Mitch Daniels is ending the speculation of the possibility that he will run for the Senate in 2024. Fifteen months out from the 2024 primary in Indiana, Daniels is taking himself out of the will he or won’t he run game. He won’t.

He never really sounded like he was going to jump into the race. Republican Sen. Mike Braun is not running for re-election. He is running in Indiana’s gubernatorial race. Daniels is 73 years old now. Why go back to Washington and live The Swamp life as a freshman senator at this point in his life? He has plenty of success on his resume.

“After what I hope was adequate reflection, I’ve decided not to become a candidate for the U.S. Senate,” Daniels told POLITICO. “With full credit and respect for the institution and those serving in it, I conclude that it’s just not the job for me, not the town for me, and not the life I want to live at this point.”

“Maybe I can find ways to contribute that do not involve holding elective office. If not, there is so much more to life,” Daniels added. “People obsessed with politics or driven by personal ambition sometimes have difficulty understanding those who are neither.”

Daniels would have probably pledged to serve only one term in the Senate. This leaves only Rep. Jim Banks as the sole candidate for what could have been a very interesting GOP primary race. If Daniels got in, it would pit a classically Republican candidate from the Reagan days and a much younger Trump-supporting Republican.

“And I would have tried to work on these matters in a way that might soften the harshness and personal vitriol that has infected our public square, rendering it not only repulsive to millions of Americans, but also less capable of effective action to meet our threats and seize our opportunities,” he said.

Banks likely realized his career in the House was stalling so he set his ambitions on a Senate run. Banks lost a bid for the House majority whip at the end of 2022. Since getting into the race, he has secured the endorsements of Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-IN).

Rep. Victoria Spartz has not yet decided if she will run for the Senate or not. She is currently causing a stir among conservatives by not supporting Speaker McCarthy’s decision to oust Rep. Ilhan Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Her opinion is that two wrongs don’t make a right. In politics, though, when the atmosphere is as divided as it is now, it’s hard to believe that Democrats will ever take the higher road. Pelosi made the unprecedented decision to keep Republicans off committees because of statements they made. She also kept Jim Banks off of the January 6 committee, one of several Republicans appointed by McCarthy. Pelosi was determined to keep any Republicans who were reliable Trump supporters off that committee.

It’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that the Republican who wins the primary race will go on to be the state’s next senator.

Daniels has not been reluctant to turn down political opportunities in the past. In 1988, he turned down then-Governor Robert Orr’s offer to appoint him to Dan Quayle’s seat when Quayle became George H.W. Bush’s vice-president choice. In 2012 he decided not to run for president, though he was a favorite among possible candidates, because of concerns for his wife and daughters.

Daniels is a true fiscal conservative, as he showed during his time in the George W. Bush administration. Nonetheless, Club for Growth has thrown in with Banks and already ran a preemptive attack ad against Daniels. The attack calls Daniels a moderate Republican, which is the kiss of death among the populist right. Most likely, though, it is due to a personal axe to grind by Club for Growth’s president. McIntosh is also a Hoosier. He ran for governor in 2000 and lost. Daniels ran in 2004 and won. There is likely some jealousy at play. Or it could just be that Daniels’ style of Republican politics is too old-school for today. For example, Daniels never ran a negative campaign ad during his two races for governor during the 2000s.

Now we wait to see if Rep. Victoria Spartz gets into the race. Otherwise, it’s smooth sailing for Jim Banks. Banks said he has asked Trump to endorse him.