Report: Iowa Democrat Senate Candidate Will Campaign with Fidel Castro Sympathizer

Former Rep. Abby Finkenauer (D-IA), running against long-time incumbent Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), will reportedly campaign with a radical leftist donor who boasted about having a long dinner with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro while on a trip in 2002.

Finkenauer will be campaigning at an event from Electing Women Bay Area PAC, which is being hosted at the home of Andrea Dew Steele, the radical leftist donor. The event flyer is asking attendees to donate $1,000.

Fox News reported that Steele, the founder of Emerge America, in 2016 bragged about her trip to Cuba in 2002 when she attended an “8-hour dinner” with Castro. She even posted a picture of herself standing next to him on social media.

“All of this talk of Cuba today reminds me of my trip to Cuba in 2002 and my (8 hour) dinner with Fidel (and 20 others) pictured below with me on the left. … This is an historic time that we are living through,” Fox News said Steele wrote on Facebook in 2016.

Then in 2014, the donor posted the picture of Castro on social media, saying she was “fortunate to be included in an official delegation” that went to Cuba in 2002.

Fox News said Steele did “acknowledge” her trip, saying it was “official” but did not give the news organization comment on the dinner.

National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokesperson Katharine Cooksey told Fox News, “It’s hard to take Abby Finkenauer’s doomed Senate run seriously when she doesn’t even take it seriously herself.” She added:

Why else would she schmooze with liberal California donors who support communist dictators like Fidel Castro but look down on hardworking Iowans? If Finkenauer believes Iowans share these same anti-America values, she’s in for a rude awakening.

Additionally, Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Jeff Kaufmann said that “Sen. Grassley sets the standard when it comes to meeting Iowans face-to-face and providing them with the representative government they deserve.” He added:

Finkenauer would much rather spend her time with San Francisco donors, who want to see our country seep into the same Communist spiral as California. It doesn’t get much more out of touch than that.

Grassley has still not announced his intention to run for reelection.

Follow Jacob Bliss on Twitter @jacobmbliss.