Joe Donnelly was nominated on October 8, 2021, and confirmed January 20, 2022, as U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See. Previously, he represented Indiana in the U.S. Senate from 2013 to 2019. He previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives (2007–13).
Donnelly was born in New York City and raised on Long Island. He attended Notre Dame, receiving a bachelor’s degree (1977) in government and a law degree (1981). He worked for a law firm in South Bend before opening a printing business in nearby Mishawaka in 1996. He served on the state election board for a year (1988–89) and then on a local school board for four years (1997–2001).
Donnelly was twice reelected to the House before running for the U.S. Senate in 2012. A moderate in a state long divided between largely Democratic urban areas and Republican suburban and rural districts, he won endorsement from newspapers and business organizations throughout the state. Donnelly won the 2012 general election, becoming the first Democrat to win a statewide race in Indiana in more than 10 years.
