Finkeanuer, a first-term congresswoman, flipped this Obama-Trump district in Northeastern Iowa back to Democratic control in 2018.
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Democratic Rep. Abby Finkenauer looks to retain her seat against challenger Ashley Hinson to represent Iowa's 1st congressional district in the northeastern region of the state.
Finkenauer, a Democrat, has represented the district since 2018 where she became the second-youngest woman to ever be elected to the House of Representatives. Alongside Rep. Cindy Axne, Finkenauer was also the first women from Iowa to be join the House. Before her time in Congress, she was a member of Iowa's House of Representatives. In 2019, Finkenauer voted with Democrats to impeach President Donald Trump.
Finkenauer's Republican challenger, Hinson, is a current assemblywoman for the 67th District in Iowa's House of Representatives. Before joining the political scene, Hinson was a broadcast journalist for KCRG-TV in Cedar Rapids where she won two Midwest regional Emmy Awards for her reporting. In July 2020, the New York Times reported that Hinson plagiarized over a dozen times on her campaign website and in published op-eds.
Hinson responded to the plagiarism accusations on Twitter where she blamed her staff and said, "I was unaware of the plagiarism when I reviewed drafts presented to me by staff. As a journalist I take this extremely seriously and am deeply sorry for the mistake. The staff responsible will be held accountable."
Iowa's 1st congressional district is in the northeastern region of the state and includes Waterloo, Dubuque, and Cedar Rapids. It also contains Mitchell, Winneshiek, Allamakee, Worth, Howard, Fayette, Clayton, Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan, Dubuque, Delaware, Jackson, Linn, Jones, Benton, Iowa, Marshall, Tama, Poweshiek counties.
The district flipped from voting for President Barack Obama by a margin of almost 14 percentage points in 2012 to vote for President Donald Trump by 3.5 percentage points in 2016, according to the Daily Kos.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Finkenauer has raised $3.5 million while her opponent, Hinson, has raised $2.7 million. Finkenauer has $2.69 million on hand – about $1 million more than Hinson.
While Finkenauer has more cash on hand, Hinson has spent $1.1 million on her campaign, or about $400,000 more than the incumbent, Finkenauer.
The race between Finkenauer and Hinson is rated as a toss-up by Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics and the Cook Political Report and rated as tilting Democratic by Inside Elections.
