--- title: The 5 Most Memorable Gaffes of the 2014 Elections description: The gaffes of the 2014 midterms were fairly tame, but they still told us something about the bigger issues behind the elections. canonical: https://time.com/3554933/memorable-campaign-gaffes-2014-elections/ author: Alex Rogers article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-04T11:00:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T11:11:23.944Z article:section: Politics og:title: The 5 Most Memorable Gaffes of the 2014 Elections og:description: These slip-ups may not have made a huge difference, but they were still telling. og:url: https://time.com/3554933/memorable-campaign-gaffes-2014-elections/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt34720eb56b952e64/6986a242f983e74ece04f848/scott-brown.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1800 og:image:height: 1013 og:image:alt: Scott Brown Campaign Rally og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The 5 Most Memorable Gaffes of the 2014 Elections twitter:description: These slip-ups may not have made a huge difference, but they were still telling. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt34720eb56b952e64/6986a242f983e74ece04f848/scott-brown.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The 5 Most Memorable Gaffes of the 2014 Elections > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=5ad19fb9-e8fb-4701-abeb-cde6a70a5534&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Nov 4, 2014 11:00 AM UTC  Former Sen. Scott Brown, candidate for U.S. Senate in New Hampshire, holds a campaign town hall rally at the Pinkerton Academy in Derry, N.H., on Aug. 18, 2014. Former Sen. Scott Brown, candidate for U.S. Senate in New Hampshire, holds a campaign town hall rally at the Pinkerton Academy in Derry, N.H., on Aug. 18, 2014. Bill Clark—CQ Roll Call/Getty Images by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Nov 4, 2014 11:00 AM UTC As much as political types love to obsess about gaffes, their importance is probably [overstated,](http://books.google.com/books?id=gwBPySWcAx4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=2012+the+gamble&hl=en&sa=X&ei=MqlXVPe-DPL%5FsASws4DACw&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=2012%20the%20gamble&f=false) especially in a year like this one where many voters are tuned out. Still, gaffes can be revealing of bigger issues in a campaign, like the presidential burden of Democrats in red-states and a candidate’s carpetbagging. And while gaffes aren’t as important as get-out-the-vote efforts or the state of the economy, they’re certainly hard to forget for us political nerds. Here’s a look at five of the most memorable gaffes this election cycle. **President Barack Obama** --- > “” --- It’s obvious why Democratic strategists made every opportunity this cycle to frame this election as one between the two candidates on the ballot. In Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana and Georgia—four of the most completive Senate races this cycle—Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney beat Obama by an average of 16 percentage points in 2012\. Since then Obama’s sinking popularity has hung around the neck of Senate Democratic candidates even in states he won. The GOP used Obama’s comments, made on Oct. 2 during a speech at Northwestern University, to help fire up the base in a slew of [ads](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/10/03/and-just-like-that-obamas-policies-are-on-the-ballot-comment-is-campaign-ad-fodder/), stump speeches and [debates](http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/section/6/article/105706/). While not a true gaffe—Obama’s remarks were prepared—the President’s comments were definitely a mistake. Even former senior Obama adviser David Axelrod said so. **Iowa Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley** --- > “” --- Conservative opposition group America Rising released a video of the above remarks back in March and outside groups have continued to replay them in ads through October. Iowa’s agriculture sector is a significant factor to the state’s economy and candidates there abide by a simple political rule: don’t criticize farmers. Braley quickly [apologized](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/03/26/why-bruce-braleys-farmer-from-iowa-remark-hit-a-nerve-back-home/) to Grassley but still clearly[ regrets](http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/10/bruce-braley-and-the-year-everything-went-wrong-for-democrats/381929/) the comments he made at a January Texas fundraiser. **Iowa Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin** --- > “” --- On Sunday night, [BuzzFeed](http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/tom-harkin-dont-be-fooled-because-joni-ernst-is-really-attra) reported that retiring Democratic Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin called Braley’s GOP rival Joni Ernst “really attractive” at the Story County Democrats’ annual fall barbecue last week. The line—cheered by the crowd of Harkin supporters—gave Ernst the easy opportunity to rebut the remarks as [sexist](http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/03/politics/tom-harkin-ernst-attractive-nice-not-good-enough/) and to quote Swift’s new single. “Shake it off,” she replied. Braley, who needs the female vote, certainly didn’t need another head-slapper right before Election Day. **Kansas Republican Sen. Pat Roberts** --- > “” --- In July, Roberts slipped-up and fueled the fire sparked by a New York _Times_ [report](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/08/us/senator-races-to-show-ties-including-an-address-in-kansas.html?%5Fr=1) that he doesn’t own a home in Kansas and stays with two donors when he’s in the state. “I have full access to the recliner,” the senator joked to the paper in February. Five months later, he flubbed in an interview with a local radio station that he only returns to the state when he gets an opponent. In August, Roberts’ campaign manager [referred](http://www.kansas.com/news/local/article1183838.html) to the candidate’s residence in Virginia as his “home” before catching himself. In September, Roberts said in a debate with independent Greg Orman that he had been “home” in Dodge City “about seven” times this year. **New Hampshire Senate Republican candidate Scott Brown** --- > “” --- Former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown has understandably had some mix-ups in his New Hampshire bid this cycle. In December, four months before he announced his candidacy, Brown flubbed, interchanging New Hampshire for the Bay State to reporters in Londonderry. In last week’s debate, Brown had another snafu, calling a county in New Hampshire “[up north](http://www.newrepublic.com/article/120070/scott-brown-sullivan-county-gaffe-betrays-ignorance-new-hampshire)” instead of as part of the western or even southwestern portion of the state. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3554933/memorable-campaign-gaffes-2014-elections/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3554933/memorable-campaign-gaffes-2014-elections/"},"headline":"The 5 Most Memorable Gaffes of the 2014 Elections","datePublished":"2014-11-04T11:00:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:11:23.944Z","description":"These slip-ups may not have made a huge difference, but they were still telling","url":"https://time.com/3554933/memorable-campaign-gaffes-2014-elections/","keywords":["2014 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt34720eb56b952e64/6986a242f983e74ece04f848/scott-brown.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Rogers","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt34720eb56b952e64/6986a242f983e74ece04f848/scott-brown.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Scott Brown Campaign Rally","caption":"Scott Brown Campaign Rally","creditText":"Bill Clark—CQ Roll Call/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2014-election/","name":"2014 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3554933/memorable-campaign-gaffes-2014-elections/","name":"The 5 Most Memorable Gaffes of the 2014 Elections"}}]}] ```