Theresa Greenfield

Theresa Greenfield (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. Senate to represent Iowa. She lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.

Greenfield was a 2018 Democratic candidate for Iowa's 3rd Congressional District in the U.S. House. Greenfield was disqualified from the election before the primary scheduled for June 5, 2018.^[1]

2020 battleground election

See also: United States Senate election in Iowa, 2020

Joni Ernst (R) defeated Theresa Greenfield (D), Rick Stewart (L), and Suzanne Herzog (I) in the election for U.S. Senate in Iowa on November 3, 2020.

The outcome of this race affected partisan control of the U.S. Senate. Thirty-five of 100 seats were up for election, including two special elections. At the time of the election, Republicans had a 53-45 majority over Democrats in the Senate. Independents who caucus with the Democrats held the two remaining seats. Republicans faced greater partisan risk in the election. They defended 23 seats while Democrats defended 12. Both parties had two incumbents representing states the opposite party's presidential nominee won in 2016.

Ernst was running for a second term in office after first being elected in 2014. That year, she defeated Bruce Braley (D) by a margin of 8.3 percentage points to flip Iowa's Class II Senate seat, which had been held by Tom Harkin (D) since 1984. Iowa had 31 Pivot Counties, which voted for Obama twice before backing Trump in 2016, the most of any state. During the 2018 midterm elections, Democratic candidates defeated Republican incumbents in two of Iowa's four congressional districts, switching the partisan control of U.S. House seats in the state from a Republican 3-1 majority to a Democratic 3-1 majority. As of August 19, 2020, three election forecasters rated the race a toss-up.

Stewart and Herzog completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Click here to view their responses.

This race was one of 89 congressional races that were decided by 10 percent or fewer in 2020.

Elections

2020

United States Senate election in Iowa, 2020 (June 2 Democratic primary)

United States Senate election in Iowa, 2020 (June 2 Republican primary)

General election

General election for U.S. Senate Iowa

Incumbent Joni Ernst defeated Theresa Greenfield, Rick Stewart, and Suzanne Herzog in the general election for U.S. Senate Iowa on November 3, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Joni Ernst (R)	51.7	864,997
	Theresa Greenfield (D)	45.2	754,859
	Rick Stewart (L)	2.2	36,961
	Suzanne Herzog (Independent)	0.8	13,800
	Other/Write-in votes	0.1	1,211

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,671,828
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Iowa

Theresa Greenfield defeated Michael Franken, Kimberly Graham, Eddie Mauro, and Cal Woods (Unofficially withdrew) in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Iowa on June 2, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Theresa Greenfield	47.7	132,001
	Michael Franken	24.9	68,851
	Kimberly Graham	15.0	41,554
	Eddie Mauro	11.0	30,400
	Cal Woods (Unofficially withdrew)	1.2	3,372
	Other/Write-in votes	0.2	514

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 276,692
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. Senate Iowa

Incumbent Joni Ernst advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Iowa on June 2, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Joni Ernst	98.6	226,589
	Other/Write-in votes	1.4	3,132

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 229,721
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Paul Rieck (R)

Candidate profile

Theresa Greenfield

Party: Democratic Party

Incumbent: No

Political Office: None

Biography: Greenfield received a bachelor's degree from Minnesota State University, Mankato, in 1991. She worked as a regional and urban planner from 1992 to 2005. From 2005 to 2011, she worked as the director of real estate and division of Rottlund Homes of Iowa. Greenfield became president of Colby Interests, a Des Moines-area real estate and development company, in 2012.

Key Messages

The following key messages were curated by Ballotpedia staff. For more on how we identify key messages, click here.

Greenfield said she refused corporate PAC donations and highlighted her support from the Iowa AFL-CIO and elected officials like Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). She said their support showed that "she has what it takes to defeat Joni Ernst and hold Trump accountable."

Greenfield referenced living and working on a family farm. She said she would end "these irresponsible tariffs, unfair ethanol policies, and ensure we stand with our agricultural communities."

Greenfield discussed the job-related death of her first husband, an electrician, when she was 24, saying, "It was Social Security and union benefits ... that gave me that hand up that I needed to get started." She said that she was "committed to protecting Social Security against partisan attacks."

Show sources

Sources: YouTube, "Commitment 2020 Senate Forum Pt. 1," May 19, 2020, YouTube, "Support," May 20, 2020, YouTube, "Knock," May 18, 2020, Greenfield's 2020 campaign website, "About Theresa," accessed May 22, 2020, Greenfield's 2020 campaign website, "Growing Opportunity in Rural Iowa," accessed May 22, 2020; LinkedIn, "Theresa Greenfield," accessed May 21, 2020

This information was current as of the candidate's run for U.S. Senate Iowa in 2020.

