Leading the news: Finkenhauer is vying for the Democratic nomination to run against Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) for the U.S. Senate.
Finkenauer served a term in Parliament after defeating incumbent Rod Bloom (R) in 2018, but lost her candidacy for re-election in 2020.
Fill in the blanks: Her place on the ballot was challenged by Republicans who argued that Finkenhauer did not submit the required number of valid signatures on her candidacy to qualify for the first ballot, according to the Des Moines Register.
A state committee found that it met the requirement, but Republicans said the committee failed to consider three signatures that did not include a date. Polk County District Judge Scott Beattie sided with them, arguing that the commission “misinterpreted” the law.
Box: Senate nominees must submit at least 3,500 signatures on their nomination papers, including 100 in 19 different Iowa counties.
Beattie considered that Finkenauer did not have enough valid signatures because some of them “lacked information”.
Details: “The Court is not happy with this conclusion. This Court should not be able to make a difference in elections and Ms Finkenauer and her supporters should have the opportunity to advance her candidacy,” he wrote. Beattie in his opinion.
“However, the job of this Court is to sit as an arbitrator and apply the law without passion or prejudice. It is required to rule without regard to the politics of the time. Here the Court has tried to fulfill this role.”
What it says: “This misguided, midnight decision is an outrageous and partisan gift to the Republicans of Washington who orchestrated this unjust legal action,” Finkenhauer said in a statement.
“Chuck Grassley’s allies in Washington will continue to launch attack after attack against me – no matter how weak and partisan they are – because they know we have the potential to win this fight,” he added.
What follows: Finkenauer said later Monday that her campaign “will challenge this deeply partisan decision in the Iowa Supreme Court.” Editor’s note: This story has been updated with a statement from Finkenauer.
