Farmer Dave Muhlbauer Launches Senate Run, First Democrat In Against Grassley [View all]

A farmer from Crawford County with a family history of winning as a Democrat in rural Western Iowa announced his campaign for the U.S. Senate seat held by Chuck Grassley today. Dave Muhlbauer, 37, a recent county supervisor and fifth-generation family farmer, kicked off his bid with a video that sought to redefine to Iowa voters what a rural Democrat looks like.

“We are the old-school, farming, labor Democrats. We’re for that middle class,” Muhlbauer says in a well-produced video.

Muhlbauer, who lives in rural Manilla, addresses Democrats’ biggest problem in the state head-on in the video: the party’s dismal brand in rural areas. Noting that many middle-aged farmers come up to him and explain how they used to be Democrats, Muhlbauer lays out a more populist style for the party.

“I think people are just fed up, they’re stretched thin. Wages aren’t making what they should be. The cost of living is going up. To see these corporations only continue to stack things in their favor through policy, procedure and lobbying,” he says as an image of a Tyson meatpacking plant is shown in the background. “To see CEOs make a thousand times more than general labor, it’s highway robbery.”

Read more: https://iowastartingline.com/2021/05/24/farmer-dave-muhlbauer-launches-senate-run-first-democrat-in-against-grassley/