In Iowa, Republican Senator Joni Ernst and Democratic Congressman Bruce Braley are vying for the Senate seat left vacant by the retirement of long-time Democratic Senator Tom Harkin.

Joni Ernst is a military veteran and has served in the Iowa senate since 2011. She opposes a national federal minimum wage, supported an anti-abortion law that would define foetuses as legal persons, and calls for the repeal of Barack Obama’s healthcare overhaul.

Republican Senator Joni Ernst and Democratic Congressman Bruce Braley are vying for Iowa Senate seat left vacant by the retirement of long-time Democratic Senator Tom Harkin

Bruce Braley, a lawyer who has represented the north-eastern part of the state in Congress since 2007, was initially projected to win the seat.

However, Joni Ernst has leapt on a video that surfaced in which Bruce Braley appeared to denigrate Iowa’s sitting senator Chuck Grassley as a mere farmer, rather than a lawyer.

Also, Joni Ernst has made the most of a dispute Bruce Braley had with a neighbor at his vacation property over chickens she allowed to roam free across his land.

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