You know your party is facing stiff headwinds in a state when the deep-red district of a fire-breather like Iowa Rep. Steve King gets downgraded to “likely Republican” by Cook Political Report.
With his administration’s tariff war wreaking havoc in farm country, Donald Trump traveled to Iowa Tuesday to woo farmers with an ethanol handout. He told reporters Tuesday he will direct the Environmental Protection Agency to write a rule allowing fuel to be blended with 15 percent ethanol year-round, doing away with restrictions President Obama enacted in 2011 to reduce smog. The expedited rule change is expected to go into effect before next summer, allowing for use of E15 fuel during months when it had previously been prohibited.
“We’re going with E15 year round, okay?" Trump told a roaring crowd in Council Bluffs, Iowa. “Promises made, promises kept."
Whether it will help the GOP's ailing House candidates in the Hawkeye state remains to be seen. A mid-September Iowa Poll found Trump's approval rating sagging, with 56 percent of Iowans disapproving of his job performance and over three-quarters of them expressing concern over how decisions are being made in the White House. Forty percent of Hawkeye voters also said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate who supports Trump while only 18 percent said support for Trump would make a candidate more likely to draw their vote.
How Trump is playing statewide following Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation is a mystery, but nothing about Kavanaugh’s confirmation will help assuage anxiety over pocketbook issues. That's left GOP Rep. Rod Blum (IA-01) lagging in his re-election bid, with his district “leaning Democratic” according to Daily Kos Elections.
Meanwhile, GOP Rep. David Young (IA-03) is in a virtual dead heat with his district rated as a "toss up."
Iowa’s Republican governor, Kim Reynolds, is also in a tough re-election, running several points behind Democrat Fred Hubbell.
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