May 2017
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Indivisible Scores First Win In Iowa With City Council Victory
Democrats in Iowa got some encouraging news with a special election city council win last night in the small, rural town of Solon. The race in rural Johnson County certainly wasn’t the biggest campaign battle ever, but it proved that relatively new, progressive activists could run for local office and win with a concerted campaign effort.…
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Democrats Plan Event To Counter Joni Ernst’s Roast And Ride
Iowa Republicans are getting ready for their exciting weekend of motorcycles, hog roasts and celebrating senators intent on taking away people’s healthcare. But Democrats don’t plan on letting them have all the fun in Boone for Joni Ernst’s Roast And Ride fundraiser this Saturday. A Picnic For The People is being planned by the Boone County…
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Cathy Glasson Launches “Bold, Progressive” Gubernatorial Bid
Democrats have another contender for the 2018 gubernatorial nomination: Cathy Glasson. She kicked off an exploratory committee today with a video outlining what she calls a “bold, progressive” agenda for Iowa. An ICU nurse at the University of Iowa Hospitals for over 20 years, she’s the president of Iowa’s SEIU 199 (the union that covers…
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Trump’s “America First” Policy A Gift To Dictators And Tyrants
President Trump’s bow to the Saudi Arabian King Salman is further evidence of Trump’s creepy attraction for some of the world’s worst dictators. In Trump’s recent Middle East trip, he celebrated with the Saudi Royal Family, one of the most repressive regimes in the world and a questionable ally of the United States. He is…
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Maybe He’s Tired: Trump Postpones Cedar Rapids Rally
In very sad(!) news today, Donald Trump announced he will be cancelling his planned Thursday rally in Cedar Rapids, due to an “unforeseen change in President Trump’s schedule.” It will be rescheduled at a later date, possibly as soon as early in the following week. Some people were a little surprised when Trump scheduled a…
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Disparity In Funding For Rural Schools Getting Worse
We all want to believe that our children have an equal shot at opportunity and success. And we all want to believe that Iowa will deliver that equal shot. Who doesn’t remember Iowa sitting atop the national rankings year after year in college entrance exam scores? Who doesn’t remember Terry Branstad’s promises during the 2010…
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Republicans Make Same Mistake They Mocked Hatch Campaign For
Iowa politics can be fun when you have a long memory. Take today, for instance. Kim Reynolds announced Adam Gregg as her “acting” lt. governor (due to Attorney General Tom Miller’s ruling, he will be essentially a staff role for the time being). In doing so, Reynolds effectively announced the Republican ticket for 2018. As…
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One Day On The Job, Kim Reynolds Running For Reelection Already
Kim Reynolds was sworn in as Iowa’s 43rd governor yesterday, but it certainly didn’t take her long to kick off her reelection campaign. On the same day that she laid out her policy agenda for the state, her staff amended her former lt. governor campaign committee to a full gubernatorial one named “Kim Reynolds for Iowa.”…
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Right-Wing Media Giant Acquires Key Iowa TV Stations
Local Iowa television stations WHO in Des Moines and WQAD in Davenport could become considerably more politically conservative as a result of their acquisition by Sinclair Broadcasting. WHO is the NBC affiliate in Des Moines and WQAD the ABC affiliate serving Davenport, Iowa and Moline, Illinois. In addition, they will have a direct connection to…
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Dems Skeptical Kim Reynolds’ Administration Will Be Different
While Iowa’s Democratic leaders congratulated Kim Reynolds on her swearing in as Iowa’s newest governor, they also offered up deeply skeptical and critical concerns. Only a handful of well-known Democrats attended Reynolds’ ceremony, including legislative leaders Rob Hogg and Mark Smith, as well as Senators Nate Boulton and Rita Hart. Boulton, who hopes to take on…
