Why cancer, not cost of living, may be the biggest issue in Iowa’s midterm elections

A broad group of diseases in the agricultural powerhouse is top of mind for the midterm elections

In Iowa , one of the key battleground states in November’s midterm elections , just about every political candidate agrees on one thing: something must be done about the state’s rising rates of cancer.

The midwestern state has the second-highest rate of cancer nationwide and, together with Utah and West Virginia , is one of only three states where incidences of the disease are rising, according to cancer rate monitoring from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities.

Promises to address the issue are now top of mind for candidates ahead of the 3 November elections, in which Iowa may play an important role in deciding control of Congress for the final two years of Donald Trump’s term.

Republicans hoping to preserve their party’s dominance of the state and Democrats who believe conditions are right for them to win key races have pledged to make fighting the disease a priority. Where they differ is in their views over the degree to which the state’s powerhouse farm economy has contributed to making Iowans sick, and what to do about it.

“I think state leadership and industrial agriculture are very hesitant to have those conversations, but I think the Iowa public is calling and demanding action and conversation and answers in a way that both parties are needing to respond, and [that’s] why it has become the campaign issue of this upcoming election,” said Sarah Green, executive director of the Iowa Environmental Council, a nonpartisan group whose research into the disease’s prevalence has helped fuel public awareness of the crisis.

Iowa’s cancer rates followed national trends until 2012, when they began climbing upwards for reasons that Green said remain unclear. Cancer includes a broad group of diseases, and many aspects of life, from stress to food to environment, can modify someone’s risk. What’s plain is the importance to voters – one survey has cancer ranked as the top issue facing the state, eclipsing even the cost of living.

In the race for the state’s open US Senate seat, Democrat Josh Turek whose spina bifida he attributes to his father’s exposure to Agent Orange during the Vietnam war, has brought up his sister’s struggle with breast cancer, while his opponent, Republican congresswoman Ashley Hinson, has emphasized her attempts to reform health policy in Washington.

Candidates of both parties vying for the state’s four Republican-held US House districts have battled over who would be better suited to channel federal resources to the state’s needs.