A Race for the Corn Fields

Iowa is a lot more than just another Midwestern farm state, and despite pumping out corn, pork, and sliced bread, it is definitely a much overlooked backbone of our country. Although 85% of Iowa does in fact serve this purpose, Iowa, bridging the Midwest and the more Eastern parts of the US, has always played a pivotal role in politics; it's usually the very first state to hold presidential primaries and one of the few to still hold onto the caucus system, which most other states have abandoned.

Iowa's first district tends to lean more liberal than the state as a whole, and has a Democratic incumbent. That incumbent, Abby Finkenauer, just won her seat in the midterm elections two years ago, and is now fighting to keep that seat for two more years. Her Republican adversary, Ashley Hinson, is coming from the Iowa House of Representatives, where Finkenauer was before she got her start in the national House.