Chuck Grassley’s vacuum Beth retires after electrical sparks

Chuck Grassley’s vacuum Beth retired after electrical sparks charred its power cord, leaving the decades-old Hoover unsafe to use. The Iowa Republican marked the end of service in an Aug. 8 social-media post, according to the Des Moines Register.

Grassley wrote that Beth would no longer be seen and called the machine a “real workhorse,” The Times reported. A photograph posted with the farewell showed black charring on the cord, which Grassley said came from the sparks.

Why did Chuck Grassley retire Beth?

Grassley said the Hoover was no longer safe to operate after the electrical sparking. The retirement does not establish that Beth has been destroyed or cannot be repaired; it reflects Grassley’s stated safety concern.

Beth was named for a former Senate staffer, according to The Hill and the Des Moines Register. The machine had belonged to Grassley’s mother-in-law before joining the Grassley household in 1992, The Times reported.

Her exact age is unclear. CBS News and The Hill described nearly 50 years of service in the family, while the Register said the vacuum was believed to be more than 40 years old. The Times reported that Beth had spent 15 years with Grassley’s mother-in-law before arriving in the Grassley home.

The Hoover had become a regular feature of Grassley’s social-media posts. CBS News said the senator had shared snapshots of his “old reliable,” while the Register reported that he posted about using Beth ahead of holiday gatherings.

What will replace Beth?

Grassley said Aug. 9 that he accepted an offer from a Sioux City resident for a newer-model Hoover, the Des Moines Register reported. That means a replacement is lined up, even as Beth’s long run in the household has ended.

For now, the senator’s farewell gives an old appliance a formal send-off: retired over a scorched cord, remembered as the household workhorse.

This story draws on original reporting from CBS News.