The Democrat supports a border wall and the Republican supports protections for pre-existing conditions. It’s the Indiana Senate Race where incumbent Sen. Joe Donnelly, and challenger Mike Braun are defying plenty of the regular party lines.
Donnelly is the Democrat but he can’t be attacked as easily on immigration like many of his colleagues. When President Trump threatened a shutdown over funding for his border wall earlier in August, the self-branded centrist Donnelly told Politico he was “fine with $3, $3.5, $4, or $5 billion” in funding for the long-promised barrier if it meant keeping the government open. And that’s not all.
His campaign makes certain to point out that Donnelly was one of the few Democrats on board with the Trump immigration bill. He was ready to sign off on $25 billion for the border wall in exchange for a pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million young illegal immigrants.
This puts Donnelly out of the Democratic mainstream and in a strong spot to keep his seat. Voters regularly place immigration at the top of their lists of priorities and voters in Indiana regularly send immigration hawks to Congress.
Braun is the Republican, and like Donnelly he hasn’t mindlessly toed the party line. He wants to repeal Obamacare like the rest of his party. He doesn’t want to end protections for pre-existing conditions, though like some of his colleagues.
“Sure, anything that’s going to actually get rid of it, yes,” Braun said of Obamacare during a Politico interview before following it up with a caveat. “And then be ready to come back and talk about what you’re ready to do about pre-existing conditions and no limits on coverage. That’s where you don’t hear much conservative talk.”
This helps Braun avoid sounding heartless when it comes to healthcare. Obamacare premiums are up in Indiana but things haven’t deteriorated to such a point that a Republican can safely talk about denying coverage to individuals because of a medical accident of fate.
These two positions are a reflection on the candidates, yes. Both are prepared to think, to an extent, about issues outside of the normal partisan consciousness. But this is more importantly a reflection of the Indiana electorate which, while very much Republican, hasn’t hesitated to pick and choose from the two parties.
Donnelly and Braun are just products of a conservative, pragmatic electorate.