Polls

See also: Ballotpedia's approach to covering polls

U.S. Senate election in Iowa, 2020: General election polls
Poll	Date	Ernst	Greenfield	Stewart	Herzog	Other	Margin of error	Sample size	Sponsor
Quinnipiac University	Oct. 23-27, 2020	48%	46%	--	--	5%	±2.8	1,225	--
Siena College Research Institute	Oct. 18-20, 2020	45%	44%	2%	2%	8%	±3.9	753	The New York Times
Insider Advantage	Oct. 18-19, 2020	43%	48%	5%	0%	3%	±4.9	400	Center for American Greatness
Scott Rasmussen	Oct. 15-21, 2020	43%	48%	2%	--	8%	±3.5	800	PoliticalIQ.com
Monmouth University	Oct. 15-19, 2020	47%	47%	1%	1%	3%	±4.4	501	--

Click [show] to see older poll results
Poll	Date	Ernst	Greenfield	Stewart	Herzog	Other	Margin of error	Sample size	Sponsor
Data for Progress	Oct. 8-11, 2020	43%	47%	2%	1%	6%	±3.4	822	--
YouGov	Oct. 6-9, 2020	43%	47%	--	--	10%	±3.5	1,048	CBS News
Opinion Insight	Oct. 6-8, 2020	45%	44%	--	--	10%	±3.5	800	American Action Forum
Civiqs	Oct. 3-6, 2020	46%	49%	2%	1%	3%	±3.9	756	Daily Kos
Quinnipiac University	Oct. 1-5, 2020	45%	50%	--	--	5%	±2.8	1,205	--
Data for Progress	Sept. 23-28, 2020	42%	44%	1%	1%	12%	±3.6	743	--
Monmouth University	Sept. 18-22, 2020	47%	47%	1%	<1%	4%	±4.9	402	--
Selzer & Company	Sept. 14-17, 2020	42%	45%	--	--	12%	±3.8	658	The Des Moines Register
Public Policy Polling	Aug. 13-14, 2020	45%	48%	--	--	8%	--	729	--
Monmouth University	July 30 - Aug. 3, 2020	48%	45%	1%	1%	4%	±4.9	401	--
RMG Research	July 27-30, 2020	36%	40%	--	--	24%	±4.5	500	U.S. Term Limits
SPRY Strategies	July 11-16, 2020	43%	45%	--	--	13%	±3.7	701	American Principles Project
Selzer & Co.	June 7-10, 2020	43%	46%	--	--	11%	±3.8	674	Des Moines Register

Campaign finance

This section contains campaign finance figures from the Federal Election Commission covering all candidate fundraising and spending in this election.^[2] It does not include information on fundraising before the current campaign cycle or on spending by satellite groups. The numbers in this section are updated as candidates file new campaign finance reports. Candidates for Congress are required to file financial reports on a quarterly basis, as well as two weeks before any primary, runoff, or general election in which they will be on the ballot and upon the termination of any campaign committees.^[3]

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
Joni Ernst	Republican Party	$30,567,997	$30,265,789	$528,415	As of December 31, 2020
Theresa Greenfield	Democratic Party	$56,358,302	$56,328,076	$30,236	As of December 31, 2020
Rick Stewart	Libertarian Party	$8,820	$16,093	$-7,273	As of December 31, 2020
Suzanne Herzog	Independent	$18,300	$18,300	$0	As of December 31, 2020
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2020. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). * According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." ** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election.

Satellite spending

See also: Satellite spending

Satellite spending, commonly referred to as outside spending, describes political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns; that is, any political expenditures made by groups or individuals that are not directly affiliated with a candidate. This includes spending by political party committees, super PACs, trade associations, and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups.^[4]^[5]^[6]

This section lists satellite spending in this race as reported and analyzed by Circa Victor. Spending reported as being in support of a candidate is marked with an (S) and spending reported as opposing a candidate is marked with an (O). -->

Race ratings

See also: Race rating definitions and methods

Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:

Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.^[7]
Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.

Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.^[8]^[9]^[10]

Race ratings: U.S. Senate election in Iowa, 2020
Race tracker	Race ratings
	November 3, 2020	October 27, 2020	October 20, 2020	October 13, 2020
The Cook Political Report	Toss-up	Toss-up	Toss-up	Toss-up
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales	Toss-up	Toss-up	Toss-up	Toss-up
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball	Lean Republican	Lean Democratic	Lean Democratic	Toss-up
Note: Ballotpedia updates external race ratings every week throughout the election season.