NewzDES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — After Ashley Hinson dropped off her boys at school earlier this month, she saw the initials “DJT” flash on her phone. “’Ashley, it’s your favorite president,’” Iowa’s Republican nominee for U.S. Senate recently recounted to an audience of her supporters.
“That’s how he introduced himself.” She had had a more forceful message about communicating with President Donald Trump on the debate stage with her Democratic opponent, Josh Turek, as she tried to win over undecided voters. “I’ll be President Trump’s ally when it is important for Iowa, but I will push back on him,” promised Hinson, who currently serves in the U.S. “He knows this.” Although many Republicans are walking a political tightrope in this year’s midterm elections, Hinson’s balancing act is more challenging than most.
Iowans have been hamstrung by manufacturing job losses, health care clinic closures and shrunken farm profits since Trump returned to the White House, but Hinson also is relying on the president’s loyalists to show up for her. On Thursday, Hinson will join Trump for a rally in Sioux City, which is in Iowa’s conservative northwest corner. The visit to safe territory is geared toward boosting turnout even as it ties her more tightly to an unpopular president.
“I will be there at the rally to welcome him to Iowa because I think this is a contrast election,” Hinson said on Fox News last week. “There was never a good time to elect a tax-and-spend liberal to the United States Senate but now would be the worst time.” Trump is expected to visit the state again Nov. He is “anxious for Iowans to hear his message before they vote,” Iowa Republican Party Chair Jeff Kaufmann said in announcing the president’s schedule.
Turek, a state lawmaker, was in Sioux City for a campaign event Tuesday and told reporters he was happy for Trump to visit to see how his tariffs and the Iran war have “hurt Iowa more than any other state.” Although Turek says he’s willing to work with Trump on issues like immigration, he called Hinson a rubber stamp for the president’s bad policies. There are more examples of Hinson bucking the president When Hinson kicked off her campaign last year, she touted Trump’s endorsement and said she was running to be Trump’s “top ally” in the Senate. Almost a year later, Hinson instead says she wants to be “Iowa’s best bipartisan fighter.” The message ha…
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