Senator-elect Joe Donnelly said former President Clinton called to congratulate him Tuesday night after his victory.

“He was kind to enough to call. He has been a dear friend through this whole process,” Donnelly said the day after he defeated Republican Richard Mourdock.

Clinton appeared at an Oct. 12 campaign rally in Indianapolis for Rep. Donnelly, D-2nd, and other Indiana Democrats.

“He called me up completely out of the blue about a month after the (primary) election on my cellphone,” Donnelly recalled Wednesday at a news conference in Fishers.

“He just said, ‘Look, I love Indiana. I love the people there. I want to help if I can,'" Donnelly said.

Donnelly said he had known Clinton since 2008, when his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, ran for the Democratic presidential nomination against eventual winner Barack Obama. Donnelly had told Bill Clinton he was not taking sides in the primary battle.

“I’ve been very lucky to have a good relationship with him,” Donnelly said.

President Obama called Donnelly later Wednesday to congratulate him on his election, a Donnelly campaign official said.