Mitch Daniels rips his critics after backing away from Senate bid

Mitch Daniels may have announced his decision not to run to replace retiring Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) last month. But he still has some strong feelings about it.

The former Indiana governor said he would not be endorsing a candidate in Indiana’s Senate primary, even as the rest of the party has consolidated around Rep. Jim Banks, the only Republican in the race.

Daniels also threw some sharp elbows at David McIntosh, the president of the deep-pocketed and influential Club for Growth and a one-time rival of the former Indiana governor in the 2004 primary. In January, ahead of a possible Daniels bid, the Club took the rare step of running a preemptive statewide ad in January blasting Daniels's political record and casting him as an “old-guard Republican.”

In an interview with POLITICO, Daniels punched back.

“David perfected the art of losing elections in Indiana,” Daniels said of his one-time Reagan administration colleague and a former Indiana congressman who lost the 2000 gubernatorial election to Democrat Frank O’Bannon by a double-digit margin as well as a 2012 congressional primary to Susan Brooks in the 5th Congressional District. “Now he makes money helping other people lose elections. I always thought well of David, but he’s gone in a different direction. I’m not the one to psychoanalyze that.”

A Club for Growth PAC spokesperson said of Daniels in a statement: “We expect he’ll be making these and other criticisms of conservatives on a more regular basis live on CNN from his retirement. David has had a strong record at Club for Growth PAC winning more than 70% of races, including supporting mostly conservative underdogs.

Prior to Daniels deciding not to run, national and state Republican operatives had expressed fear that his entrance into the race would have resulted in an intra-party civil war between the more moderate and Trump-aligned factions. The Club for Growth wasn’t the only one attacking Daniels. Allies to former President Donald Trump also attacked him as a RINO.

Daniels disputed that the race would’ve been hotly contested— "maybe ugly," he said, but "not close." He declined to criticize Banks for not disavowing the attacks on him from Trump world and the Club for Growth.

“That was for him to decide,” Daniels said. “Once again, it wasn’t a factor. We had all the advantages. And frankly, I’m told they knew that. We were allies in the past, and I’ll always think of him that way.”

Banks has said that he respects Daniels, and “learned a lot from him” during his time as a state senator, which overlapped with the former governor’s tenure. Banks quickly consolidated his support as Daniels stepped aside, with NRSC Chairman Steve Daines (R-Mont.) calling Banks one of the cycle’s “top recruits this cycle” and saying he had the “utmost respect” for Daniels’ career.

While Banks faces no challenger at the moment, Daniels allies are shopping for one. Daniels’ friend and adviser Mark Lubbers said retired Rep. Trey Hollingsworth — who could self-fund — “has the intellectual capacity to be a Reagan Republican and if he committed to that path they would eagerly support him.”

Hollingsworth did not respond to a request for comment. Banks did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Daniels declined to discuss whether he would back a presidential candidate in 2024.

“I hope a lot of flowers bloom, and there are lots of choices for the nation,” he said.

He said he was unlikely to enter the political fray again. "I just haven’t decided whether to take up a partisan role again.”