In the bitter and fight to retain a seat in the Iowa Senate, Sen. Pat Ward is crying foul against a new attack ad aired by Pastor Jeff Mullen, her opponent in the June 5 Republican primary.
The winner of the District 22 primary will face Democrat Desmund Adams in November. Ward currently represents District 21, and moved to the new district after redistricting would have pitted her against a popular Democrat, Sen. Matt McCoy.
The ad, which accuses moderate Ward of voting like a Democrat and being an “unreliable moderate,” is a distortion of her record, Ward told the Des Moines Register.
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The Mullen ad says Ward voted to take guns away from domestic violence victims with her support of Senate File 2357 in 2010. That legislation, which passed both chambers of the Legislature, prohibits gun possession by persons who are convicted and, in some instances, accused of domestic abuse.
“I’m very troubled by this,” Ward told the Register Monday. “My bottom line is that I believe desperate people do desperate things and that’s where I believe my opponent is right now.”
The ad accuses Ward of a litany of moderate stances, including voting for taxpayer-funded abortions, raising the state sales tax, increasing the minimum wage and backing gay rights, government-funded health-care expansion and state-sponsored preschool.
Neither candidate immediately returned messages asking for comments.
Last week, Mullen aired an that criticized Ward’s position on abortion. She disputed the accuracy of that ad, too.
