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Michael Franken, a retired Navy admiral, Monday morning rolled out a list of staff and advisers for his bid for the U.S. Senate. Franken, originally of Sioux Center, in Northwest Iowa, is one of four Democrats challenging Republican Sen. Joni Ernst in 2020. This is...
Photo: Julian Castro touring a trailer park in Waukee where rents spiked with local activists in June. Affordable housing as a political issue is taking the stage nationally during the 2020 Democratic presidential primary in a way it never has before. Experts say this...
Joe Biden is ramping up his Iowa ground game as the caucus race enters the final months and as his top Democratic opponents narrow the gap in the polls. The Biden campaign plans to have about 110 total staff in Iowa by the end of September, over 80 of which will be on...
The Midwest can help save our planet's natural resources with responsible farming practices. Presidential candidates have hinted at it with their plans and speeches in Iowa, but it's not something we should gloss over as pandering; it's a real possibility. Leaders...
The Polk County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday morning to designate the month of September as "Labor Union Appreciation Month." "Whereas, hard working men and women across the state of Iowa prove that our community is filled with the most creative, dynamic, and...
A guest op-ed from Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Over Labor Day, I heard from Iowans in Cedar Rapids who’d been impacted by devastating floods, and connected the dots to our bigger climate crisis. As State Senator Rob Hogg put it: “Could we have had a flood like this without...
"Health care is personal to me," Biden says in his new ad. "Obamacare is personal to me." The ad addresses Biden's personal experiences, drawing on a car accident that took his wife and daughter's lives, as well as his son Beau's struggle with brain cancer. The...
Sen. Joni Ernst told a crowd of constituents at a recent town hall meeting her "commitment to rural America is very strong" because she lives in rural Iowa. Josh Dahle challenged that statement, explaining to Ernst how the Affordable Care Act benefited a rural...
Around 75 people showed up at Sunset Ridge Farm this afternoon to hear Vice President Joe Biden speak earlier today. Biden framed the 2020 race as “the most important election any of you have ever voted in, regardless of how old, or young, you are.” Biden hit many of...
The people of Iowa have gotten a look at the University of Iowa’s priorities in recent weeks. I doubt this was the message administrators in Iowa City intended to send, but I don’t know how else to interpret the juxtaposition two recent news stories created. The first...
Living in a country with a president who thrives on division can be emotionally taxing for Americans seeking a better way forward. That was the message several voters conveyed over two days of Pete Buttigieg campaign events last week in Southeast Iowa. "This helps,"...
The beach and new outdoor waterpark at the $60 million Honey Creek Resort are closed this week, as well as two other beaches on Rathbun Lake. The closures came after dangerous blue-green algae blooms were detected at several spots around the lake. Swimming warnings...
This weekend, most of the field of Democratic candidates returned to Iowa to connect with voters in the first caucus state. The last time so many were in the state at one time was in early June, at the Hall of Fame Dinner in Cedar Rapids. Candidates went to the Iowa...
The list of Democratic presidential candidates who attended the Iowa State Fair was so long this weekend it forced undecided voters to choose which of the 20 candidates they wanted to see speak at the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox the most. Tom Steyer made Wes...
Honor, respect and unity were the themes of the 105th Annual Meskwaki Powwow held yesterday in Iowa. Montana Governor Steve Bullock and author Marianne Williamson were there in the afternoon to share in the occasion. New Jersey Senator Cory Booker appeared in the...
In case you weren't sure whether Kamala Harris was in Iowa this week, her gigantic bus, emblazoned with her name on the side that rolled through towns' main streets was a helpful reminder. Harris is on a five-day tour of the lead-off caucus state, traversing the full...
Former HUD Secretary Julian Castro brought his entire family to the Iowa State Fair, while former Congressman John Delaney flipped some burgers and Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard grabbed a root beer. Meanwhile, Andrew Yang gnawed on a giant turkey leg and Marianne...
In the wake of Saturday's mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, news outlets, political commentators and everyday Americans have drawn connections between the alleged shooter's racist past and the divisive language of President Donald Trump. But there's another politician,...
Enough already. In yet another weekend where it seems like the country is coming apart, terrorist gunmen in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio massacred innocent people. Details are just starting to emerge about the Dayton murderer, but we already have a disturbing --...
Three Democrats participated Tuesday in the first multi-candidate event of Iowa's U.S. Senate race, introducing themselves to Siouxland voters. Siouxland Progressive Women hosted the forum in Sioux City with Eddie Mauro, a businessman and former educator from Des...
Kindergarten teacher Kathie Card used to work in Iowa. She still lives here. She has a house in Armstrong, in Emmet County. But now she’s teaching in Fairmont, Minnesota, ever since the Iowa legislature stripped public employees of their right to collectively bargain...
A guest post in support of Kamala Harris from Vanessa Phelan and Victor Dutchuk, two neighborhood Democratic leaders in Polk County. As the chairs of the Northwest Des Moines Democrats and the West Des Moines Democrats, we spend our free time on grassroots activism....
Two Democratic presidential campaigns collided in the hallway of the Hilton Garden Inn in Iowa City Thursday night outside of the Women Leaders Rising: 2020 Issue Forum. Amy Klobuchar had just finished telling the group of over 100 women that she is a union champion...
A Cedar Rapids man has been arrested after he allegedly made threats over the phone and in emails to a Jewish organization in New York City. The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force investigated the matter. Garrett Kelsey, who referred to himself as "Garrett Odinschild,"...
For 13,100 women living in Burlington, Iowa, it keeps getting trickier to access affordable reproductive health care. The town’s Planned Parenthood provider closed in 2017. It forced residents to travel about 80 miles away to Iowa City just for routine checkups and to...
An editorial opinion piece written July 15 by Carol Hunter in the Des Moines Register is the latest warning about the Iowa newspaper’s declining subscription base. Hunter, the Register’s executive editor explains “Why we’re asking you to buy a subscription.” It’s a...
With this week's 2nd quarter campaign finance reports out, we now have a clearer look at where Iowa's federal races stand. Some potential candidates have seen what they'd be up against and decided against a run. Others have added their names to a 2020 primary. Here's...
As the Latino population becomes an increasingly significant portion of the American electorate, candidates for public office are working to boost their turnout in elections from the presidential race to city council contests. But, as Nicholas Salazar points out,...
Fort Madison State Rep. Jeff Kurtz today became the first Iowa lawmaker to endorse Sen. Bernie Sanders, calling him a politician that “has been consistent through his entire career on the issues that matter to the 99%.” Kurtz, elected to represent District 83 in the...
Senator Amy Klobuchar has a new collection of endorsements from the kind of Iowa Caucus activists that get things done. They come ahead of her weekend visit to the state, her tenth since announcing her campaign. The Klobuchar campaign announced six new notable Iowans...
