Vance campaigns in red Iowa but barely mentions competitive Senate race

By Betsy Klein, CNN

(CNN) — Vice President JD Vance hit the trail in Iowa Friday — a state his boss won by double digits that’s now home to competitive Senate and gubernatorial contests — and made a populist pitch for “Iowa values.”

Except the Republican nominee for Senate, Rep. Ashley Hinson, wasn’t there, and the vice president barely mentioned her race.

“A shout out to an amazing public servant — I know she couldn’t be here today, but are we going to elect Ashley Hinson the next United States senator for the great state of Iowa?” Vance asked a crowd in Council Bluffs.

It was his only reference to the three-term congresswoman or her race in a 30-minute stump speech that heavily touted the GOP nominee for governor and the solidly red 4th Congressional District.

Hinson, a former journalist who first made headlines when she ousted an incumbent Democrat in 2020, is running against Josh Turek, a state legislator and former Paralympian. A Democrat hasn’t won a Senate race in the Hawkeye State since 2008, but the party is looking to capitalize on voter discontent and economic anxieties. President Donald Trump’s decision to curb tariffs on imported beef has been resonant in Iowa, which is among the nation’s largest beef producers.

And Hinson appears to be among the Republicans in tightening races who’s trying to put some distance between herself and the unpopular president.

She has spoken out against Trump’s beef policy. Her campaign released a new ad this week highlighting her efforts to reach across the aisle, which comes as a new CNN analysis shows that Trump has seldom been mentioned in Republican ads more broadly in recent weeks.

Then on Friday, she didn’t attend the Council Bluffs event, with a spokesperson pointing to previously scheduled events, according to the New York Times. CNN has reached out to Hinson’s campaign.

Hours after Vance’s remarks, Trump posted a video statement with his “Complete and Total Endorsement” of Hinson’s candidacy, taking the rare step of posting the message on both Truth Social and X platforms.

Speaking in the Oval Office on Friday, Trump gave a somewhat candid assessment of the midterms, telling reporters he believes the November elections will be “pretty close.”

“I hope the Republicans are gonna do well,” he said. “It’s gonna be pretty close.”

Vance’s trip to Iowa was the latest in a series of swings across the country — from Kansas earlier this week to Michigan, Maine and Ohio last month. As he has in recent appearances, the vice president put some stylistic and tonal distance between himself and the president, acknowledging to voters that there is still “a lot of work to do,” while touting administration accomplishments and potentially laying the groundwork for a return to Iowa as a future presidential candidate.

Tailoring his message to the agricultural state, Vance placed special emphasis on “American food” — including cutting regulations for farmers and boosting exports of beef, dairy and corn.

But he also nationalized the stakes of the November midterms, warning the crowd that Democratic leaders believe “this country needs to be utterly transformed — and it’s ordinary men and women in states like Iowa who are standing in the way.” He alluded to Democratic nominees in the Kansas and Michigan Senate races, but not in Iowa. He never named Turek.

Iowa, which Trump carried by 13 points in 2024, has been reliably red in recent years. But Hinson’s race is rated “Tilt Republican” by Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales. The governor’s race — between Democrat Rob Sand, the state auditor, and Republican businessman and farmer Zach Lahn — has also proven competitive. It’s rated “Tilt Democratic” by Inside Elections.

Vance spent a significant portion of his speech rallying for Lahn and attacking Sand as “far left” and a “career politician.” Sand, the only Democrat to hold statewide office, has a long track record of winning elections in Iowa.

“Ladies and gentlemen, you have an opportunity to send not just Rob Sand but the entire Democrat Party a message: Check the crazy at the door, and learn to fight for Americans for a change. Vote Zach Lahn in November,” he said in his closing pitch.

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CNN’s Jeff Zeleny contributed to this report.