Mike Franken Denies Allegations of Kissing Female Staffers and '1950s Interactions'

Franken, 64, is Iowa’s Democratic Senate nominee running against incumbent Republican Chuck Grassley, 89, and has recently outraised the Republican senator, but a recent poll shows Grassley---who still holds more cash---leading Franken by nearly nine points. A recent scandal surrounding Franken may sink his poll numbers even lower.

Franken has denied allegations made by a conservative media outlet called Iowa Field Report that claims Franken assaulted his campaign manager Kimberly Strope-Boggus, based on a Des Moines Police Department incident report the news site claims to have “exclusively obtained.”

Iowa Field Report released an article claiming that Franken “grabbed the collar of the vest [Strope-Boggus] was wearing and kissed her on her mouth.” According to the article, the campaign manager was not the only person who was a victim of Franken’s unwanted advances, as the Senate nominee was said to have had “1950s interactions with women” and engaged in similar behavior with “several other women.”

The police report, which Iowa Field Report says has the assailant’s name blacked out, claims the assault occurred near an Ace Hardware parking lot after Strope-Boggus and Franken had drinks at a Des Moines bar on March 18, 2022.

“In the police report, the name of the alleged assailant is blacked out, but context clues, including mention of staff names and their roles, make abundantly clear the name in question is indeed Senate candidate Mike Franken,” writes Luke Martz, Iowa Field Report’s founder and editor.

Franken, a retired Navy vice admiral, has denied the allegations, and has even accused the media outlet of being politically motivated because it is a “Republican paper funded by Chuck Grassley, funded by the Republicans.”

“I am an active supporter of any effort to uncover and disclose assaults of any matter. But this one didn’t happen,” Franken said. “I’m just so disappointed that anything negative has come up about this. Because we’re on all eight cylinders. We’re cruising along… that was just an oddity. That’s no longer part of the picture.”

Iowa has not elected a Democratic senator in the past four races. With just seven weeks until Election Day, Franken’s chances look increasingly slim. According to Punchbowl News, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, in a private conversation with Democratic senators, said that Franken didn’t have a chance to win the Senate seat in Iowa, before adding that he felt confident that Democrats would also lose the House in November.

Franken, though, seems unfazed by what Schumer had to say to his colleagues.

“I think Chuck Schumer’s happy with our performance, and secretly — he may not be saying that in public — he’s proud of how we’re doing. And I would expect that [once] he has a poll … and suddenly we are at two points, or we’re ahead? That suddenly his interest will skyrocket,” Franken said.

But a spokesperson for the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm said they were not involved in Franken’s race, and Schumer also left Franken out of $15 million which he had allocated for Senate races.

Franken did outraise Grassley during the most recent fundraising period, according to the Des Moines Register, raising $1.7 million between May 19 and June 30 compared to Grassley’s $609,000. However, Grassley still raised more money in the full election cycle, taking in about $6.1 million compared to Franken’s $4.5 million.

Franken’s lack of support from fellow powerful Democrats, in addition to his recent scandal, may negatively affect him and ultimately cost him the Senate race against the 89-year-old Grassley.