At a time when Republicans are increasingly asserting themselves in battles over a coterie of acronyms that have captured the commanding heights of American society – ESG, DEI, and CRT – Rep. Jim Banks has emerged as a leader in the GOP-controlled House of the fight against the “wokeism” these theories collectively represent.

A fourth-term congressman from Indiana, Banks has earned his anti-woke bona fides by engaging in high-profile clashes with military officials over their embrace of “anti-racist” literature and related initiatives, the Chamber of Commerce over issues ranging from woke capitalism to China, and Twitter over his “misgendering” of Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Rachel Levine.

During his tenure chairing the Republican Study Committee, the largest conservative caucus in the House, Banks advocated in a memo to then-minority leader Kevin McCarthy that the party make fighting wokeism an essential part of the GOP’s effort to court working class voters.

This January, he announced his most ambitious effort yet: Banks would be building a new anti-woke caucus. The timing of the announcement came within days of a bigger one – that Banks would be running for an open U.S. Senate seat in 2024.