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Finkenauer announces bid for Grassley’s U-S Senate seat; Republicans say she doesn’t have a chance

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July 22nd, 2021 by Ric Hanson

[Updated] (Radio Iowa) Former Iowa Congresswoman Abby Finkenauer of Cedar Rapids is launching a campaign for the U-S Senate today (Thursday) — with a video on social media that appears to be an announcement to a room of supporters. “I wanted to just talk to Iowans and talk to folks in this room and so that’s what we’re doing,” she said to start the video. Finkenauer, a Democrat, is a former state legislator who was elected to the U.S. House in 2018 and lost her bid for a second term in 2020. Dave Muhlbauer (MULL-bow-er), a former Crawford County Supervisor, announced he is running the Iowa Democratic Party’s U-S Senate nomination last month.

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley has been raising money for his campaign account, but has not yet said whether he’ll seek reelection in 2022. Finkenauer’s campaign news release says she’ll focus on blue collar values and does not mention Grassley. But Finkenauer’s announcement VIDEO mentions politicians who’ve been in Washington for decades. “You see it’s politicians like Senator Grassley and Mitch McConnell that should know better, but they are so obsessed with power that they oppose anything that moves us forward,” she says in the video.

Abby Finkenauer

Iowa Republican Party chairman Jeff Kaufmann says had a disastrous record as a member of the U.S. House and — in a reference to her 2020 loss — Kaufmann says he looks forward to seeing even more Iowans reject Finkenauer in 2022. Grassley has said he’ll announce this fall whether he’ll seek an eighth term in the U-S Senate.