Iowa Democrats to pick leadership for 2025

Iowa Democrats to select new leadership team for 2025 over the weekend.

By Zachary Oren Smith

January 3, 2025

Over the weekend, Iowa Democrats will convene to vote on a team to lead after bummer 2024.

The Iowa Democratic Party’s State Central Committee will meet in Ankeny Saturday morning to choose its new officers to represent the IDP in 2025.

The State Central Committee is a 53-member board. The majority are elected at district conventions as part of the caucus process. It also includes the chairs of several state committees and constituency caucuses, as well as Iowa’s members of the Democratic National Convention.

As part of the state party’s constitution, the central committee has to meet within 90 days of a general election to elect its chair, vice chair, secretary, and treasurer.

To be eligible, a nominee does not need to be a member of the State Central Committee, but they must be eligible members of the Iowa Democratic Party.

Current chair Rita Hart of Clinton emailed the committee saying she planned to run for reelection. In a 19-page plan, she outlined her work to pull the party out of debt and to develop its staffing resources, all in service of converting institutional stability into getting Democrats elected. Her vision for future campaigns aims to take $1 million to fund an organizing director and 8 field organizers to focus on building the capacity of county parties. The plan is to build that capacity now to seek early investment ahead of a competitive 2026 race.

Rita Hart of Clinton is the current chair of the Iowa Democratic Party and of the Clinton County Democrats. She is running for reelection.

Bleeding Heartland has published letters from several other candidates that have told the State Central Committee about their intention to run against Hart. They include Progressive Caucus vice chair Alexandra Nickolas-Dermody and former central committee member Tim Henry Winter.

Update

Zachary Oren Smith

Zachary Oren Smith is your friendly neighborhood reporter. He leads Starting Line’s political coverage where he investigates corruption, housing affordability and the future of work. For nearly a decade, he’s written award-winning stories for Iowa Public Radio, The Des Moines Register and Iowa City Press-Citizen. Send your tips on hard news and good food to [email protected].

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CATEGORIES: VOTING

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