By Rohit Bhandari '16:

The state of Iowa is home to an open-seat senate race in 2014 and the race has recently become more competitive. Democrat senate candidate Bruce Braley seemed to have a commanding lead over all of his potential Republican challengers—until a video was released in which Braley was essentially criticizing farmers. Braley told a room of lawyers that if he loses, the people might have “a farmer from Iowa who never went to law school, never practiced law, serving as the next Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.”

Iowa is a state full of farmers and Braley’s comments seemed to have hurt him badly. A recent poll reports that 50% of Iowa voters are less likely to vote for him after these comments. Republican candidate Joni Ernst is currently leading the Republican field and would be able to exploit these comments to her full advantage thanks to her farming background. This is more tough news for Democrats who are already defending a hostile senate map this year.

Sources:

http://freebeacon.com/politics/bruce-braleys-poll-numbers-fall-following-farmer-comments/http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/03/25/iowa-dem-senate-hopeful-dismisses-grassley-as-farmer-from-iowa-who-never-went-to-law-school/