NEWS

Patty Judge will enter U.S. Senate race against Chuck Grassley

Jason Noble
jnoble2@dmreg.com
Patty Judge talks with Altoona Chamber of Commerce Women of Vision group.

Former Iowa Lt. Gov. and Secretary of Agriculture Patty Judge will enter Iowa’s U.S. Senate race, multiple sources confirmed to The Des Moines Register on Thursday.

Judge, a Democrat, will challenge longtime incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, who has been under fire in recent weeks over his refusal to hold confirmation hearings for a successor to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who died unexpectedly earlier this month.

Sources in Washington, D.C., and in Des Moines — including people who had spoken with Judge as recently as Thursday morning — confirmed to the Register that she will announce her candidacy perhaps as early as Friday.

Judge told The Des Moines Register late last week that she was considering a run, largely because of Grassley’s stance on the court vacancy.

"I don’t like this deliberate obstruction of the process,” she told the Register last week. “I think Chuck Grassley owes us better. He’s been with us a long time. Maybe he’s been with us too long.”

Judge has not responded to calls seeking comment this week. Sam Roecker, a Des Moines Democratic operative who’s handling media requests for her, said Thursday that he had no details when an official announcement might be made.

Judge, 72, is a rural Democrat with a long electoral history in Iowa. She would enter what is expected to be a four-way Democratic primary, with the winner almost certain to face Grassley in the November general election.

Judge run impulsive but built on experience

She was elected lieutenant governor in 2006, serving with Democratic Gov. Chet Culver for one term, until the ticket lost to Republicans Terry Branstad and Kim Reynolds in 2010. Prior to that, she served two terms as Iowa secretary of agriculture, becoming the first woman elected to that statewide office.

Judge, a dairy farmer and a former registered nurse, was twice elected to the state Senate from her native Albia. Since leaving office, she has run PJJ Solutions, a consultancy, and served as a Democratic voice on state and national agricultural issues. Last March, for example, she was the lone Democrat to speak at the Iowa Agriculture Summit that featured nine GOP presidential candidates.

A spokesman for Grassley’s re-election campaign said he looked forward to contrasting Judge’s record with the senator’s.

“Patty Judge was part of an administration that was soundly rejected after only one term,” campaign spokesman Eric Woolson said. “Iowans looked at the record she and Chet Culver put together and an overwhelming majority — including 90 out of 99 counties — said we don't want another day of that failed leadership.”

Kurt Meyer, a Democratic activist from northeast Iowa, said Judge’s long history in state politics and the fact that she’s been on a statewide ballot before could make her a credible candidate against Grassley, who routinely ranks as the most popular politician in Iowa.

“If Patty got in the race, she has the statewide name recognition,” Meyer said. “My sense is that if she gets into the race, it’s going to shake things up a bit.”

The Democratic candidate who had appeared to be Grassley’s leading challenger prior to Judge’s interest in the race was state Sen. Rob Hogg, of Cedar Rapids.

Hogg said Thursday that he has not heard from Judge, but welcomed her entry into the race.

“I think her interest is a sign that many Democrats think that Sen. Grassley is vulnerable,” Hogg said. “If she wants to run I certainly would not discourage her from it. I think that a good, vigorous primary is good to figure out who the best candidate is to run against Sen. Grassley this fall.”

In addition to Hogg, former state lawmakers Bob Krause of Fairfield and Tom Fiegen of Clarence have also said they’ll run in the Democratic primary. Candidate filing opened Monday, and as of Thursday only Hogg has formally entered the race.

Hogg has already announced more than 60 endorsements from state lawmakers, and on Thursday top Democrats in the state Senate said they would continue to back his candidacy.

“My candidate is Rob Hogg,” Iowa Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs said when asked about Judge’s entry into the race.

“Sen. Hogg is my candidate and I am rock solid,” added Senate President Pam Jochum, D-Dubuque.

Fiegen's campaign, meanwhile, issued a statement sharply criticizing Judge's environmental record.

"I welcome Lt. Go. Judge to the race because of the contrast between us," Fiegen said in the statement. "Her political base is big money industrial agriculture interests where poisoning Iowa's waters is part of the deal. This election is a choice between status-quo politics where everything is for sale to the high bidder and the politics of putting the needs of working people ahead of Super PACs."

One immediate challenge to Judge will be getting on the ballot. To do so, she must gather more than 2,000 signatures, and get them from at least 10 different counties ahead of a March 18 filing deadline.

Judge’s announcement comes as pressure is mounting on Grassley to reverse course and at least hold confirmation hearings for the nominee ultimately put forward by Democratic President Barack Obama.

On Wednesday, word leaked out that Obama is vetting Jane Kelly, a federal appeals court judge who worked in Iowa for almost two decades and whom Grassley has effusively praised.

And for the last two weeks, Senate Democrats led by Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, have lambasted Grassley, accusing him of pursuing partisan political goals rather than doing his job as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which oversees court appointments.

On Thursday, Reid accused Grassley of “arm-twisting” his committee members to sign a letter refusing to consider any high court nominees, while U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee criticized Grassley for postponing a regularly-scheduled Judiciary Committee meeting in which Democrats were likely to raise the court controversy.

Outside groups, meanwhile, have been mobilizing against Grassley as well. A coalition of liberal advocacy groups delivered thousands copies of the U.S. Constitution and petitions calling for nomination hearings and votes to several of Grassley’s offices across the state on Thursday.

That said, Grassley, a six-term incumbent, remains popular in Iowa. A Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll conducted early last week as the nomination drama was unfolding shows Grassley’s approval rating at 57 percent, while just 28 percent disapproved of his job performance.

— Brianne Pfannenstiel contributed to this report.