On this date in both 2020, as well as 2021, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” published its first profile of the U.S. House Representative from Indiana’s 3rd Congressional District, Jim Banks, who was first elected back in 2016, when we entered the darkest timeline. Prior to that, he entered the political arena in the Tea Party Wave back in 2010, served six years in the Indiana State Senate, and in his time in Hoosier State politics, he voted against the Medicaid Expansion, co-sponsored a bill to drug test welfare recipients, another bill to defund Planned Parenthood in Indiana, and helped pass an anti-choice bill extreme enough that it required women to bury or cremate fetal remains that was quickly overturned by the courts. He is also a tool of ALEC, having been their errand boy to bring forth right-to-work legislation.
Indiana’s 3rd Congressional District has a +18 Republican lean in the Cook Partisan Voting Index, tied for the most conservative district in what is a decidedly red state. That helped Jim Banks coast to victory in the 2020 elections with 68% of the vote. He has continued to prove himself an extremist in votes for the past two years:
- December 18th, 2019: Banks ignores his Congressional duty to hold a president who has been proven to commit high crimes and misdemeanors accountable and votes against the first impeachment of Donald Trump.
- January 10th, 2020: Shortly after Congresswoman Ilhan Omar mentions in an interview that she still has PTSD from her time as a child refugee from Somalia… Jim Banks comes along to minimize her suffering, and try to pretend that she’s not being honest about her condition, and that her remarks were “offensive to our nation’s veterans”.
- May 15th, 2020: Banks votes against the HEROES Act, to further support the healthcare industry and citizens affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
- December 10th, 2020: Banks signs his name to an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, begging them to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The same election that he won re-election in.
- January 6th, 2021: Jim Banks votes for the objection to the electoral college’s votes in the 2020 election, a failure to send any sort of message that he wasn’t intimidated or sympathetic to those who attacked the Capitol to attempt a violent coup. signs his name to an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, begging them to overturn the results of the 2020 election[/URL]. The same election that he won re-election in.
- January 13th, 2021: Rep. Banks votes against the second impeachment of Donald Trump, because the Republican Party no longer feels like they should be accountable for anything, including failed coups that result in the deaths of both their participants and police officers.
- February 4th, 2021: Jim Banks votes to keep Marjorie Taylor Greene’s committee assignments, because he wouldn’t want her to be accountable for all the bigoted remarks and conspiracy theories she’s spread online (probably because she’s a kindred spirit).
- February 25th, 2021: Banks votes against HR 5, the latest version of the Equality Act, that would provide workplace protections for LGBTQ Americans.
- March 3rd, 2021: Rep. Banks votes against HR 1, a bill created to prevent the corruption of money in politics, and protect voter access to the ballot box.
- March 3rd, 2021: Jim Banks votes against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021.
- March 10th, 2021: Banks votes against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, because he feels people deserve to die in poverty during a pandemic.
- March 17th, 2021: Rep. Banks votes against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, likely because they feel the 2nd Amendment remaining absolute is more important than preventing people with a history of domestic abuse from owning a firearm (which statistics show, makes them more likely to use those firearms against women in their lives).
- May 19th, 2021: Jim Banks votes against HR 3233, the creation of a commission to investigate the Capitol Attack.
- May 20th, 2021: Banks is one of 63 Republicans who vote against the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act.
- November 5th, 2021: Jim Banks votes against HR 3684, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
- March 31st, 2022: Banks votes against HR 6833, the Affordable Insulin Now Act, which would limit the cost that drug companies could list insulin at to $35 and make sure no diabetic was priced out of surviving their condition. Jim Banks would rather they be gouged by pharmaceutical giants and/or die.
- May 18th, 2022: Jim Banks is one of 192 Republicans who vote against HR 7790, to create supplemental funding for infant formula (while claiming to be pro- life).
- May 18th, 2022: Rep. Banks votes against HR 350, the Domestic Violence Prevention Act, because these days, a plank of the Republican Party is ostensibly domestic terror.
- May 19th, 2022: Banks votes against HR 7688, a bill which would help prevent gas companies from gouging customers on prices.
- June 22nd, 2022: Rep. Banks is one of 67 Republicans who co-sponsor HR 1167, a bill to try to begin consideration on the Life at Contraception Act, which would, y’know, ban both abortion and birth control federally if passed if say… Roe v. Wade weren’t around to overturn it.
- July 15th, 2022: Jim Banks votes against House Amendment 262, which would require the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and Secretary of Defense to publish a report on the infiltration of American law enforcment by Neo-Nazis and white supremacists, offer measures to be taken to remove them from their ranks, and prevent further infiltration by others.
- July 19th, 2022: Rep. Banks is one of 157 Republicans who vote against the “Respect for Marriage Act”, which would codify same sex marriage into law nationally.
- July 21st, 2022: Banks is one of 195 Republicans who vote against the Right to Contraception Act, which codified the right of Americans to have access to birth control.
As late as May 9th, Jim Banks was still on Fox News and questioning whether or not Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 election (BIDEN F***ING DID) and defending his decision to vote against certifying the election results. That probably had a lot to do with why House Minority Leader and craven s***heel Kevin McCarthy appointed Banks to be on the commission to investigate the January 6th attack on the Capitol in a move equivalent to naming the Riddler to be on a select panel to investigate rising crime rates in Gotham City. Banks was summarily rejected by Nancy Pelosi like Giannis Antetokounmpo swatting away a layup into the crowd at a Bucks game.
Jim Banks is still licking his wounds over that, and will likely be fundraising on his “victimhood” that he’s not allowed so sabotage any investigation into 1/6 from within as he goes on conservative media venues to try and claim that somehow, the lack of security on 1/6/21 was Pelosi’s fault (even through the Capitol Police are not under her command).
Banks vociferous defense of Trump and every bit of failed obfuscation he’s attempted in the press disgusted folks enough back in his district that a legal challenge was filed against him being on the ballot because his words and actions were arguably enough to qualify as proof that he had violated his oath to the Constitution, and was supporting the failed insurrection/coup attempt, thus he shouldn’t be eligible to run for office for having violated the 14th Amendment. Sadly, such challenges to Republicans like Banks are getting dismissed in court.
Did Jim Banks take this as a warning to maybe dial back the seditious talk? NOPE. He’s been “leading the Jan. 6th response” for the Republican Party, and based on public reaction, he’s not exactly convincing anyone. But, as Indiana’s 3rd Congressional District has a +18 Republican lean, regardless of Banks’ dedication to those carrying out a coup attempt, it could be a tough hill to climb for his Democratic opponent, Gary Snyder, to unseat him.
Which is the real travesty in this, that most Republicans won’t come to their senses about those who perpetrated the attack, or those who defend the attackers.
One Year Ago, August 2nd, 2021: Jim Banks (IN)… 2021 Update
Two Year Ago, August 2nd, 2020: Jim Banks (IN)… Original Profile
Three Year Ago, August 2nd, 2019: Michael Folk (WV)… 2019 Update
Four Year Ago, August 2nd, 2018: Michael Folk (WV)… 2018 Update
Five Years Ago, August 2nd, 2017: Pete Nielsen (ID)
Six Years Ago, August 2nd, 2016: Michael Folk (WV)… Original Profile
Seven Years Ago, August 2nd, 2015: Scott Renfroe (CO)
Eight Years Ago, August 2nd, 2014: Stephen Broden (TX)