In this election, however, he joined a growing list of U.S. Congressional incumbents who chose not to run for re-election in 2014. Instead, he chose to run for Iowa's open Senate seat vacated by Senator Tom Harkin who had announced his retirement in early 2013. Veteran Senator Harkin's departure was widely expected to segue into Braley's Senatorial career (Bruce Braley). .
When news of U.S. Senator Tom Harkin's retirement broke, it came as a shock to Washington. Such a shock, in fact, that neither his party nor the Republicans had given any thought as to who would succeed him. Republicans scrambled for suitable candidates, while democrats quickly settled on Representative Bruce Braley. Harkin's unexpected retirement, according to an article published in the Huffington Post, was "a test of how the major political parties will respond to change, not only here, but also nationwide, as demographic forces reshape the electorate (Beaumont)." That "reshaping of the electorate" is reference to the growing Hispanic population in both Iowa and across the nation. In Iowa, Hispanic populations have nearly doubled to nearly 5 percent of the electorate. This presented a challenge for both parties. For the Republicans, they needed to show the growing Hispanic population that they are no longer a party of and for the white, affluent man. For the Democrats, they faced the challenge of electing someone to office other than Harkin. The only other Democrat elected in Iowa was Governor Chet Culver, who was defeated by Republican Terry Branstand 2010 (Beaumont). .
When the race began, Mr. Braley was broadly seen as the leading candidate by analysis, and by a significant margin. This was in part due to the split between Joni Ernst and other Republican candidates. However, support for Ernst skyrocketed from thirty six percent a day before the Iowa primaries, to forty-four percent the day after.
