Former Congresswoman Finkenauer running for U.S. Senate

CEDAR RAPIDS — Former Iowa Congresswoman Abby Finkenauer of Cedar Rapids is launching a campaign for the U.S. Senate today 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 US House in 2018 and lost her bid for a second term in 2020. Dave Muhlbauer, a former Crawford County Supervisor, announced he is running the Iowa Democratic Party’s US 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 said she’ll focus on “blue collar values” and does not mention Grassley, but Finkenauer makes a reference to politicians who’ve been in Washington “for decades” in her announcement video.

“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.

Finkenauer tweeted this morning that she’s running for the U.S. Senate “because Iowa—and our Democracy—are worth fighting for. After 46 years in DC, @ChuckGrassley has lost touch with both.”

In a written statement, Iowa Republican Party chairman Jeff Kaufmann said Finkenauer had a “disastrous record” as a member of the U.S. House and, in a reference to her 2020 loss, Kaufmann said: “I look forward to seeing even more Iowans reject  he looks forward to seeing even more Iowans reject Finkenauer once again.”

Grassley has said he’ll announce this fall whether he’ll seek an eighth term in the US Senate.

(Photo from Finkenauer campaign video.)