SEYMOUR, Ind. (WOWO): Democrats have their first candidate to replacing the retiring Dan Coats in the U.S. Senate. 

Former 9th District Congressman Baron Hill announced in an online post Wednesday that he would seek the Democratic nomination for the Senate seat Coats is vacating next year. “For too long, working people across America have been counted out, and left out, of our economic progress. And far too often, the deck is stacked against us in Washington and it is getting harder for average people who work hard and play by the rules to get ahead,” read a portion of Hill‘s three-paragraph statement. “We can either put our heads in the sand, or we can fight to restore the American Dream, the middle class.” 

Hill, 61, has run for Senate once before, losing to Coats in the 1990 special election to fill the remainder of Dan Quayle‘s term after Quayle became vice president. The native of Seymour was serving in the State House at the time, and Hill won the first of five terms in Congress in 1998, narrowly defeating Republican and current state Senator Jean Leising. 

In 2010, Hill lost his House seat to a man he could face again in the Senate race, current Republican Congressman Todd Young. Though Young says he is still considering a run for Senate, a letter signed by former state Republican Party chairs Jim Kittle Jr. and Al Hubbard called on Young to run; the letter was circulated this week by Young‘s congressional campaign. 

The declared Republican candidates so far are 3rd District Congressman Marlin Stutzman and another former GOP chairman, Eric Holcomb, who most recently was chief of staff in Coats‘s Indiana office. Other Republicans mentioned as possible candidates include 4th District Congressman Todd Rokita, House Speaker Brian Bosma and state Senator Mike Delph.

Hill had openly considered a run for governor before Coats announced his retirement. State Rep. Christina Hale (D, Indianapolis) is one of the few Democrats who has also said they were considering a Senate run, though some Democrats are trying to convince former Senator and ex-Governor Evan Bayh to make another run at his old seat. Bayh left the Senate in 2010 rather than run for re-election, leading to Coats‘s return to the office.