There could be THREE candidates for Indiana’s U-S Senate seat in November…..

Carmel real estate developer Nathan Altman is kicking off a petition-drive to challenge Democratic Senator Joe Donnelly and the eventual Republican nominee as an independent.

Altman says he’s a fiscal conservative, but isn’t laying out policy positions beyond that.

He says if there are enough independents in the Senate to control the balance of power, it’ll force the major parties to work together on solutions.

Indiana has never elected a third-party senator.

But Altman’s first challenge is just to get on the ballot. Independent Senate candidates must gather nearly 27-thousand signatures by July 2.

No one’s cleared that hurdle since the New Alliance Party in 1994.