Rep. Joe Donnelly (D)

The congressman from the 2nd District is Joe Donnelly, a Democrat first elected in 2006. Donnelly was born in Massapequa, New York, and grew up on Long Island’s South Shore. He attended the University of Notre Dame, earning an undergraduate degree in government and a law degree in 1981. He practiced law in the area until 1996, when he opened Marking Solutions, a printing and rubber stamp company. Donnelly served on the state election board in 1988 and 1989, but his early bids for public office were disappointing to say the least. He ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for state attorney general in 1988, failed in a bid for the state Senate in 1990, and then lost his first attempt at a seat in Congress in 2004. However, he at least came in close in the latter contest, holding Republican Rep. Chris Chocola to 54% to his 45%. Donnelly compared himself to popular former Democratic Rep. Tim Roemer and said he would be more independent of his party than Chocola. But Donnelly raised less than half as much money as Jill Long Thompson, the 2002 Democratic nominee for the seat, and national Democrats made the race a low priority.

The year 2006 was much more difficult for Republicans like Chocola nationally, and he had some problems at home as well. Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels’s move to daylight saving time and the privatization of the Indiana Toll Road, which runs through the district, proved unpopular. The liberal group MoveOn.org identified Chocola as an early target and ran negative television ads. This time, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee took a much greater interest in the race by installing a campaign manager for Donnelly and by elevating the race to its “Red to Blue” program. Republicans too recognized the seriousness of Chocola’s predicament. President Bush’s first 2006 campaign visit for a House candidate was for Chocola, who collected about $650,000 from the appearance. So Donnelly made Bush’s handling of the Iraq war an issue in his campaign. Chocola again outspent Donnelly by more than 2-to-1, but it seemed it was finally Donnelly’s year to win an election. He beat Chocola 54%-46%, carrying five of the district’s 12 counties. Donnelly increased his margin in South Bend’s St. Joseph County from 621 votes in 2004 to more than 12,700 in 2006.

In the House, Donnelly has a centrist voting record. An opponent of abortion rights and expanding federal funding for embryonic-stem-cell research, Donnelly urged Democratic leaders to advance a moderate agenda in Congress. He also joined the Blue Dogs, a group of conservative and centrist Democrats. In the meantime, he went his own way on some issues, and was among 12 Democrats to vote against the budget in 2007.

He has focused on veterans’ issues, working with Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., to expedite veterans’ claims, and he took some credit for helping add $6.6 billion to veterans spending in 2007. On the Financial Services Committee, he backed the fall 2008 bailouts for the financial markets and big automobile companies. On the housing bill in 2007, he added a provision to raise loan limits for manufactured housing, which has a strong presence in Indiana.

Donnelly had an unexpectedly easy re-election campaign in 2008, after Republicans failed to recruit a strong challenger. Against Elkhart County businessman Luke Puckett, Donnelly won 67%-30% and took all 12 counties.