WASHINGTON (CNN) — Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst said Monday she was “greatly offended” by Sen. Tom Harkin’s remarks last week that Ernst wasn’t fit to be Iowa’s senator just because she’s “really attractive and she sounds nice.”
Ernst fired back Monday on Fox News and said Harkin would have never made those comments if she were a man.
“I was very offended that Sen. Harkin would say that. I think it’s unfortunate that he and many of their party believe you can’t be a real woman if you’re conservative and you’re female,” Ernst said. “I believe if my name had been John Ernst attached to my resume, Sen. Harkin would not have said those things.”
The retiring Senator from Iowa said last week that he doesn’t want his seat to go to Ernst just because she’s “really attractive and she sounds nice,” Harkin said at the Story County Democrats’ annual fall barbecue, according to footage obtained by Buzzfeed News published Sunday night, November 2, 2014.
“I don’t care if she’s as good looking as Taylor Swift or as nice as Mr. Rogers, but if she votes like Michele Bachmann, she’s wrong for the state of Iowa,” Harkin said.
Ernst also slammed Democrats for their “phony war on women.”
“I am a woman and second I have been to war. I am a combat veteran, this is not a war on women and anytime Democrats use the word war, they need to do it to honor our servicemen and women,” Ernst said Monday.
Ernst has gained momentum recently in the race against her Democratic opponent Rep. Bruce Braley, leading by two points in the latest CNN/ORC poll and up by 7 points in a Des Moines Register poll released this weekend.
But a Quinnipiac University poll released Monday, November 3, one day before voters head to the voting booth said the race is all tied up with each candidate pulling 47%.
Iowa is arguably one of the most crucial Senate races of the cycle that could hand over control of the Senate to Republicans if Ernst prevails.
Ernst would be the state’s first female Senator.
Neither Ernst’s campaign nor Harkin’s office immediately responded to CNN request for comment Monday.
