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Iowans have started voting as we head into the final weeks of the 2018 election, and campaign staff and volunteer work is paying off in many important legislative swing districts. A look at the early vote data shows high percentages of registered Democrats requesting...
The battle for control of the Iowa Statehouse is fully underway on the TV airwaves across the state. And who's spending money where gives us a very good hint of what each party is seeing in their internal polls. House Democrats and Senate Republicans began running...
Democrats are increasing their number of registered voters at more than double the rate of Republicans in Iowa, according to the latest registration numbers released by the Secretary of State's office today. In the 3rd Congressional District, Democrats have overtaken...
Earlier this year, Facebook began making public every political ad that is run on their platform as part of their effort to create a more transparent process following criticism of Russian influence in the 2016 election. You can now easily find every ad deemed...
Some of the most stressful memories I have of my school days involve the words, “We’re going to have a pop quiz today.” Don’t panic, but there’s a pop quiz today. Here goes: CASE STUDY 1: The Iowa Code says all nomination papers for the primary election for state and...
In the third in our series of looks at competitive Iowa House seats that could decide the majority, we focus on three districts that wrap around metro areas in Eastern Iowa. A variety of circumstances in each could provide Democrats chances to fill the final piece in...
For the second in our series of in-depth looks at where the key Iowa House battlegrounds stand for November, we turn to suburban districts in the eastern part of the state. Iowa has seen similar trends to other parts of the country where suburban voters, who are...
The steady march of White House hopefuls visiting Iowa for the State Fair this past week and a half has finally ended. They got their corn dogs, made their speeches, did a few press hits and chatted with activists. But how many made a lasting impact on their chances...
Abby Finkenauer will launch the first TV ads of the general election in Iowa's nationally-watched 1st Congressional District race this Tuesday. Her first spot on the airwaves is called "Dinner Table" and focuses on a spirit of bipartisanship and cooperation. The ad...
Iowans will head to the voting booth three months from today on November 6 to vote in one of the most consequential elections in the state's history. How are each of the major contests shaping up at this stage, two months after the primary and following a relatively...
Montana Governor Steve Bullock joked that he wouldn't talk about his Iowa ties at his meet-and-greet in Coralville this weekend, but those local connections showed up all the same. Barbara Smith, Bullock's second cousin that lives in Iowa City, heard through the...
If you missed any of President Donald Trump's visit to Iowa today, don't worry. You'll likely see video clips of the roundtable he held just outside Dubuque for months to come in Democratic campaign commercials. Trump brought several of his cabinet secretaries and his...
EMILY's List is out with a new round of endorsements of Iowa candidate in important Statehouse races as they focus more attention in on the state. They're throwing their support behind five senate candidates and eight house candidates: Vicky Brenner (SD-13) Claire...
Democrats in Iowa are feeling good as they head into the 2018 elections, boosted by turnout and registration data from the primary that shows their base energized and involved. The party added over 24,000 new registered Democrats in a month and saw their largest...
Guest piece from Caleb Gates, a refugee case manager and advocacy specialist in Cedar Rapids. He read this as a speech at a recent Families Belong Together Rally. We, the people of the United States, immigrants and descendants of immigrants, denounce the separation...
Jason Kander may have a new personal electoral goal for himself now that he's announced his candidacy for the Kansas City mayor's race, but his voting rights crusade will march on in Iowa and other states. "Nothing has changed about our program here in Iowa," Let...
Will voters be eager to support "the exact opposite of Trump," as Jeff Merkley describes himself, for president in 2020? That's the sentiment the senator from Oregon hopes he finds among Iowans as he makes some early trips out to the lead-off caucus state and...
State Representative Abby Finkenauer has won her primary to be the Democratic nominee for Iowa's 1st Congressional District. If she defeats incumbent Republican Rod Blum in November, at 28 she may well be the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. Another young...
Iowa Starting Line Podcast host Pat Rynard speaks with Cedar Rapids City Councilwoman Ashley Vanorny about what's happening in Eastern Iowa, followed by an interview with George Ramsey about his 1st District campaign. Let us...
With all the Iowa political news that happened last week, it may have been easy to overlook some of the state legislative fundraising numbers that came out in the latest finance report. But there was a lot of interesting details in there, as well as plenty of great...
So, there was a bit of news that happened in Iowa politics this week. The Des Moines Register story on Nate Boulton and his subsequent withdrawal from the race dominated headlines for most of the week. It shook up a still-fluid primary with less than two weeks to go...
I sometimes think government officials overlook the important role the public plays in our system of government. That was my takeaway last week from the monthly meeting of the Iowa Public Information Board. When Mrs. Gentry lectured in my high school government...
If you've been listening to Cardi B's new album on repeat since it came out, there's a decent chance you're voting for Nate Boulton in the Democratic primary. But if you end your evening relaxing with a nice glass of wine and listening to some Chopin, it's more likely...
The 6-week abortion ban law that Republicans passed this week should get bogged down in the courts for years, but the political fallout from it will come much sooner. While some in the far-right evangelical community will be happy, most Iowans aren't eager to see the...
Democrats have a good opportunity at retaking the Iowa House in the 2018 elections, but which candidates get the party's nomination in competitive primaries could prove a key factor. There are a lot more legislative primaries than usual this year - 25 in all for the...
A guest post from Johnson County Supervisor Kurt Friese. Each year at the end of April, Labor organizers across the country hold a vigil of remembrance called “Workers Memorial Day.” Here in Johnson County, it was just this past Friday. We gathered to remember and...
Two Democratic candidates in major primaries have their first TV ads ready to air this week as the competition heats up a month and a half out from the election. Both Andy McGuire and Eddie Mauro rolled out introductory, biographical pieces for their candidacies for...
With under seven weeks left to the Democratic primary on June 5, the TV airways are starting to fill up with campaign ads. While every candidate has traveled the state, spoken at Democratic events, participated in countless forums and drawn media coverage, the reality...
State Representative Abby Finkenauer will post another strong fundraising total for her bid to take on Congressman Rod Blum in Iowa's highly-targeted 1st District. Finkenauer's campaign tells Starting Line they raised over $480,000 in the 1st quarter of 2018, bringing...
The fallout for Sinclair Broadcasting stations continue after a viral video showed them all reading from the same script about "fake news." Leann Jacobsen, one of the Democratic candidates looking to take on Steve King in Iowa's 4th Congressional District, is calling...
