In an email sent yesterday to Patty Judge supporters, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore made a formal endorsement for Judge, the democratic challenger to Chuck Grassley’s senate seat. Gore, like Judge, is an ardent environmentalist.
“Patty Judge firmly believes that protecting our environment and natural resources for future generations must be a priority,” Gore said. “During her years of public service, she has worked to secure funding for programs to protect natural resources and has played a key role in Iowa’s expansion of renewable energy. I know that she will continue to support moving our country away from fossil fuels and toward 21st century renewable fuel sources in the U.S. Senate.”
Last weekend at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, Judge took the stage as part of The Des Moines Register‘s Political Soap Box series, and environmental issues and responsible agriculture were at the heart of her message. Judge, a former Iowa lieutenant governor and state secretary of agriculture, made her case for bringing her expertise to Washington.
“We’re going to write a new farm bill in 2017,” said Judge. “My first ask of my leader will be that I get a seat on the Senate agriculture committee. I feel I deserve that…as a lifetime farmer.”
The aspiring senator went on to make an appeal for an “aggressive conservation component” to the farm bill, with the hopes of not only “cleaning-up the water in Iowa…but the rest of country as well.”
The latest polls show Grassley maintaining a lead over Judge.
