Democrat Joe Donnelly beat Republican Richard Mourdock for Indiana’s U.S. Senate race, replacing the seat held by Senate veteran, Republican Richard Lugar.
“We have a tradition in Indiana in the United States Senate,” Donnelly told a crowd of supporters after his victory. “And that tradition are people like Richard Lugar and Evan Bayh who work together. So I say to all of my fellow Hoosiers out there — this isn’t about politics. This isn’t about one party or another.”
Gary Crawley, a political science assistant professor, said with Donnelly’s election, it will be hard for Republicans to take over the Senate.
“Part of the reason is it looks like the House is going to turn out about the same as it is now,” Crawley said. “From what I’ve seen, there aren’t that many party changes in the House that are coming along.”
Donnelly represents the 2nd District in north-central Indiana, which does not include Ball State. Elected to Congress in 2006, 2008 and 2010, he has served on the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the House Committee on Financial Services. In addition, he is on the Blue Dog Coalition caucus, a moderate group of Democrats in Congress.
Emily Rodriguez, University Democrats vice president, said for the student body, Donnelly’s win is important for education purposes.
“We will see more of an emphasis on test-related scores and also funding for tests and more work with the federal government to get funding,” Rodriguez said.
Holly Gillham, former College Republicans chairman, said she disagrees with the impact Donnelly will have on education.
“The way I look at education, it is a state-level issue,” she said. “I would say the people you elect as governor, people you elect for state representatives, senators, that’s going to have much more impact on the future of education.”
The Democratic victory is important in specific areas of education, Crawley said.
“You’ll have more support for things like Pell Grants and Stafford Loans in terms of higher education than you would if Mourdock was elected,” he said. “Except [for] federal government grants and education grants, it’s hard to really think about students being directly affected.”
With Donnelly’s election win, it means he will support the Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare.” The big part of the plan that is important for those at the university level is that young adults can stay on their parent’s insurance plan until age 26.
“Donnelly would not repeal the health-care law,” Rodriguez said. “He would work with President Obama to amend quite a bit of the ‘Obamacare,’ but doesn’t support complete and total repeal of it.”
Aside from education and health care, another important issue for students is the national debt, which rests at $16 trillion, an increase from the $10 trillion it was when Obama took office in 2008, Gillham said.
With the Democratic win, Gillham said she hopes that Donnelly changes his current voting record in the Senate.
“I hope he can break away from the liberal votes he made such as voting for ‘Obamacare’ and I hope that he can place our fiscal health as a top priority,” she said.
Rodriguez said she is pleased with the Indiana senatorial results, noting the hard work done for this election.
“He will work with both sides of the aisle and he’s clearheaded,” Rodriguez said. “This means we maintain numbers in the Senate, which is incredibly important.”
Jeff Dick, a Democrat and chemistry major, said he was excited but not surprised to see Mourdock defeated.
“It is important to Indiana, this race,” Dick said. “Lugar looked to be such a national patriot. I think it is important to Indiana that we get that national patriot back and someone we trust enough to be on par with Richard Lugar who was there for six terms.”
