Businesswoman enters growing field to take on Joni Ernst
June 4, 2019
Theresa Greenfield became the latest Democratic candidate to enter the race to take on incumbent Republican Sen. Joni Ernst in 2020 when she announced her campaign in a video Monday.
The video touches on the notion of Iowa as “fly-over country,” with Greenfield narrating the clip.
“Way too many in Washington fly over [Iowa] and forget about it,” Greenfield said in the video. “Well, my family was into a different kind of flying. My dad was a crop duster, and farming was our way of life.”
Greenfield serves as president of a Des Moines-based real estate company and has no experience in elected office. So far, none of the Democratic candidates who have declared bids for the Democratic nomination to run against Ernst have held an elected office.
Both Greenfield and one of her opponents in the Senate primary election, Eddie Mauro, sought the Democratic party nomination for U.S. representative in Iowa’s Third Congressional District in 2018.
Unlike Mauro, however, Greenfield failed to qualify for the primary ballot, as her campaign did not collect enough valid signatures.
Greenfield’s campaign website touts her as “a farm kid” with a “get-it-done attitude,” saying she would help working families by investing in education, make it easier for small businesses to “thrive” and cut healthcare costs.
The website does not expand on any of these policies, but the campaign said that “[they will] continue to build out the campaign website going forward with more on Theresa’s priorities, including her commitment to investing in a stronger education system for Iowans.”
Greenfield joins both Mauro and Kimberly Graham, an attorney, in the race.
A survey for Public Policy Polling conducted in late April found Ernst leading a generic Democratic opponent by a 48-44 margin.