James Edward Banks (born July 16, 1979) is an American politician and naval officer serving since 2025 as the junior United States senator from Indiana.

A graduate of Indiana University Bloomington, Banks served on the Whitley County Council before being elected to the State Senate in 2010.

[3] He graduated in 2004 from Indiana University Bloomington with a Bachelor of Arts in political science and later received an MBA from Grace College & Seminary.

[4] Banks worked in the real estate and construction industry in Fort Wayne, Indiana, before serving in elected office.

[20] Banks was reelected; he was unopposed in the Republican primary and defeated Democratic nominee Courtney Tritch in the general election[21] with 64.7% of the vote.

[26] In January 2020, Banks faced backlash after saying that remarks by Representative Ilhan Omar about her experiences with post-traumatic stress disorder were "offensive to our nation’s veterans".

[27] After Joe Biden won the 2020 election and Donald Trump refused to concede while making claims of fraud, Banks was one of 126 Republican members of the House of Representatives to sign an amicus brief in support of a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election.

[31] After the January 6, 2021, United States Capitol attack, Banks expressed support for a bipartisan commission to investigate the riot.

[32] On July 21, 2021, House speaker Nancy Pelosi vetoed Kevin McCarthy's assigning of Banks and Jim Jordan to the January 6 Select Committee on the grounds that both had amplified Trump's false claims of fraud.

[40] Also in October 2021, when Rachel Levine, who is transgender, became an admiral in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, Banks wrote in his official Twitter account: "The title of first female four-star officer gets taken by a man."

Twitter, which at the time prohibited "targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals", suspended his official account in response.

[42][43] In May 2023, Banks co-sponsored a resolution by Marjorie Taylor Greene to impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.

"[53] In 2022, Banks was one of 39 Republicans to vote for the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2022, an antitrust package that would crack down on corporations for anti-competitive behavior.

589), which sanctions Iran's leaders for terrorism activities and human rights violations after the nationwide uprising from the Mahsa Amini protests.

[75][76] In December 2024, Banks announced his intention to steer Republican policy toward a more pro-worker and pro-American-industry stance, as outlined in his memo "Working Families First".

In this memo, Banks calls for a shift in party focus away from Wall Street and toward supporting the working and middle classes.

His suggested policy changes include expanding access to apprenticeships and technical training and increasing opportunities through Pell Grants to prepare people for the workforce.

He advocates a detailed strategy to incentivize domestic investment and enhance the U.S. industrial base, particularly in defense sectors.