Congressional candidate Theresa Greenfield has ended her campaign. Attorney General Tom Miller put out a judgement late this afternoon that his office does not believe that Greenfield could use Chapter 43 of the Iowa Code to justify remaining on the ballot. Secretary of State Paul Pate needed to decide by 5:00 P.M. today whether or not to certify Greenfield’s candidacy – following Miller’s opinion, he did not.

Earlier this week, the 3rd District Democratic committee voted to move Greenfield forward in the process, using an obscure part of the law to place an additional candidate on the ballot after one withdraws. Greenfield pulled her original filing petitions after her campaign manager revealed he had forged an unknown number of signatures. A last-ditch effort failed by 198 signatures to get her enough new names to qualify for the ballot in the usual manner.

“This is a tough pill to swallow for all of our friends and supporters who worked so hard the past two weeks to put my name on the ballot, including what was really a difficult and courageous vote of support on Monday by the Third District Central Committee of the Iowa Democratic Party,” Greenfield said in a statement. “But I accept the Attorney General’s decision.”

“Every single day I’ve been in this race, I have been incredibly blessed and energized by so many people who care about their neighbors and this state,” she continued. “With that same farm-girl grit Iowans have seen over the past few weeks, I will continue fighting for our hardworking families, our labor unions, our small businesses, our farms and our rural communities.”

Greenfield could have filed a legal challenge to Pate’s decision, but decided to forgo that process.

The 3rd District Democratic primary now shrinks to three contenders after having seven candidates just two months ago. A contested convention is extremely unlikely at this point. The remaining Democrats are Cindy Axne, Pete D’Alessandro and Eddie Mauro.

Greenfield’s statement ended by explaining what she would do next: “Make banana bread.” That’s a reference to the treat her sister brought by the gubernatorial campaigns’ offices after they all pitched in to try to keep her on the ballot two Fridays ago.

by Pat Rynard

Posted 3/28/18