Joe Donnelly is completing his first term in the United States Senate, having been elected by the good people of Indiana to that position in 2012. Joe is a native of Indiana, as is his wife Jill. They met in South Bend, while both were attending college and they raised their children in the Northern Indiana home that Jill's father helped build.

Like his father, Joe was a small businessman, running a printing shop in Mishawaka. He concern about the future of our children led him to run for the local school board. As the Board's President, he was known for bringing people together to find common sense solutions to the problems his school district was facing.

(Image from Sen. Donnelly website)

That bi-partisan approach continues to serve the people of Indiana well in his current role as U.S. Senator. So much so that Senator Donnelly was recently recognized by the Lugar Center and the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University for being the second-most bipartisan U.S. Senator in the last 25 years.

Some examples of Joe's ability to reach across the aisle include the 2014 Farm Bill, legislation to address military mental health, numerous efforts to fight opioid and heroin addiction, strengthening of sanctions against Iran and Russia, and his amendment (included in this year's defense bill) to address our strategy on North Korea.

But don't worry, Senator Donnelly won't hesitate to risk his bipartisan ranking when the GOP ignores Democratic input on issues and when they refuse to compromise with the Democrats. He has stood firmly against the Republicans' mistaken belief that the GOP/Trump tax cuts for the already-wealthy will trickle down to the rest of us; or when the GOP tries to pay for those tax cuts by cutting, privatizing, or eliminating Social Security and Medicare.

(Image from Sen. Donnelly website)

Joe knows that one of the best means to grow the economy is by supporting job-creating infrastructure projects, something the GOP has opposed ever since taking control of the House in 2010. (See our article, "When Will the GOP Agree to Fix Our Nation's Infrastructure?",) for more detail on this issue.) He also won't go along with the Ryan/McConnell/Trump plans to let health insurers deny you coverage for a pre-existing condition or drop your coverage when you get sick.

And like most Midwestern Democrats, Joe has a long history of fighting against the exporting of US jobs to foreign countries. He regularly has opposed the tax breaks that many companies utilize when they send jobs overseas and has supported tax incentives for companies who bring foreign jobs back into rural and impoverished communities. (See our article, "House GOP Rejects 'Buy American' Provisions", to get a better understanding on how the Republicans really feel, and vote, when it comes to trade.) When Carrier tried to quietly send 1000 Indiana jobs to Mexico, Senator Donnelly stood with those workers at rallies and made sure the country knew what Carrier was doing.

None of this should surprise you, though. After all, Joe is a pro-gun Democrat, and we urge all of our Indiana readers to support Joe in his 2018 bid for re-election.

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