2019
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Meet Maria Ramos, Storm Lake City Council Candidate
Maria Ramos is a wife, mother, grandmother and first-generation immigrant. Born and raised in Nayarit, Mexico, Ramos came to California when she was 12 and moved to Storm Lake, in northwest Iowa, in 1991. Ramos, 44, is a proud U.S. citizen who has lived with her four children in Storm Lake for nearly three decades.…
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Tom Steyer’s Presidential Bid Is About More Than Impeachment
Zach Simonson, chair of the Wapello County Democrats, began his introduction Saturday afternoon of Tom Steyer by lamenting Americans’ lack of progress on fighting the effects of climate change. “I get really excited when I think about the opportunity that we have with the climate crisis to really define our generation in a more meaningful…
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Abby Finkenauer Lifts Up Labor Issues At First Fish Fry
Hundreds of people and eight 2020 Democratic presidential candidates showed up to Iowa Congresswoman Abby Finkenauer’s inaugural fish fry in Cedar Rapids Saturday afternoon to discuss issues important to unions. The Fish Fry was co-hosted by the IBEW PAC, the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers PAC, the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers PAC, the…
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Which Candidate Had The Loudest Reception At The LJ Dinner?
Everyone who was in Wells Fargo Arena for the Iowa Democratic Party’s Liberty and Justice Dinner last night can agree – it was loud. But how loud was it? In an effort to measure the degree of cheers and jeers of the night, I spent five hours looking at a decibel meter to find out…
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Key Takeaways From Every Speech At Iowa Dems’ LJ Dinner
Thirteen Democratic candidates for president delivered 10-minute stump speeches Friday night to a crowd of more than 13,000 people packed into Wells Fargo Arena in downtown Des Moines. The Iowa Democratic Party Liberty & Justice Celebration was not only the largest Democratic event in Iowa, it was the grandest gathering of party faithful until the…
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Sights And Sounds From Democrats’ Largest Event Of The Primary
Before presidential candidates and their supporters filed into Wells Fargo Arena Friday night for the Iowa Democratic Party Liberty & Justice Celebration, rallies were held close by to pump up the crowd for the biggest event of the primary season. Starting Line fanned out around town to bring you an up-close look at the action.…
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How Iowa Democrats Prepared For Their Biggest Event Yet
Setting up for the largest Iowa Democratic event to date was not unlike preparing for a theater production. There’s a backstage, a wing, green rooms, changing rooms and, of course, the big stage where 14 presidential candidates will stand before an audience of more than 13,000. “It took 63 people and 24 hours to get…
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CA Climate Scientist Urges Iowans To Consider Farm Impact
Jeremy Jackson was part of the Vietnam War youth on picket lines during the nation’s civil rights movement in 1969. On Wednesday, the now 76-year-old professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, urged Iowans to follow his lead and get involved in today’s version of the civil rights movement: the fight for climate…
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Iowans Protest Ernst, Grassley’s Votes For Junk Insurance Plans
Several Iowans with preexisting conditions, along with State Sen. Claire Celsi and State Rep. Jennifer Konfrst, rallied at the Neal Smith Federal Building this morning to protest Sen. Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley’s votes from Wednesday to allow junk insurance plans, a rule put forth by the Trump administration. “The vote that [Ernst and Grassley]…
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Cory Booker Needs More Time
It was just over one year ago that Sen. Cory Booker made his first major pre-2020 appearance in Iowa, as the keynote speaker for the Iowa Democratic Party’s fall dinner in 2018. His passionate, nearly hour-long speech on the day of Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation put him as an early leading contender in Iowa activists’ minds…
