Sen. Chuck Grassley has not ruled out a ninth term. The Iowa Republican, who will turn 92 in September, told the Daily Iowan to check back with him in "a year, maybe a year and a half" when asked whether he plans to seek reelection in 2028.
If Grassley runs and wins, he would be 101 years old by the time that term expires. He has already filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission, a procedural step, but one that keeps the door wide open.
The longest-serving member of the United States Senate is not slowing down his Iowa schedule, either. Grassley said he follows the same routine every year of every term: traveling to each of Iowa's 99 counties for open Q&A sessions with voters. He lets constituents pick the topics.
Grassley described the issues he hears most often on the ground:
"I'm hearing now about prescription drug prices, the five-year Farm Bill, E15, maybe some things on what we call transportation, the Highway Bill, the Infrastructure Bill, which we do every five years, and runs out at the end of this year."
That list is telling. These are bread-and-butter concerns, fuel prices, farm policy, roads, not the culture-war abstractions that dominate cable news. It's the kind of agenda that keeps a senator relevant in a state where agriculture and infrastructure are not talking points but livelihoods.
Grassley said his decision will ultimately come down to two factors he has weighed "through several reelections": family considerations and whether he can still do the job. That's a straightforward standard, and one that more members of Congress, in both parties, might consider adopting.
Grassley has served in Congress for more than 50 years. He entered the House in 1975 and moved to the Senate in 1981, where he has remained ever since. He currently holds the title of president pro tempore, third in the presidential line of succession, and chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee.
His 2022 reelection was not close. Grassley defeated Democratic challenger Michael Franken with 56 percent of the vote, a comfortable margin that silenced predictions of a tight race. Age was a campaign issue then, too. Fox News reported that when Grassley announced his eighth-term bid at age 88, Democrats argued Iowa should be represented by someone younger.
Grassley's response at the time was blunt: "Only God determines how much time you have on this earth and whatever time I've got left I'm going to work for the people of Iowa."
That answer carried him to a decisive win. Whether it carries the same weight in 2028, when he would be asking voters to send a 95-year-old back to Washington, is a different question. But Grassley has earned the right to make that case on his own terms.
Grassley is not coasting on seniority. He is the co-author of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, which would require voter ID at the polls and proof of citizenship when registering to vote. The bill has become a flashpoint in the broader fight over election integrity, a fight that has already drawn fierce Democratic opposition in the Senate.
Asked whether the SAVE Act would clear the Senate, Grassley deferred to leadership but sounded confident.
"You'll have to ask Senator John Thune that whenever he forces the vote, and I think he's looking forward to getting it passed."
On the substance, Grassley was characteristically direct: "I think it's pretty simple for people that can't show the documents that you prove your citizenship." That kind of plain-language common sense is exactly what makes the SAVE Act popular with Republican voters, and exactly what makes its opponents so uncomfortable.
The legislation fits neatly into a broader pattern of Senate Republicans pressing on election security. President Trump has tied endorsements in other races to the SAVE Act's passage, signaling how central voter integrity has become to the GOP's governing agenda.
The relationship between Grassley and President Trump has been productive but not without tension. Grassley appeared at a Trump rally in Des Moines on July 3, 2025, a visible show of alignment. But the two have clashed over the Senate Judiciary Committee's "blue slip" practice, which allows home-state senators to block judicial nominees who would serve in their states.
Trump has also repeatedly claimed on social media that he rescued Grassley's 2022 campaign "when he was down, by a lot." The final vote margin, 56 percent, suggests the race was never as close as that framing implies. But Grassley accepted Trump's endorsement in that cycle and was candid about why, telling Fox News: "If I didn't accept the endorsement of a person who's got 91% of the Republican voters in Iowa, I wouldn't be too smart."
That pragmatism is a Grassley trademark. He doesn't pick fights for show. He picks his ground, holds it, and moves on. The blue-slip dispute is a policy disagreement, not a personality clash, and Grassley's willingness to defend Senate prerogatives while still working with the White House on legislation like the SAVE Act shows a senator who knows the difference.
That kind of institutional independence matters at a time when Senate Republicans are navigating complex internal dynamics on everything from war powers to judicial confirmations.
Critics will focus on Grassley's age. They focused on it in 2022, and they will do so again if he runs in 2028. It's a fair question. Voters have every right to weigh whether a candidate can serve a full term effectively.
But the age conversation in American politics has shifted. After years of watching leaders in both parties govern well past their prime, some visibly diminished, others propped up by staff, voters have grown more skeptical of the Washington establishment's ability to police itself on fitness. Grassley's answer to that skepticism is the same as it has always been: show up, do the work, let voters decide.
His 99-county strategy is not a gimmick. It's an accountability mechanism. A senator who stands in front of constituents in every county, every year, taking unscripted questions, is doing something most of his colleagues avoid. That includes senators half his age.
The Senate itself is a chamber where seniority and institutional knowledge carry real weight. Grassley's chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee gives him direct influence over judicial confirmations, oversight, and legislation. Whether that influence is best wielded by a senator entering his late 90s is a legitimate debate, but it is one that Iowa voters, not Washington pundits, should settle.
Other incumbent senators are facing their own reckonings with voters. In Louisiana, Bill Cassidy confronts real primary pressure as challengers close in, a reminder that no seat is guaranteed, regardless of seniority.
Grassley's FEC filing keeps his options open. His public comments suggest a man still engaged, still traveling, still legislating. The Farm Bill, the Highway Bill, E15, prescription drug costs, these are not the priorities of a senator winding down. They are the priorities of a senator who plans to be around for the votes.
Whether that means a ninth term or a final stretch in his current one, Grassley is making clear that the decision belongs to him and to Iowa, not to the commentariat.
In a capital full of politicians who can't stop talking about themselves, there's something to be said for a 91-year-old who just keeps showing up, county by county, and lets the voters set the agenda.
