Jim Banks won't face Republican challenger in May. Here's who was removed from the ballot.

Indiana U.S. Rep. Jim Banks will run unopposed in the state’s Republican primary for U.S. Senate following rulings from the Indiana Election Commission and the Indiana Supreme Court booting his primary opponent from the ballot.

It’s a double blow to egg farmer John Rust’s attempt to qualify for the state’s Republican primary ballot. In one afternoon, the bipartisan Indiana Election Commission voted unanimously to remove Rust from the primary ballot because Rust does not meet the state’s party affiliation statute.

Almost immediately following the commission vote, the state's supreme court justices released an order upholding the same state law, reversing a lower court's opinion.

The decision means Republican voters likely won't have a choice in the May primary election — a rarity for an often highly-coveted vacant U.S. Senate seat. Two years ago, Republican voters also didn't have a choice on the May ballot when Sen. Todd Young ran for reelection.

Rust on Tuesday told reporters he intends to appeal the Election Commission’s decision and has stated multiple times he would appeal the case if the Indiana Supreme Court would not rule in his favor.

“If necessary, I will absolutely go to the United States Supreme Court,” Rust said Tuesday afternoon.

Other candidates survived the respective challenges to their candidacies, including both Donald Trump and Joe Biden. The Commission at its Tuesday meeting rejected challenges against both the former and current president and decided on nearly 30 others at its meeting Tuesday.

Party association statute debate

The state law at the heart of the months-long debate on Rust’s candidacy states that a candidate must have voted in their desired party’s last two primary elections or get approval from their political party’s county chair to get on the ballot. Rust has not met either of those requirements.

Rust filed a lawsuit in September against the Secretary of State, the Indiana Election Division and Amanda Lowery, the Jackson County Republican Party chairwoman. In December, a Marion County judge ruled that the party affiliation statute was unconstitutional and Rust officially filed for the U.S. Senate primary ahead of the filing deadline, despite an appeal of the case to the Indiana Supreme Court.

One day prior to the challenge filing deadline, the state’s Supreme Court justices issued a stay on the case, a legal procedure that made him vulnerable to challenges.

Michelle Harter, Rust's attorney, argued the timeline of how justices have heard and made rules on the case did not allow Rust to attempt to qualify for the ballot using another method, such as moving to another county to seek certification from a different party chair.

“The entire filing period we had an injunction in place,” Harter told commissioners. “It just wasn’t necessary.”

But commission members — two Republicans and two Democrats recommended by their party's state chair and then appointed by the governor — said Rust had time to seek alternative ways to qualify for the ballot and insisted the stay from the court provided direction for commissioners to follow the existing law.

“The courts have recognized [political parties] have the constitutional right to control, to a certain extent, who gets to be affiliated with them,” commission member Suzannah Wilson Overholt said.

The decisions from the court and the commission does not change anything for Banks or his campaign, the congressman said in a statement Tuesday. Even if Rust had stayed on the ballot, Banks was the clear frontrunner and received the endorsement of the state's Republican party in August.

In November, Banks would face the winner of the state's Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.

"I will continue to work hard every day between now and November 5th to be Indiana's next conservative Republican Senator," Banks said in the statement.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the Supreme Court had not issued the opinion to explain their decision to uphold the state party affiliation law.

Challenges against Biden, Trump dismissed

Joe Biden and Donald Trump will remain on their respective May primary ballots for president in Indiana after the Election Commission dismissed the challenges filed against their candidacies on Tuesday.

The commission voted to throw out the challenge against Trump by a 3-1 vote and unanimously dismissed the Biden challenge.

Of the two cases, the commission debated the Trump challenge the longest. The challenge against the former president stated he should be disqualified from holding office due to a portion of the U.S. Constitution that states a person cannot be president if they “have engaged in insurrection or rebellion.”

More: From U.S. president to county judge, candidates face challenges to run in Indiana primary

The Monroe County voter who filed the challenge cited Trump’s alleged involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol as evidence. But Trump’s attorneys argued that the Election Commission did not have jurisdiction over the decision.

The lone vote in favor of removing Trump from the ballot was commission member Karen Celestino-Horseman, a Democrat. But the majority of the members said state law did not align with the argument to remove Trump.

“I find nothing sufficient in what’s been offered today,” Commission Chair Paul Okeson said.

The commission quickly dismissed the challenge against Biden’s candidacy after the challenger did not appear for the hearing.

Trump will face Nikki Haley on the Republican primary ballot on May 7, while Biden will be unopposed.

Democrat McCormick now unopposed

Decisions by the Election Commission Tuesday also left Jennifer McCormick, a Democratic candidate for governor, unopposed in the party’s May primary.

Commissioners voted unanimously to remove Tamie Dixon-Tatum from the May primary ballot, after she filed to run against McCormick in the Democratic primary. Dixon-Tatum, the civil and human rights director for the city of Anderson, did not submit enough petition signatures required for candidates running for governor.

Dixon-Tatum had also filed a challenge to McCormick’s candidacy, which was dismissed Tuesday.

Contact IndyStar's state government and politics reporter Brittany Carloni at [email protected] or 317-779-4468. Follow her on Twitter/X @CarloniBrittany.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana U.S. Rep. Jim Banks unopposed following commission, court rule