Allen County judge announces bid for Rep. Banks’ Third District seat

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WPTA) - Allen County Circuit Court Judge Wendy Davis (R) launched her campaign for the state’s Third Congressional District Tuesday morning.

The congressional seat is up for grabs after current Rep. Jim Banks (R) announced in January that he aims to replace Senator Mike Braun (R), who is leaving the seat to run for Indiana governor in 2024.

Davis held a news conference Tuesday morning at the Allen County GOP headquarters in downtown Fort Wayne to announce her bid for the seat. She said she would step down from her current judicial duties effective immediately for the campaign.

She took the Circuit Court Bench January 1, 2021, after serving nine years as a judge in the Allen Superior Court Criminal Division.

Davis will be running against State Sen. Andy Zay (R-Huntington), who formally launched his Third District campaign on March 2. Online filings show Chandler Likes and Michael Felker have also filed to run for the Republican nomination. No Democrats have filed at this time, according to the Federal Election Commission.