Mike Braun rarely voted against party; Joe Donnelly crosses line more often than most

From left, Republican Mike Braun, Libertarian Lucy Brenton and Democrat Joe Donnelly are battling for one of Indiana's U.S. Senate seats.

WASHINGTON – Republican Mike Braun argues voters should send him to the U.S. Senate instead of Democrat Joe Donnelly because he’s an outsider, unafraid to challenge leadership or the status quo in Washington.

“The key thing about a leader is you think independently," Braun said during Monday's debate. "If you look at my record, I’ve done that when I was in the state legislature. I’ve done it in my business. A record speaks for itself.”

But Braun showed little of that independence in the votes he cast during his three years in the state legislature.

Of his more than 1,400 votes on the House floor during 2015-2017 where Republicans enjoyed a super majority, Braun disagreed with fellow Republicans 2 percent of the time, an IndyStar review found.

Indiana Senate race 2018:Everything you need to know about Mike Braun and Joe Donnelly

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The 22 times that he was on the opposite side of a majority of Republicans included when he opposed allowing counties to implement needle exchanges without the approval of the state, opposed codifying the state’s alternative approach to expanding Medicaid, opposed ending the state schools chief’s authority over the Indiana Board of Education, and supported studying the effects of raising the minimum wage.

Donnelly, by contrast, has regularly crossed party lines in Washington more often than most lawmakers.

In the current Congress, Donnelly has been on the opposite side of a majority of Democrats on more than one-in-five votes, according to ProPublica. That’s the third highest defection among Democratic and Republican senators.

Issues on which he’s sided with Republicans since first being elected to Congress in 2006 include supporting restrictions on abortion, opposing them on guns and coal-fired power plants, and voting for Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. Donnelly, however, also voted against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, voted for the 2010 Affordable Care Act, and backed a path to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants as part of a broader package that included increased border security.

“People ask me –‘Joe, what do you think of President Trump?’ It’s simple. When he’s for Hoosiers, I’m with him,” Donnelly says in a campaign ad. “When something’s bad for Hoosiers…I won’t go along with any president.”

The Nov. 6 election will test these different approaches of the candidates in an increasingly politically polarized environment.

While voters pay lip service to independence, said Alan Abramowitz, a political science professor at Emory University, Democrats and Republicans mostly want someone who will support their party.

“In a red state like Indiana, however, a Democrat has to cross party lines from time to time to survive,” said Abramowitz, author of “The Disappearing Center.”

Donnelly is the only statewide-elected Democrat in Indiana, a state that voted for President Donald Trump by 19 percentage points.

But Trump has been such a divisive figure that about half of likely Indiana voters surveyed last month by Ipsos Public Affairs said they’re motivated to support a candidate who will oppose Trump. And a near identical share said they want to vote for a candidate who will support the president.

Braun has tied himself closely to Trump, declining to name any area on which they disagree.

“I’m going to be an ally that Donald Trump can count on every time,” Braun said in a fundraising solicitation that accused Donnelly of voting in “in lock-step” with his party leaders.

Braun’s campaign declined to say what his own voting record shows about his independence, and declined to explain specific votes when he voted against most Republicans.

Some of those votes showed Braun was: 

►Among 24 Republicans who opposed allowing counties to implement needle exchanges without the approval of the state. The bill passed in 2017 as part of an effort to fight problems associated with widespread opioid drug abuse.

►One of six Republicans who opposed codifying HIP 2.0, the program Indiana used to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, after receiving permission from the Obama administration to change some rules. The bill passed in 2016.

►Among 10 GOP lawmakers who opposed allowing the state Board of Education to annually elect a chairperson from the board instead of falling under the leadership of the state superintendent of public instruction. This 2015 bill was a move by Republicans to end authority over the board by then-state Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz, a Democrat.

►One of 17 Republicans who voted in 2015 for an unsuccessful amendment to back studying the impact on the economy and on public welfare programs of raising the minimum wage to $10.10, expanding the earned income tax credit and the additional dependent child exemption.

Instead of commenting on those votes, campaign spokesman Josh Kelley said in a written statement that “the experience Mike will take to work for Hoosiers in Washington is his four decades of creating hundreds of good-paying American jobs in the business he built from the ground up in his hometown."

Speaking to fellow Republicans at a breakfast in Bloomington last year, Braun named some of the most conservative Republicans when asked which senators he most identifies with. He chose “core conservatives” Mike Lee of Utah and Ted Cruz of Texas, as well as former Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn who, Braun said, was not interested in pleasing leadership or making a career of the Senate. (Coburn earned the nickname “Dr. No” because of his willingness to block legislation.)

“I’m not going there to burn time,” Braun said. “I’m going to be part of the process to where I’m leading the way with others.”

Robert Dion, a political science professor at the University of Evansville, said Braun’s voting record doesn’t seem to reflect the approach of a Cruz or a Lee. Braun didn’t serve long in the Indiana House and was a low-ranking member of a sprawling Republican caucus, Dion said.

Donnelly has been trying to paint Braun as an “extreme” Republican, although he’s primarily used that as a fundraising tactic. (One email solicitation says Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., wants to replace Donnelly “with an extreme Republican who will do their bidding in the Senate.” Another says McConnell wants “another `yes’ man for his agenda.’”)

For his part, Braun accuses Donnelly of acting like a moderate in Indiana but voting like a Democrat in Washington.

Dion said voters are willing to let their representative hold a contrary view on some issues, “as long as they have an overall record of being hardworking and attentive and broadly representative of the people’s views.”

“But you don’t ever want to make a habit,” he said, “of voting repeatedly against your constituents’ views.”

Contributing: Jordyn Hermani, IndyStar.