Iowa GOP, It May Be Too Early For This Criticism

DES MOINES, Iowa – The Republican Party of Iowa launched a website called DodgingDemocrats.com to keep track of how many days it has been since the Democratic U.S. Senate candidates, Theresa Greenfield, Eddie Mauro, and Kimberly Graham, have held a public town hall.

They compare the candidates vying for the Democratic nomination to Republican U.S. Senator Joni Ernst’s record of holding town hall events. Ernst, like U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley, commits to a 99-county tour every year.

“Joni Ernst has been traveling across the state, visiting all 99 counties every year. She’ll have held a public event in every county by the end of her first term,” Jeff Kaufmann, Chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa, said. “While Joni Ernst has made listening to Iowans and taking their concerns to Washington a priority, Theresa Greenfield, Eddie Mauro and Kimberly Graham have proven they don’t care what Iowans think — they would rather hunker down with the far-left Democrats like Nancy Pelosi and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as they plot their socialist takeover of America.”

At some point this could become a valid criticism, but I think it may be too early for that yet.

Mauro just announced on May 20, granted he promptly put his foot in his mouth so he may be gun shy about a town hall event.

Greenfield announced on June 3rd. Kimberly Graham was the first to announce on May 13.

Right now Graham is the only candidate to host an events page on her campaign website and it lists a past event and a couple past events on her Facebook page.

Mauro doesn’t have anything listed on his website but does list upcoming events on his Facebook page, primarily meet and greets with various Democrat groups.

Greenfield does not have anything on her website or on her Facebook page.

Let me cut past the political spin here. None of these candidates have been in the race even two months yet. We are one year out from Iowa’s primary. Right now these candidates are appealing to their base, which is not the general public.

You can’t compare what they do to an elected official. Of course, Ernst holds public town hall meetings. She needs to meet with constituents, not just members of her political party. That said, I don’t recall Ernst as a candidate having open town halls in all 99 counties. She may have held events, but I don’t recall open town hall meetings. I know she certainly did not do that before the Republican primary, though she did attend events where people were able to ask questions.

The Democrat candidates are doing the same, just among Democrats. This could be a legitimate criticism during the general election, but a year out from the primary it’s premature.