Tom Harkin’s Successor To Be A Power Player

Iowa Senator Tom Harkin’s retirement leaves the Democrat’s seat wide open to either party in 2014. But whether a Democrat or a Republican takes the prize, wind and biofuels advocates are tasting victory.

"We won’t take anything for granted," said Monte Shaw, Executive Director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, but the group "is positive that whoever takes Sen. Harkin’s place will be a strong supporter."

The top name to emerge for the seat among Democrats is Bruce Braley, a fourth-term House member who recently joined the Energy and Commerce Committee. Braley is a favorite of environmental groups: He pulled in $18,282 from the sector for his 2012 reelection, including donations from the political action committees of the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) and the Sierra Club. That made him the 12th-biggest recipient of environmental contributions among members running for reelection in the House, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

The GOP nomination is generally expected to go to either Rep. Steve King or Rep. Tom Latham.

In 2012, King landed campaign contributions from the PACs of the American Wind Energy Association and the National Corn Growers Association, which supports the EPA Renewable Fuel Standard that requires ethanol blending in gasoline — but don’t expect the green group to get behind King any time soon. King’s comments on climate science — including 2010 remarks that snowfall makes a global warming argument "tough" — have drawn criticism from his opponents. King holds a 5 percent lifetime rating on LCV’s scorecard while Latham gets 9 percent. Braley holds a 90 percent rating.

The free-market-oriented American Energy Alliance, meanwhile, hasn’t had time to delve into the race. The group, tied to the conservative Koch brothers, doesn’t promise full-throated support for any candidate and hasn’t hesitated to go after King before. Last year, the group ran radio ads targeting King and other ag-state Republicans over subsidies in the House farm bill.

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