August 2019
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Ross Wilburn Wins, Brings Diversity To House Beyond Just Himself
Democrat Ross Wilburn scored a crushing victory in today’s special election for the Ames-based House District 46. It helped, of course, that he ran unopposed. After taking 97.4% of the vote tonight, Wilburn will join the Iowa House for next year’s legislative session, which will bring the number of Iowa’s black legislators up to five.…
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Trump’s ‘Assembly Line’ Of Right-Wing Judges Rolls On In Senate
The Senate adjourned for the August recess last week on the heels of another prolific week for judicial nominations. The Republican-controlled chamber confirmed 12 new judges in a two-day period to lifetime appointments on district courts, including Illinois, Texas and Oregon. The previous week, two other judges were confirmed for district court seats. According to…
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Largest Labor Cattle Call In the Nation Coming To Des Moines
The AFL-CIO in Des Moines has scheduled at least 21 Democratic presidential candidates will speak at the largest labor cattle call in the nation Aug. 21 at Prairie Meadows. The event is open to union members and the media, though not the general public. Charlie Wishman, secretary and treasurer of the Iowa Federation of Labor,…
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Congress Has Dithered Long Enough On Guns
How many more will it take? How many more mass shootings? How many more bodies of adults and children will need to pile up — in the aisles of retail stores, in churches, in the classrooms and corridors of schools, in offices, in movie theaters, in nightclubs? How many more times must this happen before…
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Ernst Promised To Make DC ‘Squeal’; Vote Hikes Deficit By $1.7T
Sen. Joni Ernst came to the U.S. Capitol in 2015 on a promise to make Washington “squeal.” She vowed to “cut wasteful spending,” telling voters in her infamous 2014 campaign ad she “knew how to cut pork” because she grew up castrating hogs on an Iowa farm. “My parents taught us to live within our…
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Coming This Week: Singing The Sound Of Progress
Progress Iowa will take the stage this week to sing the Sound of Progress. The musical performance will include adapted versions of familiar songs heard in Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, The Wiz and more. It opens with a version of the familiar song “Look Down” from Les Mis’. From there, the musical goes on to…
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Iowans: Steve King’s Rhetoric Mirrors Shooter’s Manifesto
In the wake of Saturday’s mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, news outlets, political commentators and everyday Americans have drawn connections between the alleged shooter’s racist past and the divisive language of President Donald Trump. But there’s another politician, closer to home, whose past statements are similar to those written in the 21-year-old man’s manifesto, posted online…
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Delaney To Red County Democrats: You’re Not Alone
With his week-long trek across Iowa during State Fair week, John Delaney is making efforts to reach out to rural voters in conservative areas. Today, Delaney and his Iowa team was in Pella, Iowa for an ambitious task: knock the door of every Democrat in town in one day. Even in a heavily-conservative town like…
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J.D. Scholten Launches 2nd Bid Against Steve King
J.D. Scholten is in for round two for Iowa’s 4th Congressional District, eyeing a rematch with U.S. Rep. Steve King. He announced his candidacy this morning with a video narrated by Kevin Costner that’s heavy on rural Iowa imagery. “We’re building a people-powered campaign that is focused on meeting with, listening to, and earning the…
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Iowa Republicans Need To Stop Immigrant Fear-Mongering
Enough already. In yet another weekend where it seems like the country is coming apart, terrorist gunmen in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio massacred innocent people. Details are just starting to emerge about the Dayton murderer, but we already have a disturbing — and all too familiar — profile of the El Paso killer.…
