Joe Donnelly will represent Hoosier Democrats as delegation chair at the party’s national convention in Chicago next month. The former Senator and Ambassador to the Vatican thanked President Joe Biden for his service after the 81-year-old announced his decision not to seek reelection on Sunday.
“He has had a presidency that has been really historic, and the act he's just taken is one of selflessness,” Donnelly said.
Read more: Top Indiana Democratic candidates praise Biden for withdrawing from presidential race
Democratic delegates will meet Aug. 19-22 to select a presidential candidate. Officially Indiana’s delegates are unattached to any specific candidate since Biden’s withdrawal, but the state party said that his endorsement of Vice President Harris “goes a very, very long way.”
Speaking to WFIU/WTIU News from his home in Granger, Ind., Donnelly said he endorses his former senate colleague Harris as the nominee.
“I served with Vice President Harris in the United States Senate, I have great confidence in her judgment,” he said. “She has traveled the world working with our allies. She's ready on day one to assume the responsibility to the presidency.”
Read more: Democratic, Independent Hoosiers are mixed about VP Harris after Biden endorsed her for nominee
Harris was not a candidate in the Democratic presidential primary. In Indiana, Biden was the only one to appear on the ballot. But since the president announced his intent to withdraw, Harris has launched a campaign with comfortable support from party leaders.
Donnelly rejected the notion that Harris represents an insider pick.
“It's going to be a convention of Hoosier delegates, delegates elected by the people of Indiana. Not by any elites, not by any insiders, but by the people of Indiana,” he said. “That’s who we represent in Bloomington, in Lafayette, in South Bend, Jeffersonville. That's a responsibility we take very, very seriously.”
Donnelly is the last member of his party in Indiana to hold a statewide office. He lost his senate reelection in 2018 to Mike Braun and served as Ambassador to the Vatican from 2021 until last Tuesday.
