Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton declared Americans "ready for that new beginning" in Iowa Friday, walking a delicate path by raising his national political profile at a time of turmoil for Donald Trump's White House. The 40-year-old freshman Republican senator sounded national themes as the guest at the Pottawattamie County Republican Party's annual fundraiser in Council Bluffs in conservative western Iowa.

Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton was meeting Friday with Republican activists in the early presidential testing ground of Iowa, walking a delicate path by raising his national political profile at a time of turmoil for Donald Trump's White House. The 40-yer-old freshman Republican senator was scheduled to headline the Pottawattamie County Republican Party's annual fundraiser in Council Bluffs in conservative western Iowa.