Campaign Almanac: Iowa’s Chuck Grassley announces top U.S. Senate campaign staff

Chuck Grassley’s campaign announced several top-level hires this week.

The 88-year-old Republican is running for an eighth six-year term in the U.S. Senate.

Matt Dailer will serve as Grassley’s re-election campaign manager, according to a news release from the campaign. Dailer has served as deputy political director for the national Republican Party, and in that role helped Grassley’s 2016 campaign. Most recently, he worked at Numinar Analytics.

Michaela Sundermann, an Iowa native, will be Grassley’s communications director. An Iowa State University graduate, she has worked on Grassley’s U.S. Senate staff and in other communications jobs in the U.S. Senate and House.

Troy Bishop will serve as the campaign’s organizational director.

Grassley faces a challenge in the Republican primary from Jim Carlin, a state legislator and attorney from Sioux City.

Three Democrats are running in Iowa’s U.S. Senate race: former Congresswoman Abby Finkenauer of Cedar Rapids, U.S. Navy veteran Mike Franken of Sioux City, and physician Glenn Hurst of Minden.

SAND FILES: Rob Sand filed his nominating papers for his re-election campaign for state auditor.

Sand, a Democrat from Des Moines and native of Decorah, is completing his first four-year term as auditor. He submitted more than 5,000 nominating signatures to the secretary of state’s office.

“In 2018, I promised to put people and public service above partisan interests and that’s what we have done,” Sand said in a campaign news release. “I’m excited to continue the work of making government more accountable to people.”

Republican Mary Ann Hanusa, a former state legislator from Council Bluffs, is running to challenge Sand.

Gazette Des Moines Bureau