IN-02: Democrat Joe Donnelly Gets A GOP Challenger
By Mayhem Posted in Archived — Comments (4) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Republican Luke Puckett announced yesterday that he will be challenging freshman Rep. Joe Donnelly for his seat in Congress. Puckett is an area businessman and former missionary to Cuba, and is is well versed in international politics, particularly that of Central and South America.
As you will recall, Joe Donnelly beat Rep. Chris Chocola (R), in the 2006 election. Indiana was one of the hardest hit states, proportionally, in the Democrat sweep. The state lost three Republicans in 2006, and its Congressional delegation went from 7-2 in favor of the GOP to 5-4 in favor of the Dems.
Chocola, who decided not to make another run at the seat, has endorsed Puckett. However, there will be a primary for the GOP nomination, as Republican Tony Zirkle is also in the race. The state party and many of the local GOP leaders are rallying around Puckett, though, as the area's best chance to take back the seat.
The 2nd District is not heavily biased towards either party, which makes it more competitive than not. The population base of the district is in St. Joseph County (South Bend area), which favors the Democrats. However, the district, as a whole, largely swings with the momentum of the election, nationally.
That being said, it is generally a conservative, working-class district, with a good mixture of urban, suburban, and rural areas. It has lots of farm land, but is also home to one of the fastest-growing, commercially developed areas in the whole state, just east of the University of Notre Dame.
I would tend to say that a Pro-Life Democrat is slightly more favorable to win in the 2nd District than a Republican, but not by much. As with Chris Chocola, a solid conservative Republican can be quite viable in this region. The district went 56 percent for Bush in 2004 and 54 percent in 2000. Chocola won with over 50 percent in 2002 and with 54 percent in 2004 (the same margin Donnelly won by in 2006).
One other note: There is a very large Hispanic population in North Central Indiana, which makes up a large chunk of the 2nd District. Puckett has a good connection with many local Hispanic leaders, as he is fluent in Spanish from his days as a missionary in Cuba. He understands many of the hispanic challenges in the area and nationally. Rest assured, though, he is a very strong supporter of securing the border and enforcing our immigration laws. If elected, Puckett would be a tremendous assett to the GOP at the national level, if it hopes to reach out to Hispanics in the future.
Keep an eye on the 2nd District.
Great post. We need more Congressional coverage and this is a great introduction. For those interested in research a district I highly recommend CQPolitics. Here is IN-02. The recent results are interesting. Chocola beat Donnelly 54-45 in 2004 and then lost to Donnelly 54-46 in 2006. That shows what a Democratic surge will do.
FWIW, the district is 8% black and 5% hispanic. It is more blue collar than average (35%) Overall this is the type of district (mostly white, non-urban, blue collar) that Rs must win to have a majority.
Keep us up to date on the developments here.
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a website? I am pretty sure he does, but I wanna know, ya' know.
Standing athwart history yelling stop!!!! http://nationalwhig.blogspot.com
If we're going to take back Congress within the next couple of cycles, this is one of the seats we need to win, and if we're going to take this one back, this is the year to do it.
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