Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren is spending two days in Iowa campaigning with Zach Wahls, one of two Democrats campaigning for Iowa’s open U.S. Senate seat.
During a Mother’s Day rally in Des Moines, Warren and Wahls emphasized their proposals for new taxes on wealthy Americans. “I…want to stand beside Zach as we wade into the fight to say it is about time that billionaires and billionaire corporations pay their fair share,” Warren said, to cheers.
Warren has proposed a 2% tax on households with an annual income of over $50 million, plus an additional 1% tax on billionaires. Wahls, who backed Warren in 2020 when she ran for president, has proposed a 5% annual tax on billionaires. “Those same billionaires are now trying to buy this election,” Wahls said. “And Chuck Schumer is all too happy to help.”
Wahls is a critic of Schumer, the Senate Democratic Leader who he accuses of preferring his oponent, Josh Turek, as well as the VoteVets political action committee that’s running ads to boost Turek’s candidacy. “So Chuck…let us tell you what the people of Iowa need. And if you want Chuck to hear that you’re ready for a Democratic Party that fights, let’s make some noise,” Wahls said, holding the microphone toward the crowd as it applauded and cheered.
During the hour-long event, Warren and Walz promised to go after private equity firms that are buying houses and mobile home parks, hospitals and nursing homes and farmland. “There is so much money sloshing through Washington,” Warren said. “I admire Zach…He stands up with courage to big money and says: ‘I will commit to working for the people of Iowa, not for the giant corporations.'”
Wahls said the country faces an economic crisis that is directly connected to corruption in Washington and the power of monopolies. “With that wealth tax we can pay for universal health care, we can pay for affordable child care, we can protect Social Security for future generations and we can give every Iowa family a middle class tax cut,” Wahls said, with each of those five declarations drawing cheers from the crowd.
The June 2 Primary is 22 days away. Senator Joni Ernst announced last September she would not seek a third term and at one time there were five Democrats actively campaigning to succeed Ernst. Republican Congresswoman Ashley Hinson announced she would run for the U.S. Senate a few hours after Ernst made her statement. Hinson faces former state legislator Jim Carlin of Sergeant Bluff in the GOP Primary next month. Carlin ran against Republican Senator Chuck Grasley in 2022. Grassley won the primary with 73.3% of the GOP vote.