Democrat candidate for U.S. House in Iowa’s Fourth Congressional District, J.D. Scholten, sent out a fundraising email on Friday night telling supporters that Republican Randy Feenstra won’t debate him because the race is tightening.
Scholten pointed to a Des Moines Register poll released earlier this week that shows he is down five points and within the margin of error. Of course, if the margin of error is figured the other way, Feenstra could have as much as a 12-point lead.
Nonetheless, Scholten’s bone to pick with Feenstra is the fact that Feenstra has refused debates with KTIV and KCCI. The two have met in forums, however.
Nonetheless, televised debates are crucial to informing voters about the candidates. Just as we believe Congresswoman Abby Finkenauer should agree to debates with Ashley Hinson, Feenstra should do at least one televised debate with Scholten.
Consider me a skeptic when it comes to the Register’s poll on this race. I have a hard time envisioning anything less than a 15-point win for Feenstra. Anything less than that may reveal he has struggled to reach out to supporters of Congressman Steve King after the unconventional primary ended how it did.
Nonetheless, here is the email from Scholten:
These are the results of a new poll from the Des Moines Register. It shows we’re down just 5 points AND within the margin of error — a huge gain from June, when we were down nearly double that number.
We’ve got a huge amount of momentum.
And now we know why Feestra won’t debate us. We’ve said yes to every request for debate, urging him to come make his positions known to voters and give Iowans a chance to see how our vision for the district differs. He has yet to accept a single invite.
Randy must know that if he has to step up to the podium and debate me on the issues facing our communities, he won’t have a leg to stand on. The house of cards he’s been building will come tumbling down… and we’ll close the gap.
Truth is, we can’t force Feenstra to debate us.
But we can still make sure voters see the difference between him and me. We can out-organize him and show folks the choice: between a candidate who values transparency, truth, and progress or a corporate-backed yes man.
That’s not to say it will be easy. This is going to be the fight of our lives, and if we’re going to come out on top and finally secure the change we’re all so hungry for, I need your help to crush the very last end-of-quarter fundraising goal of the general election.
