U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley celebrated his 92nd birthday with one of his favorite treats — a Dairy Queen Blizzard.
A Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard, to be precise, courtesy of U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina. Grassley snacked on the treat while working in Washington, D.C., on his birthday, Wednesday, Sept. 17.
Grassley was born in 1933, when Franklin Roosevelt was still in the first year of his presidency.
Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst also celebrated Grassley’s birthday Wednesday by bringing him a Dairy Queen ice cream cake. Grassley often posts on social media about his trips to Dairy Queen on his sojourns in Iowa.
The oldest member of the Senate, Grassley is the chamber’s president pro tempore, placing him line to succeed the president, behind the vice president and House speaker.
The post goes to the longest-serving senator in the party with a majority in the chamber. Grassley has served in the U.S. Senate since 1981. He has served in public office in state or federal government since 1958.
Chuck Grassley has been president pro tempore before
After former Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah retired, Grassley assumed the position in 2019 through January 2021, until Democrats narrowly took control of the chamber.
“It’s true that I’m only three heartbeats away from the presidency, but my heart is and always will be in Iowa and in the U.S. Senate …” Grassley wrote in a 2019 guest column published in the Des Moines Register.
Before Grassley claimed the position, Albert Baird Cummins was the last Iowan to serve as Senate president pro tempore from 1919 to 1925. He also was the first Iowan to fill the role.
Grassley hasn’t ruled out another run for Senate
The sixth-longest serving senator in U.S. history, Grassley hasn’t ruled out another reelection bid in 2028, after his current term expires, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported.
Asked in August about running again, Grassley told reporters to “ask me the question in a couple of years,” saying he would consider the same factors he has “through several re-elections, and that is family considerations and whether or not I can do the job,” the Capital Dispatch reported.
In 2022, Grassley was elected to an eighth term.
If he decides to run again in 2028 and is reelected, Grassley would be 101 by the time he completes his ninth term.
Mike Trautmann is the News Director/Politics Editor for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at mtrautmann@gannett.com and follow him on X: @DMRPoliticsCzar.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa’s Chuck Grassley, 3rd in line for the presidency, turned 92. Here’s how he celebrated
Reporting by Mike Trautmann, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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