A new ad from Indiana Democratic Senate hopeful Evan Bayh includes one supporter saying he is a proud Hoosier and "so was Evan Bayh," notably using the past tense to describe the man who has been criticized for not actually living in the state.
In the ad titled "Saved," Indiana residents praise Bayh’s work to keep jobs in the state during his time in the U.S. Senate.
"I’m a Hoosier, proud to be one, and so was Evan Bayh," Al H. says at the end of the commercial.
You cannot make his up. Evan Bayh's latest ad ends with past tense reference to being a Hoosier! **was** https://t.co/ZZ6t9MnEM8 #insen
— Josh Holmes (@HolmesJosh) October 4, 2016
The words are striking given Bayh’s struggles to show he actually is an Indiana resident.
Bayh left the Senate in 2011 and then made the surprising decision to run for his former seat in July. At one point in August, however, he could not give the correct address of his Indiana residence.
CNN reported in August on records contradicting Bayh’s claim that he has never left Indiana.
"I’ve never left," he told WISH-TV.
It turns out he did.
A CNN review of public records since Bayh left office in 2011 shows the Democrat repeatedly listed his two multi-million dollar homes in Washington as his main places of residence–not the $53,000 condo he owns in Indianapolis.
Just three weeks after leaving office in 2011, Bayh changed his address to his $2.3 million home in a leafy neighborhood in Washington, according to Indiana records. And often when Bayh registered his address–whether it was on an Alaska fishing license, a donation to Hillary Clinton, or on the deed to his beachfront property in Southern Florida–he listed Washington as his home.
Neighbors interviewed in September said they never saw Bayh in their Indiana neighborhood over the past three years or had no idea he even had property there.
Bayh has tried to portray himself as a true Hoosier on the campaign trail in his effort to win back his seat. In one ad, he plays basketball with his children who are wearing Indiana basketball shirts, despite being raised in Washington, D.C. and later attending Harvard University.