Joe Donnelly

U.S. Senate

Donnelly was born on Sept. 29, 1955. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1977 and earned a law degree from the Notre Dame Law School in 1981.
Donnelly ran a small printing company before serving on the State Election Board from 1988-1989 and on the Marian High School school board from 1997-2001.

His first experience with the U.S. Congress came in 2006 when he was elected to represent Indiana's 2nd District. He is currently finishing his third term in office after reelections in 2008 and 2010. In relation to his congressional work, Donnelly is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition and sits on two committees in the areas of financial services and veterans' affairs.

Donnelly is running for U.S. Senate because he wanted to give Hoosiers a senator that will focus on helping families find and keep a good job so they can take care of their families and retire with dignity.

A main focus of his campaign is his five-fold jobs plan. He wants to protect American jobs by cracking down on unfair Chinese government practices and closing tax loopholes that encourage corporations to ship jobs overseas. Donnelly's plan has a focus on tapping into all US energy resources, including Indiana resources like coal, oil and wind.

Donnelly supports tax cuts for Indiana job creators, including making the research and development tax credit and the enhanced expensing deduction permanent. He believes this would help keep businesses in the US and encourage the growth of small business. In this area, Donnelly wants to encourage businesses to employ rural Americans instead of overseas workers.

He wants to help equip workers with necessary skills. His plans calls for increasing rural broadband access and ensuring private business owners work with community colleges to make sure curriculum produces a competitive workforce.

A final point is getting US debt under control. Donnelly supports a balanced budget amendment to help Congress keep financial order. He also wants to cut programs that aren't working for taxpayers.

— Matthew Glowicki