Former Iowa Rep. Abby Finkenauer Running for Iowa Senate Seat

Former Democrat Representative from Iowa Abby Finkenauer has announced she will run for Senate, possibly against Republican incumbent Chuck Grassley, the Hill reported.

Iowa Republican Party Chair Jeff Kaufmann said that Finkenauer would “never represent the state of Iowa in the U.S. Senate.”

Finkenauer was elected to represent a northwest Iowa district as part of the blue wave of Democratic House freshman in 2018, but lost in 2020 as part of the trend of crumbling Democrat support among rural communities. In 2018, she beat Republican incumbent Rod Blum, but lost in 2020 to Republican Ashley Hinson in a district Trump carried.

Finkenauer carried 48.7% of the vote, more than eventual victor Joe Biden, who lost in Iowa. Trump won Iowa by 8% and more votes than he had carried in 2016, a sign Iowa is becoming increasingly conservative. However, its attorney general, state auditor and state treasurer are Democrats.

If she wins election in 2022, she would be the youngest senator at 32, beating out Jon Ossoff of Georgia, who was 33 when he was elected in 2020.

She was noted to be strong fundraiser, having raised more than $5.9 million for her failed reelection campaign.

Grassley, 87, has not yet announced if he will or will not run for an eighth term in the Senate. In his previous election in 2016, he beat his Democrat opponent by 24 points. No Democrat has been elected to the Senate from Iowa since 2008.

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smarcus@hamodia.com