POLITICS

Iowa Rep. Cindy Axne faced constituents in one of the reddest parts of her district Saturday afternoon, just two days after the U.S. House passed the new trade agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada and three days after the impeachment vote. “I would like to make one thing perfectly clear,” Axne told the…

Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst faces a challenging path to her first reelection in 2020, according to a poll published yesterday. The first-term incumbent holds only a 47% to 41% lead over likely Democratic challenger Theresa Greenfield. Ernst also has a 45% favorable and 43% unfavorable rating from Iowa voters. When voters were informed about how…

Iowa’s three Democratic members of the House of Representatives voted tonight on two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, voting with their colleagues to set up a Senate trial for only the third time in U.S. history. On Tuesday, U.S. Reps. Abby Finkenauer, Dave Loebsack and Cindy Axne each announced their support for impeachment.…

Iowa representatives Cindy Axne and Abby Finkenauer have had a busy week in D.C., and it’s only Tuesday. Most of Washington is focused on whether the House of Representatives will vote to approve two articles of impeachment expected to be brought Wednesday against President Donald Trump. Axne, Finkenauer and 2nd District Congressman Dave Loebsack announced…

Unlike Sen. Joni Ernst, her Republican colleague, Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, doesn’t think Social Security reform should be hashed out “behind closed doors,” according to an audio recording provided to Starting Line. Gardner was heard rebuking Ernst’s claim Dec. 6 at a holiday party in Denver, hosted by his political action committee, Project West…

A second watchdog group announced today it filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission in response to reporting about Sen. Joni Ernst’s ties to an Iowa-based “dark money” organization. The nonprofit Campaign for Accountability (CfA) asked the FEC in a letter to investigate the campaign’s ties to Iowa Values, a 501 (c)(4) allegedly working…

As political candidates of all backgrounds denounce the role of dark money in American politics, recent news around Sen. Joni Ernst’s campaign illustrates the difficult task of enforcing the rules already in place. Earlier this month, the AP reported that the senator and her campaign have worked closely with an outside money group called Iowa…

After the U.S. House passed The Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act of 2019 yesterday, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is running targeted ads to highlight Representative Cindy Axne and Abby Finkenauer’s votes to lower prescription drug prices. The bill has been in the works for months, and yesterday there was discussion on…

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats’ signature bill H.R. 3 passed the U.S. House today, with a vote of 230-192. It has been a long road for the bill, which had been stuck up on capital hill for a while now. During discussions today, Iowa Reps. Abby Finkenauer and Cindy Axne both spoke about amendments they…

Michael Franken, a retired Navy admiral and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate, knows more about foreign policy than most candidates for public office. Since leaving a speck on the map in Northwest Iowa to attend college and join the military, Franken has moved more than two dozen times. Growing up in Lebanon, Iowa, Franken said, 56…