Category: IA-Senate

Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, who has led efforts to combat sexual assault in the military, sat quietly next to President Donald Trump today as he endorsed a man accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl. At a meeting in the White House were senators were discussing NAFTA trade policy with the President, Trump responded to questions about why he endorsed Roy Moore in the Alabama senate race. “I think he’s going to do very well,” Trump said of Moore. “We don’t want to have a liberal Democrat in Alabama, believe me. We want strong borders, we want stopping crime, we […]

After pretending for a brief moment in 2016 that the Republican Party stood for working people, the Republican-controlled Congress reverted back to trickle-down form on Friday when they passed a tax reform bill that overwhelmingly favored the rich. Not to be outdone, though, Senator Chuck Grassley made clear his disdain for those not benefiting under the new tax law. “I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing, as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it’s on booze or women or movies,” Grassley told the Register in a story […]

Just under three years from now, Senator Joni Ernst will face the voters of Iowa again in 2020. If you had to make a bet, most at this point would guess Ernst cruises to a reelection victory. Many rank-and-file Democrats enjoy mocking her and can’t fathom why she’d be popular, but most serious people realize her political skills and how she’s positioned herself for the Iowa electorate. She’s also had no major scandals in her term, her national profile has continued to rise and she’s beloved by the Republican base. She’s taken plenty of unpopular votes, but Democratic campaigns have […]

Despite the national outrage over Senate Republicans’ healthcare bill, Senator Joni Ernst hasn’t suffered much fallout in her popularity numbers in Iowa, James Lynch of the Cedar Rapids Gazette reported yesterday. Looking at the Morning Consult Senate Approval Rankings that polls every senator, Ernst’s approval rating has remained steady at 47% from September 2016 to April of this year and now this July. Her disapproval number is actually down two points from April, though that’s within the margin of error. Most senators around the country have seen their approval rating drop during the contentious healthcare debate. This is a problem for […]

Finally, one of Iowa’s Republican senators has scheduled a public forum in the state’s largest cities. Joni Ernst announced this morning that she will host town hall meetings on college campuses in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids on March 17. Here’s the details: Linn County Town Meeting Noon Coe College – Sinclair Auditorium 1220 1st Avenue NE Cedar Rapids Polk County Town Meeting 5:00 PM Drake University – Sheslow Auditorium 2507 University Ave Des Moines While both Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst visit all of Iowa’s 99 counties every year, they very rarely hold public events in Iowa’s most populous […]

With a roiling national debate over healthcare, immigration and Donald Trump’s presidency, Congressional town hall forums in recent weeks have seen massive turnouts of angry constituents. In a reversal from the 2009 forums that sparked the creation of the Tea Party, this year it’s Republicans who have found themselves on the defensive. Both Iowa Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst will host their own town halls this week across the state. None of Iowa’s U.S. House members have anything scheduled. Grassley typically restricts his public events to smaller, Republican-leaning counties during early hours of the day. He hasn’t held a public meeting […]

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley has long prided himself on providing a strong check on the executive branch. At campaign events and town halls during his reelection effort last year, he often touted how he’s stood up to both Republican and Democratic presidents, noting he once particularly ran afoul of Ronald Reagan’s supporters. And yet he’s been noticeably silent so far on Donald Trump’s far-reaching, unilateral ban on entrance to the U.S. for people from many majority-Muslim nations, which has thrown worldwide travel into chaos and has been quickly challenged by the courts. That’s a change in demeanor from when Barack Obama […]

A new poll out today showed Chuck Grassley increasing his lead over Patty Judge in Iowa’s senate race, holding a 50% to 37% advantage over the Democrat. But the poll was conducted by the newly-formed RABA Research (Red America, Blue America), a bi-partisan Iowa firm whose internal personal and professional dynamics create an extremely peculiar situation for a polling group. One of the founders of RABA is Tim Albrecht, a longtime Iowa Republican operative who has worked in many top communications posts. He is also a top adviser to the Republican Party of Iowa, helping in particular with Grassley’s campaign. So […]