Joe Donnelly belongs to a rare political breed. Not only is he a blue congressman in a red state, Donnelly is one of the last remaining anti-abortion senators in the Democratic Party. And soon, he could become extinct.
Conservatives have superimposed an abortion binary on the Supreme Court struggle. And now Donnelly must decide whether to support Trump nominee Neil Gorsuch or face the wrath of the anti-abortion lobby.
So far Donnelly has remained coy. The senator said Sunday that he’s still trying to figure out what’s best for the state. “That’s why instead of saying yes or no right off the bat,” Donnelly told the CBS affiliate in Indianapolis, “my job is to listen, to accumulate as much information as possible, to hear his testimony at the hearings and then to make the best decision.”
Translated out of talking points and into English, that means Donnelly’s keeping a finger in the air and trying to figure out which way the political winds will blow. It’s not such an easy calculation.
Consider a couple factors. He’s one of 10 Democrats up for reelection in states that Trump carried. And after the Senate voted to defund Planned Parenthood in 2015, he and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin became the last two anti-abortion Democrats.
Come 2018, it’s not clear whether Donnelly will be able to count on blue backup. He certainly won’t have many friends across the aisle. Already, the anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony List has made more than 1,300 calls to his office. Tea Party Patriots has recruited a grassroots army of 9,000 voters to write letters. And the Judicial Crisis Network has run television ads in Indiana to raise the abortion issue.
Several dozen anti-abortion protestors stood outside of Donnelly’s district office in the rain last week, including one Rep. Todd Rokita. That could end up being a savvy move. Should the Democrat oppose Gorsuch’s nomination, he might inadvertently jumpstart his challenger’s campaign.
None of this means opposing Gorsuch would seal Donnelly’s fate. It wouldn’t. The senator can fight the nominee tooth and nail. He just can’t filibuster Gorsuch and keep him from getting an up or down vote on the Senate floor.
If that happens, anti-abortion Indiana could finally end up killing off the last of the anti-abortion Democrats.
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
