民主党人艾比·芬克瑙尔(Abby Finkenauer)是一名任期一年的国会女议员，她曾代表爱荷华州第一国会选区，直到2020年被一名共和党人赶下台，她周四宣布竞选参议员。
芬奇瑙尔也是前州众议员，她在公告视频中与一群亲密的爱荷华州人分享了这一消息，称他们是参议院的长期常客，因为他们“痴迷”于维持权力，并引用了他们对1月6日起义在美国国会大厦。
“在那里待了几十年的政客们...他们认为他们拥有民主，当民主受到攻击时，他们保持沉默。你看，像格拉斯利参议员和米奇·麦康奈尔这样的政治家应该更清楚，但他们对权力如此痴迷，以至于反对任何推动我们前进的东西。自从国会大厦被袭击后，他们背弃了民主，背弃了我们，”她说。“他们做出了选择，我也在做我的选择。我正在竞选美国参议院。”
芬奇瑙尔寻求的席位已经被共和党人查克·格拉斯利占据了40年。格拉斯利第一次当选是在1980年，当时共和党人罗纳德·里根登上白宫，击败了现任民主党人吉米·卡特，他是代表鹰眼州任职时间最长的参议员。
据联邦选举委员会称，这位87岁的老人一直在筹款，本周期迄今已获得近200万美元的捐款提出一周前他的竞选委员会提交的。但是格拉斯利还没有正式竞选连任，尽管全国共和党参议员委员会主席一直在“烦”参议员发表声明。
然而，NRSC董事长里克·斯科特(Rick Scott)周二在播客采访中表示，他对格拉斯利寻求连任感到满意，并引用了他最近在佛罗里达州为他举办的一次筹款活动。
斯科特说:“如果他从爱荷华州一路飞到佛罗里达州的那不勒斯，我想他会逃跑的。
在芬奇瑙尔宣布后，爱荷华州共和党迅速抨击了她。
主席杰夫·考夫曼(Jeff Kaufmann)在一份声明中说:“让我尽可能明确一点——艾比·芬奇瑙尔(Abby Finkenauer)永远不会在美国参议院代表爱荷华州。“爱荷华州人知道芬克瑙尔和她的灾难性记录，这就是他们去年11月拒绝她的原因。无论她如何努力重塑自己，爱荷华州人都会看到她的价值观和优先事项与AOC和查克·舒默的一样。芬奇瑙尔将抓住一切机会与民主党领导层保持一致，希望获得媒体的恶名。...我期待看到更多的爱荷华州人再次拒绝芬克瑙尔。”
斯利委员会的顾问詹妮弗·海因斯(Jennifer Heins)在一份声明中指责芬奇瑙尔“对爱荷华州来说太激进了”，称这就是为什么她成为“五十多年来第一位仅连任一届就落选的爱荷华州国会议员。”
当芬奇瑙尔在2018年获胜时，她和纽约的亚历山大·奥恰西奥-科尔特斯一起成为最年轻的国会议员之一。格拉斯利出生时，年仅32岁，已经是他的第二个参议员任期。
在2018年的蓝色浪潮中，她所在的选区从红色变成了蓝色，民主党在2020年以微弱劣势输给了共和党的阿什利·辛森。辛森比芬奇瑙尔多赢得了大约10，700张选票，领先芬奇瑙尔2.6个百分点。2020年，在全国范围内，共和党获得了14个席位，不包括共和党转向独立的贾斯汀·阿马什的选区，这让民主党获得了众议院最微弱多数从21世纪初开始。
基于2020年的选举，民主党人在爱荷华州赢得全州选举面临着一场艰苦的战斗。爱荷华州第二国会选区的共和党人玛丽安特·米勒-米克斯也赢得了选举，将一个空缺席位从蓝色变成了红色。共和党人乔尼·恩斯特击退了民主党人特里萨·格林菲尔德的挑战，以6.6个百分点的优势赢得连任。前总统唐纳德·特朗普与总统乔·拜登的差距甚至更大，为8.2个百分点。
但如果格拉斯利选择放弃竞标，公开比赛可能会更有竞争力。
Former Rep. Abby Finkenauer announces run for GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley's Iowa seat
Democrat Abby Finkenauer, a one-term congresswoman who represented Iowa's 1st Congressional District until she was unseated by a Republican in 2020, announced Thursday she's running for Senate.
In her announcement video, Finkenauer, who is also a former state representative, shares the news with an intimate group of Iowans, calling out longtime fixtures of the Senate for how "obsessed" they are with maintaining power, citing their response to theJan. 6 insurrectionat the U.S. Capitol.
"The politicians who've been there for decades ... [t]hey think they own democracy, and they were silent when it was attacked. You see it's politicians like Senator Grassley and Mitch McConnell, who should know better, but are so obsessed with power that they oppose anything that moves us forward. Since the Capitol was attacked, they've turned their backs on democracy, and on us," she says. "They made their choice, and I'm making mine. I'm running for the United States Senate."
The seat Finkenauer is seeking has been held by Republican Chuck Grassley for 40 years. First elected in 1980 when Republican Ronald Reagan ascended to the White House and defeating incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter, Grassley is the longest serving senator to ever represent the Hawkeye State.
The 87-year-old has been fundraising, earning nearly $2 million in contributions so far this cycle, according to the Federal Election Commissionfilingfor his campaign committee submitted a week ago. But Grassley has not made his reelection bid official yet, despite the National Republican Senatorial Committee's chairman persistently "bugging" the senator to make an announcement.
However, Sen. Rick Scott, the NRSC's chairman, indicated in a podcast interview Tuesday he feels good about Grassley seeking another term, citing a fundraiser he recently held for him in Florida.
"If he flies all the way from Iowa down to Naples, Florida, I think he's gonna run," Scott said.
The Republican Party of Iowa was quick to blast Finkenauer after her announcement.
"Let me be as clear as possible - Abby Finkenauer will never represent the state of Iowa in the U.S. Senate," Chairman Jeff Kaufmann said in a statement. "Iowans know Finkenauer and her disastrous record, it's why they rejected her last November. No matter how she tries to reinvent herself, Iowans will see that her values and priorities are just the same as AOC's and Chuck Schumer's. Finkenauer will fall in line with Democrat leadership every chance she gets in hopes to gain media notoriety. ... I look forward to seeing even more Iowans reject Finkenauer once again."
In a statement, Jennifer Heins, an adviser to the Grassley Committee, accused Finkenauer of being "too radical for Iowa," saying that's why she became "the first member of Congress from Iowa to lose re-election after just one term in more than fifty years."
When Finkenauer won in 2018, she became one of the youngest members of Congress along with New York's Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. At only 32 years old, Grassley was already serving his second Senate term when she was born.
After flipping her district from red to blue in the 2018 blue wave, the Democrat narrowly lost reelection in 2020 to Republican Ashley Hinson. Hinson won about 10,700 more votes than Finkenauer, giving her a 2.6-point lead over Finkenauer. Across the country in 2020, Republicans picked up 14 seats, not including Republican-turned independent Justin Amash's district, giving Democrats theslimmest House majoritysince the early 2000s.
Based on the 2020 election, Democrats are facing an uphill battle to win statewide in Iowa. The Republican in Iowa's 2nd Congressional District, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, also won her election, flipping an open seat from blue to red as well. Republican Joni Ernst fended off a challenge from Democrat Theresa Greenfield, winning reelection by a 6.6-point margin. Former President Donald Trump's margin against President Joe Biden was even bigger, 8.2 points.
But if Grassley chooses to forgo a bid, an open race could be much more competitive.
