While many Republicans were swamped by the Watergate tide, Republican Chuck Grassley won election to the House in 1974 and will surpass half a century in Congress if elected to his eighth Senate term in 2022. Grassley announced for re-election on Friday and is regarded as the heavy favorite by political handicappers.
Grassley led former Rep. Abby Finkenauer, the best-known Democrat in the Senate race, by 18 points, 55 percent to 37 percent, more than a year before Election Day, said the Iowa Poll last week. Grassley won his seventh term with a 24-point margin in 2016. Finkenauer and Grassley are from northeastern Iowa. When she announced for the Senate in July, Finkenauer said Grassley was more interested in staying in office than helping everyday Iowans.
A bulldog defender of corn ethanol and member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Grassley was instrumental as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee during the Trump administration in winning confirmation of three Supreme Court justices. In a fundraising appeal in August, he said, “I need your help as one of Trump’s biggest supporters who will determine whether we win back the Senate majority.”