Category: IA-03

Eddie Mauro and Cindy Axne are locked in a statistical tie for the lead in Democrats’ 3rd District race, the Des Moines Register’s poll released this afternoon found. Mauro comes in at 27% support, while Axne has 26%. Pete D’Alessandro polls at 11%. Another 36% of likely Democratic primary voters remain undecided and a full 82% of respondents say they could still change their minds. That sets up a very uncertain finale to the primary in the 3rd District, a seat that Democrats very much hope to seriously contest in the general election. Republican incumbent David Young has handily won […]

Bernie Sanders is back on the airwaves in Iowa. This time it’s for Pete D’Alessandro, a top adviser for Sanders’ Iowa Caucus operation in 2016. D’Alessandro is running in a competitive three-way Democratic primary for the 3rd Congressional District nomination to face Republican David Young in the Des Moines-based swing district. Sanders narrates D’Alessandro’s first TV ad and appears in it at the end, promoting D’Alessandro’s support of equal pay laws, paid family leave and a Medicare for all system. “Pete helped lead my campaign here in Iowa. Now, we need him in Congress to stop Donald Trump,” Sanders says. […]

Two separate polls have been going around the 3rd District in the past few weeks. Both appear to be your standard message-testing polls, in which campaigns gauge various messages for their candidate and others to see which might be the most convincing. They usually test the various stances and biography notes that they’re already talking about on the campaign trail to find out which one or two points would be best for a TV ad. These polls typically initially ask the poll-taker who they support in the election, go through several bios and messages for each candidate and then ask […]

The Asian & Latino Coalition announced this week that they are officially endorsing Cindy Axne in the Democratic primary for the 3rd Congressional District. The decision follows a forum they held with the three Democrats last week. The Asian & Latino Coalition has a large membership base in the Des Moines metro area and has become increasingly influential in Democratic politics over the past several years. “Cindy has a proven track record of holding government accountable with over 10 years of policy experience in state government,” the organization said in a statement. “Cindy is a small business owner and community […]

Cindy Axne is getting a big boost in her bid to win Democrats’ nomination for Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District. EMILY’s List is announcing this morning that they’re endorsing the small businesswoman from West Des Moines. The backing from the influential national organization could give Axne an extra advantage in the Democratic primary that was recently reduced from six candidates to three just a few weeks back. The chatter in Democratic circles was that EMILY’s List and other pro-choice and women’s groups didn’t want to get involved while there were two strong female candidates in the race. Now that Theresa Greenfield […]

For all the drama that occurred with Theresa Greenfield’s ballot and signatures situation, little attention was paid to the other developments in Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District race a few weeks back. Iowa political news was pretty wild for the entire month of March, and I didn’t get to nearly as many other topics as I had hoped. But I did want to circle back on one story: Austin Frerick ending his candidacy. Frerick decided to bring his 3rd District run to an end a few hours before the filing deadline on March 16, though it didn’t seem to be due […]