Democrat Sarah Corkery says enthusiasm for Harris will boost campaign to unseat Republican Ashley Hinson

CEDAR RAPIDS — Cedar Falls Democrat Sarah Corkery pumped her fist in the air and gestured toward the life-size cardboard cutouts of Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, that stood against the wall.

Corkery, running to unseat incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson of Marion to represent Northeast Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District, reacted to the latest Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll that suggest Harris has significantly narrowed the presidential race in Iowa, cutting Republican former President Donald Trump’s lead to 4 points from an 18-point lead over Democratic President Biden in late spring.

Corkery, speaking to about two dozen supporters gathered Sunday in Cedar Rapids at a brewery, said she has witnessed a surge of enthusiasm since Harris took over the top of the Democratic ticket. It’s a significant shift she said will help boost her campaign and that of other down-ballot Democrats — especially with an independent candidate on the 2nd District ballot she’s hoping will siphon votes from Hinson.

Jody Puffett, of Delhi, is running unaffiliated with a political party and will appear on the ballot alongside Corkery and Hinson.

While Hinson is not generally viewed as a vulnerable incumbent, Corkery argues Puffett’s candidacy could make the 2nd District race more interesting.

“We need Jody (Puffett) to get about 5 percent of the vote. That is how we take this whole thing over,” Corkery told those gathered at Lion Bridge.

A lifelong registered Republican, Puffett previously told The Gazette she’s running because she has grown frustrated with Hinson’s voting record. She cited Hinson’s support in April of a $95 billion foreign aid package that included assistance for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and other global hot spots. Puffett lamented that the package did not include money to bolster U.S. border security. She also mentioned supporting mental health services and foster care and taking care of Iowa veterans.

“We should be addressing those needs before any more taxpayer dollars are given to other countries,” she said. “ … Across the board, and on both sides of the aisle, folks have had it with the polarized political establishment that no longer represents the values of everyday Americans and that is failing to accomplish anything. They want another option on the ballot.”

Hinson, a former state lawmaker and former KCRG-TV news anchor, flipped a blue seat red in 2020 by campaigning on kitchen-table issues and pledging to be a taxpayer advocate in Congress. Hinson won re-election in 2022 by 8 percentage points against Democratic former state lawmaker Liz Mathis of Hiawatha.

Republican Party of Iowa spokesman Luke Wolff dismissed the latest Iowa polling.

“If Democrats like Sarah Corkery were actually confident in their radical policy platform and chances in November, they wouldn’t be hoping an ‘Independent’ candidate siphons off votes from a Republican,” Wolff told The Gazette in a statement. “Iowans will overwhelmingly re-elect President Trump and all four Republican members of Congress because Democrats are wildly out of touch with Iowa voters.”

Abortion and public education

Corkery has focused her campaign on women's health care rights, abortion access and public education. She argued Iowans are seeing firsthand the impact of Project 2025, a controversial pro-Trump plan drafted by the Heritage Foundation to overhaul the U.S. government. Trump has distanced himself from the report, but for weeks has been dogged by his relationship with those who drafted the 900-page document that calls for mass deportations, eliminating the Department of Education, imposing stricter controls on abortion and slashing climate protections.

Corkery said Iowans are seeing that play out in Iowa, with a near-total abortion ban and diverting hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds for private school tuition.

Asked where she draws the line on exceptions to abortion, Corkery said: “There isn't a line.”

“It should be between a person and a doctor,” she said. “ … Every pregnancy is important, and I trust women to make this decision. But they will paint me as an as an abortion extremist, which I'm not. I've never had an abortion.”

Iowa Poll and campaign strategy

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While the latest polling shows gains for Harris that could help buoy Iowa Democrats, majorities of Iowans say they are worse off financially and that the nation is headed in the wrong direction, largely because of illegal immigration and inflation.

Corkery emphasized the need for bipartisan solutions to immigration and economic issues, such as addressing supply chain problems and providing food assistance.

She said she supports Harris' plans to build an “opportunity economy,” including expanding the Child Tax Credit and housing assistance for first-time homebuyers, providing a $50,000 tax deduction for small-business startups, lowering the cost of prescription drugs and implementing a federal ban on price gouging by food suppliers.

She said she supports a bipartisan plan to secure the U.S.-Mexico border and provide more Border Patrol agents, criticizing Republicans for blocking it in the Senate.

“It would have given Biden the opportunity to shut (the border) down when it got bad, and Republicans blocked it because they didn't want to give Biden a win,” Corkery said.

Hinson supported a 2023 House GOP-led measure to increase border security — a separate measure from the bipartisan deal. It would end the practice of "catch and release," in which Border Patrol agents release migrants into the United States while they await immigration hearings, and impose new limits to asylum eligibility.

Hinson has also worked to bolster staffing and resources for U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She said she opposed the Senate deal because it would not mandate a border closure until Border Patrol reached a seven-day average of 5,000 or more border encounters, or if the number exceeded 8,500 in a single day.

“The correct amount of illegal immigration is zero,” Hinson previously told reporters.

Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com