Iowa Democratic Party chair Scott Brennanan (L) with DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
The chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee visited Des Moines on the eve of the Iowa Republican Party’s state convention — with a message about the loss a Republican leader in the U.S. House suffered this past week.
“Tuesday’s election results confirmed what we already knew: the Tea Party has swallowed the GOP. When Eric Cantor isn’t conservative enough to win a Republican primary, it’s clear just how far-right the GOP has become,” said Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida congresswoman who is also chair of the Democratic National Committee, said during a late morning news conference.
Wasserman Schultz criticized Joni Ernst, the Iowa GOP’s nominee for the U.S. Senate, and Wasserman Schultz suggested a functioning federal government is at risk if Republicans are able to take control of the U.S. Senate from Democrats.
“A radical Tea Party ideology that embraces government shutdowns and obstructs progress is only the tip of the iceberg,” she said.
Democrats staged the news conference directly across the street from the downtown Des Moines venue where 2000 Iowa Republican delegates will gather Saturday to hold their state convention. Three potential 2016 presidential candidates — Rick Santorum, Bobby Jindahl and Rand Paul — will address the delegates.
“Some of the most radical and out-of-touch members of the Republican Party who have their eyes set on the White House will be in that convention hall tomorrow to hoist Joni Ernst on their far right wing shoulders,” Wasserman Schultz said.
A spokeswoman for the Ernst campaign dismissed Wasserman Schultz as an “Obamacare champion” and defender of the Democratic Party’s nominee for the U.S. Senate. The Ernst camp called him “Beltway” Bruce Braley to stress his service as a Democratic member of the U.S. House alongside Wasserman Schultz.