SEYMOUR, Ind. – U.S. Senate hopeful John Rust, who was kept off the GOP primary ballot in May due to Indiana’s two-primary rule, has officially zeroed out his campaign accounts and filed to terminate his committee, according to new federal documents.
Rust’s termination report, received by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on May 29, shows that the Seymour egg farmer’s campaign has zero cash after tallying up his expenses and returning roughly $6,000 contributions to himself and his brother.
Still pending, however, is a final letter from the FEC granting the request to terminate.
Rust told the Indiana Capital Chronicle that although he “may” run for office again in the future, he opted to “100% close” his Senate campaign.
“I’m not going to say no to something in the future, because you never know,” Rust said. “The situations and circumstances may change. I may never run for anything ever again. And you know, something may pop up that I think I can serve Indiana well in, and I’ll do that.”
In the meantime, Rust said he’s focusing on promoting his book and “being an advocate” for Hoosiers seeking to make it on the ballot. “Hopefully, I can get a change (to the state’s two-primary law) to make it so other people can run,” he continued.
Republican Congressman Jim Banks was ultimately unopposed in the May primary and easily secured his party’s nomination for Indiana’s open U.S. Senate seat. He’ll face Democrat Dr. Valerie McCray, a clinical psychologist, and Libertarian Andrew Horning in the November general election.
The Senate seat is being vacated by Republican Mike Braun, who secured the GOP nomination in Indiana’s gubernatorial race and will now face Democrat Jennifer McCormick and Libertarian Donald Rainwater in November.
Read the entire Casey Smith story for the Indiana Capital Chronicle, here.
