Worth Fighting For - June 3, 2019

GREENFIELD: Some call this "flyover country." Way too many in Washington fly over it and forget about it. Well, my family was into a different kind of flying. My dad was a crop duster and farming was our way of life.

I'm Theresa Greenfield and I remember flagging, tanking and mapping the fields. And at 16, negotiating with our neighboring farmers. One farmer even refused to deal with me because I was a girl. My dad wouldn't stand for it. He said there are no boy jobs or girl jobs, just jobs that need to get done.

Growing up on a family farm in a small town of 500, you had to pull your own weight. But we also had to look out for each other – our family, our friends, our communities.

We sure did during the farm crisis. It was all hands on deck, feeding the hogs, baling the hay, but also working off the farm at a local canning factory and as a waitress just to survive. I learned if you worked hard you got a fair shot -- and I sure did.

I'm a proud farm kid with farm kid values. I worked my way through community college, became a community planner, and today I'm the president of a small business.

But there were some tough spots along the way. My first husband was a union electrician and he died tragically on the job. We had a 13-month-old and another one on the way. And one of the things that saved our family was Social Security. So when I see Mitch McConnell, Joni Ernst and the folks in Washington talking about cutting Medicare and Social Security to pay for tax breaks for billionaires, I say no way.

And I know firsthand you don't stop giving people a hand up so you can give a hand out to the super wealthy and the special interest. In Iowa, whether you live in a small town or a big city, we're all getting the short end of that stick.

Joni Ernst said she'd be different.

VIDEO CLIP OF ERNST: Washington's full of big spenders. Let's make 'em squeal.

GREENFIELD: Listen folks – she didn't castrate anyone. She cast her vote to let the corporate lobbyists keep feasting, like hogs at the trough. You want to really make 'em squeal? Ban corporate PAC money. Take away their loopholes and special tax breaks. Give the breaks to working folks instead -- invest in education, small business and affordable health care for all of us.

I'm Theresa Greenfield and I'm running for U.S. Senate, because I'll never forget who I am, where I'm from, and who I'm fighting for. Please join us.