Vance Delivers 7-Minute Attack

Vice President JD Vance wrapped a rally in Iowa on Friday by turning his closing minutes into a pointed attack on one person—Democratic gubernatorial nominee Rob Sand. The vice president cast Sand, the state auditor who leads Republican Zach Lahn in several recent polls, as a liberal posing as a centrist, accusing him of "groaning about partisanship" while backing what Vance called "far left" causes. He framed the choice in the November midterms as "common sense versus crazy" and urged voters to "check the crazy at the door." The attack on Sand ran for about seven minutes, the Hill reports.

Vance barely spoke at the Council Bluffs event about Iowa's Senate race, and Rep. Ashley Hinson, the Republican nominee, did not attend the rally. Hinson's race against Democrat Josh Turek is tightening, CNN points out, and Hinson seems reluctant to appear closely aligned with the Trump administration as the president's approval ratings fall. "It's no mystery why Vance is here," Turek wrote before Vance's speech. "It's because his billionaire bosses are terrified that their grip over Iowa is slipping—and with it, their narrow Senate majority."