US Sen. Marsha Blackburn, campaigning in Iowa: 'I am not' running for president

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn campaigned in Iowa Wednesday on behalf of Republican candidates, but she told a gathered crowd of conservatives not to read too much into it.

"Every time I come out here to Iowa, somebody accuses me of running for president," she told the Westside Conservatives Club in Urbandale Wednesday morning. "I am not. I am not."

Blackburn, a Republican from Tennessee, spoke at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition's 2022 spring kickoff event in April just after speaking at a high-profile event in New Hampshire in March — the one-two punch setting off speculation that she might have a future White House run in mind.

Blackburn was elected to Congress in 2002, and she is serving her first term in the Senate after winning election in 2018. She attended a rally for U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley Thursday afternoon and headlined the Iowa Young Republicans' second annual Hoover Dinner in the evening.

"We've got to make certain that Grassley, that Gov. Reynolds and that your congressional delegation all go back to D.C., and that you send Zach Nunn so that you run that whole delegation," she said Wednesday morning.

Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds is polling well ahead of her Democratic challenger, Deidre DeJear, according to the Des Moines Register's latest Iowa Poll.

But the poll showed Grassley with a narrower margin. He leads Democrat Mike Franken 46% to 43%.

Races in Iowa's 3rd Congressional District, where Republican Zach Nunn is running against Democratic U.S. Rep. Cindy Axne, and in the 2nd District, where Democrat Liz Mathis is challenging Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, also appear to be close, the poll shows.

Blackburn criticized Democratic President Joe Biden on a host of issues, including foreign policy, inflation, immigration and crime.

"It causes a lot of people to say, 'You know, I sure miss President Donald Trump,'" she said. "It causes a lot of people to say, 'You know, we've got to do something different.'"

At the "Grassley Works for Women" rally Wednesday afternoon in West Des Moines, Blackburn praised Grassley for his annual 99 county meetings, saying she enjoys hearing Grassley bring up stories from Iowans during committee hearings in Washington.

"He really does take that wisdom that you all share with him and he takes that Iowa to D.C.," Blackburn said. "And that’s exactly what you want out of an elected representative, to be certain that they are taking your thoughts and your hopes and your desires to D.C."

Grassley talked about bills that he's sponsoring to address sexual assault and harassment in the military and on college campuses and to end forced arbitration in sexual assault cases.

He also made a pitch for his reelection, recalling when he was first elected to Congress in 1974 and was the only Republican in Iowa's congressional delegation.

Democrats would always say, "'We're going to get him next time,'" Grassley said.

"It didn't quite work out that way," he said, to cheers.

Grassley urged the supporters in the crowd to encourage their friends and family to vote for him and other Republicans.

"If Iowans thought that I took their vote for granted they would resent it, and could rightly resent it," he said. "So I humbly ask for your vote. Not just your vote but that you will spread the message as far as you can."

Franken, the Democrat challenging Grassley, held campaign events Wednesday in Iowa City and Clinton, joined by former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama.

Franken's campaign manager, Julie Stauch, pointed to Grassley's poll numbers and said bringing Blackburn in to campaign for Grassley shows "panic on the part of his campaign."

"It’s very clear that Chuck Grassley has a problem with women and it’s his voting record, and particularly his voting record around women’s reproductive health," she said. "And the fact that he brought in Marsha Blackburn, who shares his extreme views, doesn’t help him with women in Iowa."

Early voting has already begun for the Nov. 8 general election.

More:As former president Donald Trump considers 2024 run, most Iowans now view him unfavorably

Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Register. Reach her atbpfann@dmreg.com or 515-284-8244. Follow her on Twitter at @brianneDMR.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: In Iowa, Sen. Marsha Blackburn says, 'I am not' running for president