Iowa high court restores Dem frontrunner in Senate primary to ballot

April 16 (UPI) -- The Iowa Democrat seen as the most likely challenger to longtime Republican incumbent Sen. Chuck Grassley has been reinstated to the primary election ballot after a ruling by the Iowa Supreme Court.

The state's high court ruled Friday that Abby Finkenauer, widely considered the Democratic frontrunner for Iowa's June 7 Senate primary, must be restored to the ballot less than a week after a lower court had declared her ineligible due an insufficient number of valid signatures supporting her candidacy.

The Supreme Court's unanimous, unsigned opinion overturned a decision issued Sunday by Polk County, Iowa, District Judge Scott Beattie, in which he sided with Republican activists in arguing that Finkenauer should be knocked off the ballot.

Beattie's decision overruled the State Objection Panel, which had determined last month that the Democrat's campaign had met the signature requirements to be on the primary ballot.

"The GOP's attempts to undermine ballot access and our election process were pathetic and desperate," Finkenauer wrote Friday in a Twitter post. "Today they lost. With a unanimous decision by the Iowa Supreme Court, we're still in this fight and we WILL beat Chuck Grassley in November.

"It's a good day for our democracy."

Beattie had upheld the GOP's arguments that Finkenauer had failed to submit valid signatures from at least 100 eligible voters in 19 different counties as required -- her campaign, he ruled, was a total of three valid signatures short of the 100 needed in two of the 19 counties.

Dates were missing on those signatures, but in its Friday ruling, the Supreme Court said the state Legislature did not include that "as one of the grounds for sustaining an objection to a petition. We conclude that the recent legislation prevails."

Finkenauer has led the Democratic field of six candidates in fundraising efforts to defeat seven-term incumbent Grassley. She won election to the U.S. House of Representatives four years ago, defeating a GOP incumbent, but was herself beaten by Republican Ashley Hinson in 2020.