Democrat Joe Biden is making his case against President Donald Trump on the coronavirus in Iowa, one of the states hit hardest by the pandemic.
Speaking Friday at a drive-in rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, Biden rattled off a litany of statistics about how the pandemic has hit the state, noting Iowa has hit a daily record number of cases and hospitalizations this week and highlighting the steep job losses there since the pandemic hit.
He mentioned that the Iowa State Fair was canceled this year for the first time since World War II and charged that “Donald Trump has given up.” Biden pledged to enact a plan to halt the spread of the virus and told the crowd, to honks from the cars gathered, “unlike Donald Trump, we will not surrender to the virus.”
While Iowa is not a must-win for Biden, most polls there show a close race, and a loss there for the Trump would complicate his path to reelection.
Biden also promoted Democratic Senate candidate Theresa Greenfield, telling her, “You have no idea how much you’re going to make my night when you win.”
Greenfield’s challenger, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst, campaigned in northwest Iowa today.
She met with supports at the GOP headquarters in Sioux City this morning.
“We need them to get out there to get their voices out there and vote.”
Joining Ernst was Governor Kim Reynolds, Senator Ted Cruz of Florida and Iowa’s Senior U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley who says Ernst works hard for Iowans.
“Every day I see her fighting for seniors and for farmers.”
Grassley also says Ernst support ethanol producers and is believes in a strong military with her 27-years in the Iowa National Guard.
Ernst told reporteres there have been so many false statement made about her this election cycle, including her stances on healthcare, social security and more.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous they are throwing things out at me that isn’t going to stick. That shows how desperate they are.”
Ernst also made stops in Le Mars, Sioux Center and Alta in Buena Vista County.
Iowa is setting a record for early voting. Iowa’s Secretary of State says more than 885,000 Iowans have already voted. That’s about 60 percent of turnout for the last presidential election. About 100,000 absentee ballots haven’t been turned back in yet.
Woodbury County Auditor and Election Commissioner Pat Gill says there have been almost 26,000 requests for absentee ballot with 23,520 returned, which is a record for absentee ballots for Woodbury County. This beats the previous high set in 2012 by more than 2,000 ballots.
