WASHINGTON, Ind. — Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly in an interview Monday broke with his liberal base, opposing single-payer healthcare and rejecting calls to abolish the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
“I think that’s a terrible idea,” Donnelly said, of the demands to dismantle ICE rippling through the Democratic Party in the aftermath of the child separations crisis sparked by President’s Trump’s zero tolerance policy for families caught illegally crossing the Southern border. “It’s important that we have strong, and safe, and secure borders, and ICE is a part of that.”
Donnelly, embroiled in a tough re-election bid with Republican businessman Mike Braun in what has become reliably conservative territory, also spurned liberals on healthcare. Nationalized insurance has caught the imagination of several Democrats running for state and federal office who are running, unapologetically, on establishing a government system that goes beyond anything imposed by Obamacare.
“I’m trying to protect what we have now. That’s my focus — is to make sure we can protect pre-existing conditions, protect the Affordable Care Act,” Donnelly said.
Donnelly spoke with the Washington Examiner after cutting the ribbon for the opening of a local party headquarters in ruby red Daviess County, and shaking hands with the lunch crowd at The New White Steamer, an 81 year-old, cash-only burger joint along Main Street in the working class, Southwest Indiana community of Washington that is a popular stop with Hoosier State politicians.
In a toxic national environment that could see House Republicans knocked from power in a backlash against Trump, Indiana is among the handful of Senate battlegrounds that is an oasis for the GOP — because voters there like the president. Hence, Donnelly’s public chumminess with Trump.
Earlier Monday, as Donnelly, 62, greeted union hard-hat workers entering an Alcoa aluminum plant in Newburgh, Ind., near Evansville, for their early morning shift, he emphasized to the Washington Examiner his support for Trump’s agenda. The senator dismissed differences with the president on big-ticket items such as the $1 trillion tax overhaul that could sink him with the Republican voters he’ll need to win.
“I voted with [Trump] 62 percent of the time,” Donnelly said. “My job isn’t to be his puppy dog, my job is to be the senator from Indiana. If you want someone who is going to be with you on every single thing, you know there’s an old saying: If you agree with someone on everything, then one of you is not needed. My job is to be the senator for the people here.”
But Donnelly added: “I actually told President Trump: ‘Look, a lot of the same guys who vote for you, they vote for me. And, they voted for me before they even knew you … When I say, a lot of Donnelly voters are Trump voters, a lot of Trump voters are Donnelly voters, it’s because they are.”
The senator was sharply critical of Trump on taxes and healthcare, positions that Democratic strategists believe could pay dividends in November in red states and that are consistent with this voting record since first being elected to Congress as a member of the House in the blue wave of 2006. Donnelly was noncommittal on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to replace retired Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.
Senate Republicans are driving this issue, believing it could put red state in a box canyon, forced to choose between angering their liberal base or the majority of rank-and-file voters. Donnelly, who voted last year to confirm Neil Gorsuch to the high court, said he wouldn’t decide on Kavanaugh until after the confirmation hearings, expected to occur this fall before the midterm elections.
“I’m going to meet with him on [August] 15th, and just go through all of the questions that I have,” Donnelly said. “I’m not an ideologue on this, I don’t have litmus tests, and I will look at it on its face.”
