Inflation and rising costs may be consuming the news headlines, but it has fallen to the bottom of Democratic Iowa Senate candidate Mike Franken’s priority list on the campaign trail.
According to new data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the prices of everyday goods and services continued rising last month. The Consumer Price Index increased 8.6% in May compared to the same time a year ago, keeping inflation near its highest level in more than 40 years. The Consumer Price Index measures how much it costs to buy a consistent basket of consumer goods and services.
If voters are curious about what Mike Franken has to say on inflation, they better be prepared to go on a long scavenger hunt for answers.
Franken’s “Issues” page on his campaign website fails to mention the words “inflation” or “gas prices.” Instead, he uses the page to highlight issues such as January 6th, campaign finance reform, and codifying Roe v. Wade.
Franken has only mentioned inflation once in one of three ads released by his campaign before Tuesday’s primary, and out of the 3,120 tweets he’s posted to his campaign Twitter account, Franken has tweeted about inflation only three times.
“Mike Franken’s deliberate avoidance of voters’ #1 concern tells you everything you need to know,” said America Rising PAC press secretary Whitney Robertson.
Working against Franken’s campaign focus is that the economy, namely inflation, is at the top of voters’ minds ahead of the Midterms. According to new polling from Quinnipiac, “Americans say inflation (34 percent) is the most urgent issue facing the country today followed by gun violence (17 percent).”
Republicans are predicting that Democrats’ failure to adequately address skyrocketing prices is going to be a glaring liability in November.
“If he’s unwilling to talk about the hard issues now, he won’t be willing to address them in the future, and Iowans will remember that when they go to the ballot box this fall,” Robertson concluded.
Franken won a hotly contested primary election against former Iowa Congresswoman Abby Finkenauer, who struggled throughout her campaign. Franken will face Republican Chuck Grassley in November.
