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Sen. Chuck Grassley asks Iowa voters for eighth term in Senate race : NPR


Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley poses for a photo outside the Atlantic Coca Cola Bottling Company in Walcott, Iowa on October 14, 2022.

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Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley poses for a photo outside the Atlantic Coca Cola Bottling Company in Walcott, Iowa on October 14, 2022.

Clay Masters / Iowa Public Radio

Iowa voters have begun filling out their ballots in the 2022 midterm elections. One of the choices they will make this year is whether to send Republican Chuck Grassley back for a second term. eight in the US Senate or not. National Democrats have largely abandoned Iowa, which has long been seen as a site of rivalry between the two major political parties. However, Grassley is running in the closest race he has since he was first elected to the Senate in 1980.

“This is my number 99order The county meeting I’ve had for 42 years in a row,” Grassley said to a round of applause from a friendly crowd midday in the southwestern Iowa town of Bedford in late August.

Iowa Republican U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley takes questions from Iowans in the small southwestern Iowa town of Bedford on August 30, 2022.

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Iowa Republican U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley takes questions from Iowans in the small southwestern Iowa town of Bedford on August 30, 2022.

Clay Masters / Iowa Public Radio

Senator Grassley likes to showcase his annual tours of Iowa’s 99 counties, which are a mix of public and private events that some say critics have a hard time attending. . Grassley has been re-elected over the decades to represent the state that many have long considered purple.

“As things become more polarized, so do people, and you should expect more purple states to start turning,” explains political science professor Megan Goldberg at Cornell University in Mount Vernon, Iowa. one direction,” explains political science professor Megan Goldberg at Cornell University in Mount Vernon, Iowa. “[Iowa] there’s a demographic that wants to push us to the right, not the left. “

Iowa Democratic U.S. Senate Candidate Mike Franken, left, and U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, stand on stage before their debate, Thursday, Oct. in Des Moines, Iowa.

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Iowa Democratic U.S. Senate Candidate Mike Franken, left, and U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, stand on stage before their debate, Thursday, Oct. in Des Moines, Iowa.

Charlie Neibergall / AP

Like much in the country, the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the Roe and Wade case has energized reproductive rights advocates in Iowa. Democrats see Senator Grassley’s role on the Senate Judiciary Committee as a key factor in that final ruling. Grassley blocked former President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland ahead of the 2016 presidential election and subsequently defeated former President Trump’s nominee for now Justice Amy Coney Barrett through court hearings. Nomination hearings ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

A handful of protesters show up almost every Friday in the small northeastern Iowa town of McGregor holding signs that read things like “Abortion is Health Care” and “Women: Vote Like Your life depends on it… Because it has.”

“We’re looking forward to 2024, which really seems like the last chance we have to maintain a democracy,” said protester Erin Cubbon. “It’s so scrary.”

Cubbon says it’s hard to believe Iowa helped get former Obama to the White House and was one of the first to legalize same-sex marriage. It’s also the state that Senator Grassley has represented in Congress for nearly half a century.

He was easily re-elected partly because he presented himself as a moderate. But the 89-year-old has learned to embrace Trump like Republican voters in the state. Grassley accepted his endorsement at a Trump rally in Des Moines last year.

“I was born at night but not last night, so if I don’t accept the approval of someone who has 91% of Republican voters in Iowa,” Grassley joked to thousands of cheering Trump supporters. dancing at the Iowa State Fair “isn’t smart.”

Republican support wasn’t hard for Grassley to find. However, that means he often faces questions about the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election on the campaign trail. Often, these questions come from voters concerned about the legitimacy of the 2020 election.

Former Vice President Mike Pence speaks to the press at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines while appearing with Iowa Republican US Senator Chuck Grassley on August 19, 2022

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Former Vice President Mike Pence speaks to the press at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines while appearing with Iowa Republican US Senator Chuck Grassley on August 19, 2022

Clay Masters / Iowa Public Radio

NPR recently asked Grassley why he’s turning around to talk about election policy instead of pushing back on Trump’s false claims about a stolen election.

“I don’t need to repeat that. In fact what I said above [December] on the 14th, when the electoral votes are counted. “

Apparently Grassley is an Iowa institution but a new establishment Des Moines Register for the Iowa Poll shows voters may be willing to move on even as the state turns redder. Grassley is just three points ahead of his Democratic challenger, retired Navy Admiral Mike Franken.

Retired Navy admiral and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mike Franken walk with his wife along the vendors at the Cedar Valley Pride Festival in Waterloo, Iowa on Saturday, May 27. 8 year 2022.

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Retired Navy admiral and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mike Franken walk with his wife along the vendors at the Cedar Valley Pride Festival in Waterloo, Iowa on Saturday, May 27. 8 year 2022.

Clay Masters / Iowa Public Radio

Meanwhile, Republican Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds has a 17-point advantage over her Democratic challenger, Deirdre DeJear.

Franken is hoping to bring the current state of public opinion advantage to the US Senate. HE admits, however, that it was a difficult climb.

“There’s a part of Iowa that won’t vote for me because I’m a Democrat, that’s not going to change,” Franken said. “I’m going to hold office and I’m going to support them to the best of my ability.” “That’s completely different from the Republican view of this state, where it supports yourself and the rest is hell.”

Many people took to shorting Franken’s campaign after a police report emerged saying he had kissed a former employee without consent. The National Democratic Party did not participate in Iowa either. Grassley has the cash advantage, but Franken raised twice as much as Grassley in the last fundraising quarter. Franken is also hitting Grassley about abortion, hopefully that will push Iowans to the polls.

Megan Goldberg at Cornell College says Franken maybe There is a very narrow path to victory.

“Where the Republicans come in and they vote for the Republicans, for the governor, for the House of Representatives and they vote in the Senate race, because they don’t care about voting for Grassley,” Goldberg said. . “But they can’t vote for a Democrat on their own.”

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mike Franken addresses a crowd of supporters at the United Methodist Church in rival Republicans, home of U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley in New Hartford, Iowa on August 27, 2022.

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Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mike Franken addresses a crowd of supporters at the United Methodist Church in rival Republicans, home of U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley in New Hartford, Iowa on August 27, 2022.

Clay Masters / Iowa Public Radio

Expect Franken to highlight Grassley’s extensive tenure in Washington in his final days on the campaign trail as he attempts the seemingly impossible task of dismantling a political giant. Iowa.

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