Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican who turned 88 last week, announced on Twitter that he’s running for an eighth term in 2022.
The Washington Post reports that Grassley’s decision “boosts Republican prospects for holding the seat next year, when control of the chamber will be at stake.”
GOP officials have been urging Grassley to seek re-election. Recent polling shows he has a sizable lead over the top Democratic challenger, former Democratic Rep. Abby Finkenauer. If Grassley retired, a messy Republican primary might have given Finkenauer an opening in a state that has trended red in recent years.
“After 47 years in Washington, D.C., Chuck Grassley has changed from an Iowa farmer to just another coastal elite,” Finkenauer said in a statement after Grassley’s announcement, claiming he’s “running yet again on an agenda that puts big pharma over our seniors, Wall Street over workers, and monopoly corporations over the mom and pop small businesses that make Iowa strong.”
A Grassley victory is far from assured. Nearly two-thirds of likely Iowa voters, 64%, say they think it’s time for someone new to hold Grassley’s seat, according to a poll from Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll.
Grassley is the 10th longest-serving US senator in history and a key figure in getting conservative judges appointed to the federal bench.
POLITICO provides additional context on Grassley’s career:
The plainspoken Iowan is a fixture of the Senate. He presided over the Senate Judiciary Committee during Republicans’ blockade of former President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland as well as the confirmation of former President Donald Trump’s nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who faced accusations of sexual assault during his committee hearings.
Grassley also served in the line of presidential succession as the most senior GOP senator when Trump was president. He is currently the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.