1979) is an American politician serving as the U.S.

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