Quartet of Iowa Democrats vie for chance to upset Grassley

DES MOINES — They have varied professional and political backgrounds, and 23 years separate the oldest and youngest among them.

But Tom Fiegen, Rob Hogg, Patty Judge and Bob Krause have one thing in common — they want to end Chuck Grassley's 36-year tenure in the U.S. Senate.

Democratic voters will choose from among the four in Iowa's June 7 primary election, and the winner will challenge Grassley, Iowa's longtime and popular Republican U.S. senator, in this fall's general election.

Despite Grassley's many lopsided re-election victories and typically high favorability ratings from Iowa voters, Democrats believe Grassley is vulnerable this year because of his support for the Republican's decision to reject President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee without a hearing and the uncertain effect of Donald Trump as the Republican nominee for president.

The seat is among those Democrats think they can win in their effort to flip party control of the U.S. Senate back in their favor after losing control in 2014.

The University of Virginia Center for Politics and the Cook Political Report list Iowa's U.S. Senate race as 'likely Republican.'

If Iowa Democrats are to pull off a Generals-over-Globetrotters upset this fall, the hurdle will be Fiegen, Hogg, Judge or Krause.

No public polls of the Democratic primary race have been published, and only in the past few weeks have the candidates started participating in a series of forums and debates across the state.

'Honestly I think it's kind of hard to know' who is leading the race, said Christopher Larimer, a political-science professor at the University of Northern Iowa. 'The candidates are trying to separate themselves at these debates, but there's not a lot of separation.'

Voter interest may be lagging. Absentee ballot requests for the Democratic primaries are behind the pace established in 2014, despite the fact there are fewer federal primary races this year.

As of this past Tuesday, Iowa Democrats had requested nearly 1,000 fewer absentee ballots than at the same point in the 2014 primary. That's despite only one federal Democratic primary in 2014 — in the 1st Congressional District — and there are three this year — in the 1st and 3rd Congressional Districts and the Senate.

Front-runners

Larimer said Judge and Hogg likely are the front-runners in this year's U.S. Senate Democratic primary based on their name recognition and past electoral success.

Judge has served as Iowa's lieutenant governor and secretary of agriculture, and Hogg has served in the Iowa Legislature for the past 13 years.

Judge said that experience of running statewide campaigns and holding statewide office is what makes her the Democrats' best choice to challenge Grassley.

'This is the fifth time I've ran statewide, and people know who I am, they know what I stand for,' said Judge, who was state agriculture secretary under Gov. Tom Vilsack and lieutenant governor to Gov. Chet Culver. 'I've got a great network across the state of supporters that are helping me.'

Judge also has been the primary field's most prolific fundraiser. Through the end of March, Judge had raised almost $214,000 and still had nearly $210,000 in her campaign account.

Hogg raised more than $180,000 through March, but at the end of the period, he had just more than $40,000 left. Fiegen through March raised roughly $39,000, and Krause did not report any fundraising activity.

When asked for the most important issues in the primary race, Judge and Hogg each responded with a version of their party's criticism of Grassley: that the U.S. Senate is not functioning as it should.

'The American voter today does not believe that government is working for them,' Judge said. 'They feel like their issues and things that are important are falling on deaf ears and that politicians in Washington, D.C., particularly are not listening and not doing the job that they were sent there to do.'

Hogg, who has represented Cedar Rapids in the Iowa Legislature since 2003, also said he wants to go to Washington to 'make Congress work again.'

Hogg said the most important issue is creating an economy that 'works for all Americans' and invests in education, training and infrastructure.

Hogg is an advocate for environmental issues — he has written a book on climate change — and also has made those issues central to his campaign.

'I've been emphasizing clean water, clean energy and climate action in my campaign. I believe these are real serious and urgent issues facing our country, and we need to act on them,' Hogg said. 'The good news is we have solutions that work, so let's get Congress to work so we can do the solutions that work.'

Hogg said he thinks he is best fit to face Grassley because he thinks Iowa voters 'want new leaders' and he has 'the most potential to attract new, young, progressive voters who Democrats need to win this fall.'

During the Iowa caucuses, Fiegen was an active supporter of Bernie Sanders, and on the campaign trail, he talks about many of the same issues, including campaign finance reform. Fiegen believes, for example, that Democratic candidates should swear off the support of independent campaign support organizations — Super PACs — and that the federal government or U.S. Supreme Court should reverse the 2010 ruling that loosened campaign finance restrictions and opened fundraising floodgates.

'When Democrats take PAC money, we have divided loyalties. Then we have to choose between the money that got us there and the people. And the Bible says you can't serve two masters,' Fiegen said at a recent candidate forum. 'Call it unilateral disarmament, call it what you want. We have to swear off PAC money.'

Krause said developing an economy that helps the middle class will help address other prominent issues and should be the primary focus of federal legislators. He said declining and stagnating wages for both working and retired people are hurting the middle class.

'We've got to focus on what money we put in our pockets because we really can't resolve a lot of the other problems in our society without fixing the wage disparity and putting money back in the pockets of the middle class,' Krause said.

Krause said his breadth of experience — he is a former state legislator, federal transportation department worker and veteran who served in the U.S. Army National Guard and Reserves — makes him the most qualified Democrat in the primary.

TOM FIEGEN

Residence: Clarence

Age (as of June 7): 57

Occupation: Attorney

Political experience: Iowa state legislator 2001-2002

Fiegen's office did not return calls for this information

ROB HOGG

Residence: Cedar Rapids

Age (as of June 7): 49

Occupation: Attorney

Political experience: Iowa state legislator, 2003-current

Family: Wife, Kate, three children

PATTY JUDGE

Residence: Albia

Age (as of June 7): 72

Occupation: Retired, farmer

Political experience: Iowa secretary of agriculture, 1998-2007; Iowa lieutenant governor, 2007-2011

Family: Husband, John, three children

BOB KRAUSE

Residence: Fairfield

Age (as of June 7): 66

Occupation: Retired, veterans advocate

Political experience: Iowa state legislator, 1973-1978; U.S. Department of Transportation, 1980-1981

Family: Wife, Vicky, six children

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