Iowa governor’s son to lead Trump’s state campaign

The son of long-time Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R) will lead presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump’s campaign in the state, the Des Moines Register reported Wednesday.

A Trump spokeswoman told the paper that Eric Branstad will be Trump’s state director in Iowa, which is projected as a toss-up state in November. The National Review first reported the news. 

{mosads}“I want to work with the campaign and share with Iowans what I’ve gotten to know, and that is how great of a leader and person Mr. Trump is,” Branstad told the Register on Wednesday. “After that happens, we plan to win Iowa for Mr. Trump.”

Besides being the governor’s son, Eric Branstad has made a name for himself in Republican politics in Iowa, and he’s a vocal advocate for the state’s renewable fuels industry.

Branstad worked for George W. Bush’s 2004 reelection campaign and runs a Des Moines-based public affairs firm. He played a major advocacy role in the lead-up to the 2016 Iowa caucuses as the state director for America’s Renewable Future, which advocates for expanded biofuels and ethanol production, a major industry in the state. 

Ethanol was a key issue in the Iowa caucuses: Trump used it to bludgeon his rival, Ted Cruz, who opposes the ethanol mandate. Branstad’s group gave Trump a “good” rating on their candidate scorecard; Cruz received a “bad” grade, and the group encouraged its mailing list to back candidates with a pro-ethanol rating. 

Terry Branstad, the longest serving governor in American history, went so far as to say Iowans should not support Cruz. Cruz, however, topped Trump in the state’s caucuses.