2019
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How 2020 Candidates’ Renter Tax Credits Would Work
Cost-burdened Iowans who rent housing may see tax benefits if certain Democratic hopefuls make it to the White House in 2020. Nearly a third of Iowans rent their homes, of which 40% are “cost-burdened” — paying more than 30% of their income on rent, experts say. Among several Democratic presidential candidates’ varied plans to address…
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Southeast Iowa Home To Key Legislative Races This Cycle
Presidential candidates currently command the spotlight in Iowa politics, but this summer also proved interesting for politicians eyeing the Statehouse. Since Republicans took control of the Iowa House, Senate and governorship in the 2016 election, Democrats have been desperate to whittle down their margins and eventually retake a chamber or two. Reynolds is in office…
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How Much 2020 Dems Spent On Sinclair TV And Facebook Last Week
The Democratic presidential candidates often like to rail against Facebook and conservative, corporate-owned news outlets. Their campaign spending, however, rarely matches their words on the campaign trail. Candidates have dumped millions upon millions of dollars onto Facebook’s advertising platform this year, even as the Democratic field denounces the company’s handling of misinformation and foreign interference…
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Sea Change Coming For Suburban Des Moines City Councils
Pictured, from left to right: Matt Blake, Erin Cubit, Bridget Carberry Montgomery. They’re young. They’re progressive. And they’re coming to a city council near you. Most municipal races aren’t partisan in Iowa, but several younger Democrats will vie for municipal and school board positions throughout the Des Moines metro in this year’s November election. And…
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Poll: Campaign Finance Reform Resonates With All Voters
While they may disagree about how to expand health care and handle student loan debt, Democratic candidates for president are on the same page when it comes campaign finance reform. Beto O’Rourke: “A campaign by all of us for all of us that answers not to the PACs, corporations and special interests, but to the…
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Contentious DSM Council Meeting Discusses Housing Zoning
A new Des Moines zoning code was pushed forward by the city council despite pleas by local developers and housing advocates to make the changes more flexible for lower-cost building. Council chambers overflowed Monday evening as its members unanimously approved the first of three readings on the first code overhaul in 54 years, after over…
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Trailblazer Iowa Democrat Endorses Pete Buttigieg
Pete Buttigieg has his first notable public endorsement for the Iowa Caucus: Jean Lloyd-Jones of Iowa City, a former legislator and the first woman who was nominated by a major Iowa party for a U.S. Senate race. “I support Mayor Pete because he has the brains, the temperament, and the experience to make him an…
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Ep112: New Rural Messaging Ideas, Sanders College Tour
Pat Rynard sits down to discuss this week’s Iowa Caucus happenings, and Josh Cook joins to talk about Congressman Ro Khanna’s help with a new tech jobs in Jefferson, Iowa, and how it could provide a new rural America messaging and policy approach for Democrats.
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County GOP Leader Defends King’s “Supremacist” Remark
As state and federal party leaders desert Congressman Steve King, one Republican leader in the 4th District is a prime example of the constituents who never have wavered in their support. Mark Leonard, chairman of the Ida County Republicans, defended King in a recent article in The Atlantic centered on supporters of the House Republican.…
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Iowan: “Private Health Insurance Is Great … Until You Get Sick”
Shortcomings of the health care industry in the United States have been exposed in the 2020 presidential election debate. For one Iowan, even paying into private insurance left her at risk of losing it all. “I am living out the pitfalls of employer-provided health care insurance,” said Robin Stone, a resident of Delaware County in…
