Representative Ashley Hinson, Iowa’s Republican nominee for Senate, was about to run an errand this month when her minivan’s console announced a phone call from “DJT.” She answered to hear President Trump say, “Ashley, it’s your favorite president.”
He asked how Ms. Hinson was feeling about the polls, she recalled — a reflection of deep Republican concern regarding a conservative-leaning state whose Senate race has turned into a tossup amid growing voter dissatisfaction with Mr. Trump. Ms. Hinson recounted the call Tuesday at a Des Moines campaign event with Senator Katie Britt of Alabama, who was in town to try to shore up support from Republican voters.
With Mr. Trump’s low approval rating dragging down Republican prospects nationwide, the party has flooded Iowa with advertising to help Ms. Hinson regain ground against Josh Turek, a state representative and the Democratic nominee for Senate. A parade of national Republican officials have also visited in recent weeks. Mr. Trump will be in Sioux City on Thursday in an attempt to juice turnout in one of the state’s reddest enclaves.
The story about the call from Mr. Trump also served to highlight an identity that Ms. Hinson has emphasized on the campaign trail: working mother. She had just dropped her sons off at school, she said, when the president called. She and Ms. Britt share the distinction of being among the few women in Congress with school-age children. Ms. Britt, who was elected in 2022, said she turned to Ms. Hinson for guidance on adapting to life in Washington.
“I missed my husband. I missed my kids,” Ms. Britt said, and then added, “Learning from Ashley and sitting down with Ashley is what actually made the difference for me.”
Ms. Britt, 44, said she “cannot wait” for Ms. Hinson, who is 43, to replace her as the youngest female senator. In Congress today, “you’ve got a lot of social media stars, not a lot of statesmen,” Ms. Britt said. “This woman is a statesman.”
Instead of a focus on transgender athletes and the other red-meat social issues that have animated campaign appearances by Mr. Trump, Vice President JD Vance and many other Republican leaders, Ms. Hinson and Ms. Britt largely skirted culture-war topics.
They talked about efforts to keep children away from screens, about Ms. Hinson’s work to expand over-the-counter access to contraceptives and about Ms. Britt’s hope to make in vitro fertilization more affordable. Ms. Hinson also talked about rural Iowa health facilities getting grants from Mr. Trump’s sweeping tax reduction and spending bill.
She did not mention the legislation’s broad restrictions on Medicaid, which have forced some hospitals to limit their services.
Near the end of the event, she reminded her audience to keep up with their routine checkups. “Ladies, get your mammograms!”
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