October 16, 2018

A New Ad Boosts ICE and the Border Wall and Demonizes the Left. It’s From a Senate Democrat.

Joe Donnelly even declares, “Peace through strength.”

The latest ad in Indiana’s competitive Senate race features promises to fund President Trump’s border wall, oppose “socialized medicine,” and thwart the plans of “radical leftists” who want to abolish Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

These are all common talking points for Republicans—but the catch here is that the candidate running the ad is a Democrat, Sen. Joe Donnelly. 

Donnelly, a Democratic incumbent in a state that went for Trump by 19 points in 2016, is in a delicate position as he tries to hold off a challenge from Republican businessman Mike Braun. Though the senator has been stressing his bipartisan credentials all year, the ad attracted some attention on social media for being one of Donnelly’s more blatant attempts to side with President Trump and win over Republican voters. 

The video opens with clips of Medicare for All protesters, as a voiceover ominously warns that “socialists want to turn healthcare over to the government.” “Over my dead body,” Donnelly says. He later declares, “I support ICE” and and touts his support for military spending. He closes by quoting President Ronald Reagan’s mantra: “Peace through strength.” 

The ad is Donnelly’s latest effort to emphasize his independence in order to hang on to his seat. “I don’t work for any political party,” he said in another video earlier this year. “I’m the hired help.” He often mentions that he’s voted with President Trump 62 percent of the time. And though several other red state incumbents have tried to take a tough stance on immigration, it’s still relatively unusual for a Democrat to say outright that they support funding Trump’s border wall. 

Though Donnelly has mostly tried to distance himself from his party, Braun used the candidates’ first debate last week to attack the senator for voting against the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Unsurprisingly, the candidates spent much of the debate competing to see who could be more pro-Trump. 

The latest polls show Donnelly and Braun in a dead heat. 

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate