It's easier to run against a voting record than a blank slate, though. Ernst approved all these nominations and the budget law; that's blood on her hands. The Republican nominee can say "I support Pres. Trump, but I wouldn't have confirmed [disgraced cabinet secretary]" or whatever the hot issue is.
But supporting Trump, to Trump, is an all-in proposition. None of those turds stand up to him. I think that case can be made.
Exactly. Unless the Iowa voter is a Trump cultist, a Senate candidate saying "I support Trump..." should be enough to vote for the Dem or Independent candidate. That is, if they've been paying attention at all to the last 8 months.
turd party candidates only help the republikkklan.
Independents already in Congress caucus with the Dems. Libertarians (not a party, an ideology) caucus with Republicans.
Libertardian party is for real: libertarrdians run as republikkklans because they are stupid little cowards.
Barely real. Getting 0.56% (Jill Stein) or O.42% (Chase Oliver) of the 2024 presidential vote count shows Green candidates and Libertarian candidates to be vanity/attention-seeking non-entities. RFK Jr, OTOH, got 0.49% as an Independent and withdrew, but it was his lunacy that attracted Trump.
third party clowns sucked off enough votes in the 2016 election to allow the russians to steal it for the mango maggot
An independent running as the de facto Democrat
We have a problem here in CA with republikkklans running as fake democrats in elections, especially in Orange County
I’m talking about an independent moderate liberal not weighted down by the incompetent Iowa Democratic Party
*Can* a Republican nominee say that? I'm skeptical!
Yeah, if you'd say that you'll get a hammer from Trump who will support your opponent Trucknutz von Hitlerlover if he's running on a platform of obedience to Trump, the candidate needs an independent base of power, and outside of the Gov who but Ernst has it?
Maybe - if the GOP primary campaign doesn’t turn into a “who is Trumpiest” contest and blow up that strategy.
What is "Trumpy" is a moving target, though. Republicans still don't blame Trump for his mistakes even after he acknowledges them by changing course. If he fires RFK over FDA and CDC failures, by the end of the news cycle RFK will be widely known as Deep State 1/3
(did you know the K stands for Kennedy? Democrat!) and never true MAGA/MAHA. By next fall, the set of acceptable things to say about Trump without upsetting him or Republican voters will have moved so much that their nominee to replace Ernst will have plenty of room to maneuver. 2/3
I still think it's a seat worth Democrats running for, but I think it's going to be much tougher against a Republican who can say "My Dem opponent and I agree that Joni Ernst is an idiot. I wouldn't have done all the Republican-done things that are unpopular, just the ones that are popular." 3/3
4/3 Partisan voters mostly want permission to vote for their partisan. That’s the great strength of right wing media. It’s going to take work for an Iowa Democrat to close off that permission.
But a leading possible replacement could be Congresswoman Hinson, herself a maga cultist, and just as vulnerable as Ernst in that regard.
Whomever runs for Ernst’s seat won’t appear out of the ether. They’re going to have a record of some kind of conduct, good, bad or indifferent. Therefore, whatever it is, they have a record to run against.
Incumbency is an advantage.
That shit won’t fly