Rep. Bruce Braley’s (D., Iowa) neighbor—who he threatened to sue after her four chickens occasionally crossed onto his property—says she will vote for his Republican opponent Joni Ernst in this fall’s Senate race, Breitbart reports.
Braley’s neighbor used the chickens for therapy sessions with autistic children. According to an email Braley sent to the lawyer for the neighborhood board of directors, the four-term congressman wanted the local body to take action to "avoid a litigious situation":
"I do believe I'm going to vote for Joni Ernst. And like I said, I haven't voted for a Republican since the Reagan years," Pauline Hampton, Braley's neighbor, told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview.
The move by Hampton comes days after Braley suggested she was a "bad neighbor" in an interview with CNN, telling anchor Dana Bash "What's so strange about this story is it's an example of where, when somebody else's animals are in your yard, you're the bad neighbor."
Hampton said she was "flabbergasted" by Braley's most recent comments and compared him to a bratty teenager.
"It sounds like actually like an adolescent, if you want my honest opinion," Hampton said.
"It's very juvenile for him to even suggest something like that. I haven't even said he was a bad neighbor. That never came out of my mouth. I just say that he hasn't exactly been friendly, either," she added.
Republicans have pointed to the chicken incident, as well as his criticism of Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) earlier this year as a "farmer from Iowa who never went to law school," to paint Braley as out-of-touch with voters.