Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley won his first election to the U.S. Senate in 1980. Since then, he has won landslide after landslide.
He tweeted at 4 a.m. on Friday a surprise announcement that his future is decided — at 88-years-old, he’s planning to do it again.
“Before I start the day I want you to know what Barbara and I have decided,” he tweeted, referring to his wife of 66 years. “I’m running for re-election—a lot more to do, for Iowa.”
He attached an animated GIF of himself jogging at 4 a.m.
It’s 4 a.m. in Iowa so I’m running. I do that 6 days a week. Before I start the day I want you to know what Barbara and I have decided.
I’m running for re-election—a lot more to do, for Iowa. We ask and will work for your support. Will you join us? #GrassleyRuns #GrassleyWorks pic.twitter.com/cwv8yu9wkx
— Grassley Works (@GrassleyWorks) September 24, 2021
Before the tweet, commentators had been speculating about whether the elderly Grassley would run.
So far, five Senate Republicans have declined to run for reelection: Roy Blunt (R–Mo.), Pat Toomey (R–Penna.), Rob Portman (R–Ohio), Richard Burr (R–N.C.), and Richard Shelby (R–Ala.)
No Democrat has committed to stepping aside during next year’s Senate races. After all, the Democrats use seniority to assign committee chairmanships, and the Republicans cycle through committee chairs.
Grassley has dismissed the critics’ calls to retire.
“I’ve been getting a lot of encouragement from Iowans for the first time — they haven’t talked to me much about it until now,” Grassley told CNN last week, before the announcement.
“I think I keep the same schedule as when I was 65 years old, maybe even 40 years old,” he said with a laugh.
In 2016, Grassley won reelection by 24.4 points– in his closest election since 1980. He outperformed former President Donald Trump, who won Iowa in that year’s presidential election. Since 1986, Grassley has always won more than 60 percent of the vote.
Naturally, Grassley is favored to win reelection. In that case, he will serve for six more years, the length of a Senate term. He will finish his eighth term in 2029, three months after his 95th birthday. By then, he will have spent more than half his life in the U.S. Senate.
He will likely face former U.S. Rep. Abby Finkhauer (D–Iowa), who lost her House seat in last year’s election.
Finkhauer remains the highest-profile Democrat to announce a candidacy. She is polling 18 points behind Grassley, a new poll from Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa shows.
At the age of 32, Finkhauer was born during Grassley’s second term.
Grassley ranks as the second-oldest U.S. senator, only two months younger than Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D–Calif.) He is almost a decade older than President Joe Biden, 78.
The Horn editorial team