Ernst vows to fight for Iowa farmers

INDEPENDENCE, Iowa – Iowa Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst warned a gathering of farmers on Friday to ignore “annoying ads” that attack her on the renewable fuels standard.

“I do support RFS [Renewable Fuels Standard], I support biodiesel,” the state senator told a gathering of Iowa Farm Bureau members who’ve endorsed her. “I guarantee I am going to be there fighting for you and Iowa agriculture, I just want to make that very clear.”

{mosads}Speaking in front of a vintage pickup truck and flanked by oversized plastic corncobs at the Heartland Acres Agribition Center — a museum for farming innovation — the Republican lawmaker jabbed opponent Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) for being “in the pocked of the EPA” and big-spending environmentalists backing his campaign. 

The Senate Majority PAC, wealthy environmentalist Tom Steyer’s NextGen Climate Action, the League of Conservation Voters and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee have all been on the air with significant ad buys this summer, outspending Republican-aligned groups by roughly $2 million since the primary.

Those groups have been pounding Ernst ever since it became clear she was a legitimate threat to defeat Braley for a seat held for three decades by retiring Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa).

The ads include attacks on Ernst for saying earlier in the race that she opposed the renewable fuels standard. Critics in both parties have accused her of flip-flopping on the standards, which are highly valued by farmers who grow biofuel crops in the state. 

Ernst, a farmer, took aim at Braley for a recent vote against “ditch the rule,” a plan that would restrict Environmental Protection Agency’s regulatory authority under the Clean Water Act and Ernst says protect Iowa farmers against government overreach.

“He broke with the Iowa delegation and voted against ditch the rule. So he voted against you as Iowa farmers,” she said.

She also mocked Braley’s criticism from earlier this year that Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) was “a farmer from Iowa,” saying that Grassley, “who is just a farmer, a very brilliant one, he’s told me there’s nothing I won’t do to get you elected.”

Later, she took a more direct shot tying Braley to Steyer.

“It’s about Iowa, not about environmental extremists from California,” she said during a speech to a few dozen activists at the GOP’s Iowa City field office. 

Ernst was ahead in some post-primary polling early this summer, but heavy spending by Democrats has pushed the race back Braley’s way, and recent polling indicates close race.

She acknowledged the heavy spending had moved the polls against her and that her smaller campaign coffers needed a boost heading into the homestretch. 

“I’ve been outspent by $2 million. What we have to do is start pushing back with our own advertisements,” she said, admitting that it was going to take “a lot of treasure from people” to win the race and asking the farmers to contribute to her campaign.