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On Nov. 6, Hoosiers will be going to the polls to make some very important decisions. One of the most important is whether to re-elect our incumbent Sen. Joe Donnelly. We now need Joe Donnelly more than we have ever needed him in the past.
My progressive Democratic friends don’t like that Joe voted for the wall or his position on a woman’s right to choose or his support for increased military spending. My conservative Republican friends don’t like Joe’s refusal to vote for all things Trump. And while I do not like some of Joe’s positions, I am going to enthusiastically vote for him on Nov. 6 because he is a moderate who does not do what is politically expedient just to get re-elected and, in this day and time, that is exactly who we need in Washington, D.C.
Joe’s track record shows that he is willing to reach across the aisle whenever it benefits Indiana. In 2017, Joe voted with the president 62 percent of the time. For a Democrat representing a red state, that is exactly where he should be. Not everything Trump has done is against the interests of our state. Joe stands for Hoosiers when necessary. For example, Joe supports the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, but at the same time recognizes that changes are needed to make the system work even better for Hoosiers. He sponsored the right-to-try bill that now gives terminally ill Hoosiers access to experimental treatments.
Joe voted to confirm Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. But, in light of the circumstances, Joe could not vote to confirm Justice Brent Kavanaugh. He knew that a “no” vote carried a price in a red state, but he voted as he did because he thought it was the right—not the politically expedient—thing to do.
Joe did not support tax reform because it failed to provide relief to middle-class Hoosiers and it failed to protect American jobs. And now, we are learning that Joe was right to vote no. Supporters of tax reform claimed that the reduced revenue would be replaced by faster economic growth, but that hasn’t happened, and our deficit is growing at an alarming rate. We need a senator who will ask the important question before voting on every bill: Is it the right thing to do for Indiana?
And there is no question that Joe has been engaged in the process of governance. He has attended nearly 95 percent of the hearings for public committees and subcommittees he serves on. At the same time, he spends time in Indiana where he has a home and family.
For those of us Democrats and Republicans who realize that serving as a senator requires one to sometimes put personal or political party interests to the side to advance the interests of all Hoosiers, there is only one person for whom we can vote—and that is Joe Donnelly. We do not need to send another yes man to serve the president, which is how his opponent has portrayed himself. We need a senator who will serve us.•
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Celestino-Horseman is an attorney and represents the Indiana Latino Democratic Caucus on the Democratic State Central Committee. Send comments to ibjedit@ibj.com.
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