Sara Jordan-Heintz
Staff Writer
sjordan@timesrepublican.com
T-R PHOTO BY SARA JORDAN-HEINTZ Monday afternoon, the public gathered to attend the first ever UAW Local 893 Labor Day picnic, encompassing folks from the Hawkeye Area Labor Council and the general public. Democrat Theresa Greenfield, who is running for Iowa’s Third Congressional District in a bid to unseat incumbent Joni Ernst, spoke with attendees about the need to protect Medicare, Social Security and strengthen unions.
Monday afternoon, the UAW Local 893 gathered to share food, friendship and conversation.
“It’s part of the Hawkeye Area Labor Council. This is the first initial try having a Labor Day picnic, for the public and union members,” UAW President Jim Chance said. “It gives us an opportunity to talk back and forth amongst other members of organized labor, and for the community to come in and talk to us and see what we do – to promote some union awareness.”
Between bites of potato salad and chatting with representatives from various Democratic presidential campaigns, attendees got to meet Democrat Theresa Greenfield, who is running for Iowa’s Third Congressional District in a bid to unseat incumbent Joni Ernst.
Greenfield spoke about her personal ties to organized labor, namely, the IBEW who took care of her and her children after the death of her first husband.
“I was widowed at the age of 24 and my first husband was a lineman for the power company, a journeyman, a member of IBEW. The boys and I relied on Social Security and union benefits,” Greenfield said.
The candidate, who was born and raised near the Minnesota/Iowa border, said she knew first-hand the struggles farmers have encountered in the past several decades, beginning in the early 1980s with the farming crisis.
“I was a 1982 grad, at the start of the farming crisis, at least in my community,” she said. “My parents had to sell their hogs and flying service (crop dusting) and never farmed again.”
Greenfield said three key issues have motivated her run against Sen. Ernst: agriculture, Social Security and Medicare.
“As a young widow, I would have gone to poverty without Social Security,” she said. “You don’t get rich. You’re not supposed to, but you do make ends meet and you don’t go hungry. It allowed me the opportunity to go back to college and get more skills, then a few years later got my first job after my husband died – as a single mom with two kids – and I got my dignity back also.”
She said she is disappointed in what she terms as Ernst’s “lack of independent decision making” separate from the GOP.
“Right now in Iowa, net farm income is down 75 percent since 2013. Joni Ernst is no friend of farmers. Between the reckless trade and reckless tariffs and the Ernst ethanol policies,” she said.
When asked what makes her stand out from the other Dems vying for Ernst’s seat, which includes Kimberly Graham and Eddie Mauro, Greenfield said her life experiences are relatable to voters.
“I think Iowans will find I match their stories and their life really well, from my rural upbringing, to connecting with the rural farm crisis, to defending Social Security and Medicare – really bedrocks of so much of our economy,” she said. “I also am the president of a small business. I bring a lot to the table that reflects Iowans, their lives and how they earn a living.”
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Contact Sara Jordan-Heintz at
641-753-6611 or
sjordan@timesrepublican.com
