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The two candidates running for the seat in the United States Senate from Indiana are: Mike Braun and the incumbent Joe Donnelly. Mike Braun is a career businessman with a perfect success story. He was a three sport athlete in highschool, and then went on to Wabash college. After that, he moved on to the Harvard School of Business. He came back to Indiana where his success began and where he grew his wealth, amassing a net worth of nearly 100 million dollars. Joe Donnelly, however, took a different path. He started his career with a small business in the late 1900’s, then went on to pursue a career in law. He then served on the Indiana State election board and the school board for Mishawaka Marian High School prior to serving in congress as Indiana’s second district representative and then as an Indiana senator. Mike Braun tends to be more ideologically extreme while Donnelly prides himself on his moderate bipartisan strategy in Congress. Donnelly was one of the few anti-abortion Democrats in congress. Mike Braun fought through his primary against two longtime political rivals; Luke Messer and Todd Rokita. He gained 41 percent of the vote to receive the Republican party nomination.  It was not an easy victory for Braun as he blew 4.5 million dollars on his primary alone. Joe Donnelly on the other hand, had an easy road to the Democratic nomination running in a primary unopposed.

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The most recent polls suggest Donnelly has an advantage that averages out to be about 0.7 percent on Mike Braun. The most recent poll from Fox News taken from October 27 to October 30 reported that Joe Donnelly has a seven percent lead over Mark Braun. The next most recent poll was taken by NBC News from October 24 to October 28 which had Joe Donnelly in the lead by 3%. Next a poll from CBS News taken from October 23 to October 26 has Braun up by 3 percent. However, both the NBC and CBS news polls were within the 4.5 percent margin for error. But, FOX  news was well out of that margin at seven percent. The three polls respectively polled 722, 496 and 975 people. Although Joe Donnelly may seem to be in the ahead in the polls,  Indiana's electoral votes went to President Donald Trump in 2016 and have gone to the Republican candidate since 1964.
Joe Donnelly has been endorsed by the National Education Association, and the Communications Workers of Americas, and big names like former Vice President Joe Biden. Mike Braun, however, has been endorsed by the Indiana Right to Life, FreedomWorks and the Senate Conservatives Fund, along with equally big names such as current Vice President, Mike Pence and former President George W. Bush. These endorsements can sway voters to vote one way or another. For example, if a voter voted for George W. Bush in 2004 they might consider voting for the candidate he endorsed. Joe Donnelly and Mike Braun differ on their stances on many different key issues. Joe Donnelly, unlike his party, does not support abortion, with exceptions for rape and incest. Mike Braun on the other hand sticks with his party's platform and does not support abortion under any circumstances. Joe Donnelly also supports the idea of having health care for all, while Mike Braun, somewhat along the lines of the Republican party, supports the idea that there are other means of creating cheaper health care. On immigration they seem to agree. Joe Donnelly, against the platform of the Democratic party supports abolishing birthright citizenship, while Mike Braun goes even further supporting the building of the wall separating the US and Mexico along with fellow Republicans. Campaign fund wise, Joe Donnelly trails his opponent with a total of 16,031,094 dollars from large out of state corporations and donors like Land O Lakes and even a donation from the University of California and Comcast, This shows how these donors could stand to benefit from Joe Donnelly's policies in which he plans to enact. Mike Braun has slightly more funding at a grand total of 16,148,137 dollars. Braun seems to be almost like the inverse of his competitor by getting funding from small Indiana state businesses like Ackerman Oil and Jasper Engines and Transmissions, rather than big businesses. Giving him the support of more of the hard-working middle class citizens of Indiana.

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Indiana’s population consists of around 6,666,818 people. Of those people, roughly 85.4% of them are White, 9.7% black, 0.4% American Indian, 2.4% Asian, 7% Hispanic or Latino, Making Indiana less diverse than other states in the United states. Indiana also has about 27% of its population living in rural areas, which is a much higher number than the national average of 19%. According to the state of Indiana, an average of 58% of registered voters turned out to vote in the 2016 general election. In the 2016 primaries, that number fell to an average of 38 percent voter turnout. Indiana voter turnout exceeded the 2014 midterms with 21 percent of eligible voters voting early. To be able to vote in Indiana, you must be a US citizen, a resident of Indiana, 18 years old, and you need to have resided in your precinct for at least 30 days before the election. You also cannot vote from prison. You can register to vote online, in person, or by mail. If you register online, you need to verify your eligibility, provide information such as your Indiana driver's license. To register in person or by mail, you need to fill out the Indiana voter registration application form VRG-7, or the County voter registration application form VRG-11. Once you fill either of those out, you need to mail or deliver it to your county voter registration office, or the Indiana election division. You can also apply through the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles. All you need to do is show up to a BMV license branch to register. To vote early in Indiana, you do not need a reason, but you do need to provide a valid photo ID issued by the state of Indiana or the federal government. These voter registration laws are fairly standard among the states in the US.

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In the Indiana senate race between Rep. Mike Braun and Dem. Joe Donnelly it is a very close race but we believe that the advantage goes to Dem. Joe Donnelly because of his traditionally moderate views for a Democrat and his massive advantage of being an incumbent.

Joe Donnelly is an extremely moderate Democrat even taking traditionally Republican views on a few important issues such as abortion. He is one of few Democrats who has the ability to win in the traditionally red state of Indiana. In today’s political races where the fight is for those in the middle, the moderate views of Joe Donnelly would be more appealing to those in the middle, and may influence these swing voters into giving him the edge to keep his seat in the Senate.
Speaking of his seat, Joe Donnelly also has the benefit of being the incumbent of the Indiana Senate seat. This means that his name is more familiar among voters especially in cases when voters are less informed and would have a higher tendency to vote for a familiar name even if another candidate would be more viable for the seat. Some people may argue that a Democrat will not win in Indiana because of the lack of diversity in the state which will favor Republicans.
While Indiana is traditionally a red state in presidential elections this has not always been the case on the senate level. Moderate Democrats have had success in Indiana and even Donnelly himself proved this when he was elected in 2012. This Democratic success will be made easier because of the somewhat extreme views of Mike Braun which will cause the swing voters to favor Donnelly and could even cause some moderate Republicans to cross over and vote for Donnelly as well. These votes that Donnelly will receive from the moderates in Indiana will be enough to overcome the advantage that Republicans typically have.

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Joe Donnelly    vs      Mike Braun

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