Politics- GOP Sen. Rand Paul unloaded on Iowa Senate hopeful Mike Franken for mocking him in 2021.
- Paul suffered broken ribs and lung damage in 2017 during an altercation with a neighbor.
Sen. Rand Paul says Iowa Senate Democratic candidate Mike Franken is unworthy of serving in any higher office based on his making light of a 2017 attack that left Paul with broken ribs, lung problems, and lingering pain.
—Rand Paul (@RandPaul) October 25, 2022
"Advocacy for violence should disqualify Franken from holding ANY office," the Kentucky Republican wrote online, calling the first-time candidate attempting to unseat incumbent Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa "disgusting" for celebrating Paul's misfortune.
Colleague and likely 2024 presidential contender Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas concurred, condemning Franken's "alarming behavior" and urging Iowans to return Grassley to Washington, DC for an historic eighth term.
—Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) October 25, 2022
"Iowa, send a decent man @GrassleyWorks back to the Senate to keep fighting for you," Cotton wrote online.
Franken dinged Paul and Grassley in the response he sent Insider.
"Like most Iowans, I'm sick and tired of being lectured by Washington politicians — especially by someone who's never served a day in his life in the military and just voted against giving our veterans the healthcare they deserve," Franken wrote in an email. "If that's who's defending Sen. Grassley, it's clear that his 63 years in office is way too long."
Paul's anger about the attack he suffered at the hands of disgruntled next-door neighbor Rene Boucher in late 2017 was apparently stirred up by a comment Franken made on Twitter in 2021.
"Wasn't Rand's neighbor more than a little in the right?" Franken posted in January 2021 in reply to a recent Paul appearance on Fox News.
Boucher, who said he snapped because of Paul's habit of piling up trash on their shared property line, was sentenced to 30 days in jail for the attack, fined $10,000 and hit with more than $580,000 in jury awarded-damages.
The Franken campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the resurfaced tweet or Paul's call to boot him from contention in the midterm elections.