Category: IA Gov

The Working Families Party is endorsing Cathy Glasson in her bid for Iowa governor today, adding to Glasson’s coalition of national progressive organizations to help her close strong in the primary. They hope that will serve as one more sign to Democrats’ left-leaning voters in Iowa that they should back Glasson for the party’s nomination. “Cathy Glasson is a progressive champion who will fight to make sure every Iowan has healthcare when they need it and can earn a wage that supports their family,” said Joe Dinkin, spokesperson for the Working Families Party. “Cathy is running a bold, visionary campaign […]

Senator Nate Boulton ended his campaign for governor this morning following yesterday’s accusations of past sexually inappropriate behavior with women, detailed in a Des Moines Register story. It was an abrupt finish to what had been an otherwise promising political career and campaign for the first-term senator from Des Moines. He did not yet indicate whether or not he would stay in the Iowa Senate, but Senate Democratic Leader Janet Petersen called on him to resign. “I am so proud of the campaign that my staff, my supporters, and I ran in the past year,” Boulton said in a statement. […]

A guest piece from Cody Woodruff, ISU student and school board member. “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” -Elie Wiesel Since the story about sexual misconduct allegations against Senator Nate Boulton broke, I’ve been struggling with a torrent of thoughts and emotions. Sadness that this ever took place; anger at Nate; and heartbreak for the women who came forward, his wife Andrea, and the many young people who believed in him. These actions are inexcusable, but, as difficult as it’s been to reconcile with them, I’m glad […]

The Democratic gubernatorial primary may very well have ended today when the Des Moines Register published a story of three women’s accusations of sexually inappropriate behavior they experienced from Senator Nate Boulton. The report from Brianne Pfannenstiel detailed encounters that three women had in bars where Boulton allegedly touched them in a sexual and unwanted manner. Two incidents occurred when Boulton was in law school, one of which was with a fellow classmate, and was out at a bar. The other happened in 2015. Some situations involved Boulton allegedly being drunk, while others did not. The quotes and descriptions from […]

With the June 5 Democratic primary fast approaching, lots of voters around the state are just now beginning to tune into the race. Iowa Starting Line has been covering the race for well over a year and a half, interviewing the candidates, covering forums, tracking endorsements and scrutinizing fundraising numbers and TV ad buys. My goal throughout it all has been to provide our readers with a unique look at the gubernatorial primary, looking into aspects of it that others were not covering. For starters, I tried to explore the more personal side of the candidates in profile pieces and […]

Fred Hubbell holds an 11-point lead over Nate Boulton in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, the Des Moines Register’s just-released poll shows, but Hubbell isn’t yet breaking the 35% needed to avoid a convention. That gives every candidate hope that they can still maneuver their way to the nomination in case no one gets enough to win outright on June 5. Here’s the level of support the poll found for each candidate among likely Democratic primary-goers: Fred Hubbell: 31% Nate Boulton: 20% Cathy Glasson: 13% Andy McGuire: 5% John Norris: 5% Ross Wilburn: 3% Undecided: 24% That 24% remaining undecided vote […]

State Senator Nate Boulton will report having raised over a half million dollars for the January 1 to May 14 reporting period, bringing his total raised in the gubernatorial race to $1.6 million, his campaign tells Starting Line. He’ll close out the last two weeks of the primary with over $100,000 cash on hand, which should be enough to compete on TV and finish with a real GOTV effort. The report will include donations from 1,483 specific individuals, including 778 new donors since their previous filing. They had over 2,700 contributions this period, brining their total number of donations up […]

Democratic primary voters finally saw a new side to the six-candidate field for governor in last night’s IPTV debate. Tough questions from the moderators and various attacks from individual candidates (all aimed at Fred Hubbell) put the candidates on their toes and forced them to answer topics they haven’t faced publicly in the race before. While Hubbell, widely seen as the frontrunner in the race, took criticism for some policy positions, past donations and his background, he pivoted much of his answers to promote a general election electability case. And he wasn’t shy in arguing that his ability to appeal […]