Report: Democratic Rep. Brad Ellsworth to seek Evan Bayh’s Senate seat

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Democratic Rep. Brad Ellsworth said Friday he will seek Evan Bayh’s Indiana Senate seat, a newspaper reported.

The Evansville Courier & Press said the 51-year-old Ellsworth made his announcement Friday in his hometown, Evansville.

A Democratic Party official told the Associated Press that Ellsworth would ask state party officials to place his name on the November ballot. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because an announcement had not yet been made.

The two-term congressman emerged as a leading possible choice for Democrats after Bayh’s unexpected announcement Monday that he wouldn’t seek a third term.

Ellsworth is considered an attractive candidate because he won by big margins in both of his campaigns in his largely rural southwestern Indiana congressional district after eight years as sheriff of the district’s largest county.

-- Associated Press