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Guest piece from five Montanans who moved to Iowa to organize for Governor Steve Bullock -- Bullock for President Iowa Organizers Rio Aagaard-Shively, Alice Boyer, Shelby Fisher, Korbin Bragstad, and Harry Child. Montana has been a home that’s given more than we could...
Sen. Bernie Sanders made it clear he’s fighting for working people during his recent two-day swing through Iowa. He pushed his strong union ties, the fight for a $15 per hour minimum wage and efforts to make health care a human right. This trip was his first back on...
A diverse group of progressive candidates from across Iowa are seeking spots on city councils and school boards this year. At least one wants to make history. If 20-year-old Rachel Junck in Ames is elected, she will be the youngest woman elected to any office in Iowa....
Sunday’s United Food and Commercial Workers forum in Altoona was supposed to be focused on labor issues. In the hall, with several hundred labor union members seated in the audience, it was. Outside, not so much. Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, who’s had a tough time...
In late September, a group of ranchers and farmers presented a letter in support of the Green New Deal to Congress. It was signed by more than 50 organizations and 500 individual farms — including four Iowa organizations and 13 individual farmers. Sustainable Iowa...
Bill Gerhard, President of the Iowa State Building and Construction Trades Council, announced his endorsement of Joe Biden for President today. “Born into a working class family in Scranton, Joe Biden will always stand with labor because at his core, he’s one of us,”...
Recent weeks have been full of disappointment for Midwest and Iowa farmers and ethanol producers. Amid ethanol and biofuel facility closures, farm bankruptcies and continued economic fallout from a trade war with China that seems to have no end in sight, the Trump...
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments about whether employers are allowed to discriminate against their employees based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The trio of cases concern two gay men and a transgender woman, all of whom argue they were...
When introducing herself to voters at a Fort Madison sandwich shop, Theresa Greenfield didn't just highlight her youth on a farm in Minnesota or her successful professional career. Greenfield got personal, telling the small group about the day, at 24 years old, she...
Theresa Greenfield earned the endorsement today of the League of Conservation Voters Action Fund, described by the climate action group as a candidate "committed to investing in the Hawkeye State's clean energy economy." "Iowans are already feeling the impact of...
Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst voted yesterday to confirm Eugene Scalia as the new United States Secretary of Labor, a man who once argued that it’s OK to force workers with health issues to soil themselves on the job. Scalia was confirmed as the new labor secretary Thursday...
A key to any successful Iowa Caucus campaign is having a broad base of support distributed throughout the state's 99 counties, rather than pockets of strong support here and there. It's particularly important here because of the way delegates are apportioned -- you...
Seven Democratic presidential candidates have shown up at picket lines over the last nine days to express their support for members of the United Auto Workers union on strike against General Motors. Joe Biden, Amy Klobuchar, Beto O'Rourke, Steve Bullock, Tim Ryan,...
Congresswoman Abby Finkenauer today joined other prominent Iowa Democrats in endorsing Theresa Greenfield for the U.S. Senate. Greenfield, president of a family-owned real estate company in Des Moines, is one of four Democratic candidates running to unseat Republican...
Polk County Democrats' largest Steak Fry in history featured 17 of the 18 serious presidential candidates vying for votes in 2020. More than 12,000 tickets were sold for the Saturday event at Water Works Park in Des Moines. In keeping with its name, it was a rainy day...
The day started early for Kamala Harris and her team. At the Water Works grounds for the Polk County Steak Fry, most of her supporters said they showed up at 6:30 in the morning to form a block of chanting and cheering. Harris’ campaign bought two spots near the...
The Steak Fry is underway. Your Starting Line team was spread out across the candidates' rally sites. Here's what was happening early on today. Buttigieg’s Camp Sprawls At The Steak Fry Pete Buttigieg’s supporters were visible upon entering the Steak Fry gates. “Mayor...
Elizabeth Warren in motion stays in motion. The senator hosted a town hall in front of nearly 2,000 on Thursday night at the largest stand-alone event the Democratic hopeful has had in Iowa this far, her campaign said. The event, held at the University of Iowa’s...
Democratic presidential candidates are standing behind nearly 50,000 General Motors United Auto Workers who are on strike. The workers are on the picket line demanding fair wages, better benefits, and are hoping to reopen a closed factory in Lordstown, Ohio. Ohio...
In the midst of the largest United Auto Worker strike in more than a decade, Senator Cory Booker released a plan this morning to bolster unions and protect worker’s rights. The plan includes strengthening collective bargaining rights for Iowa’s 129,000 workers who are...
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union will host a 2020 presidential candidate forum in Des Moines October 13, along with one in the Detroit area on September 29. Confirmed presidential candidates for either event include Senator Michael Bennet,...
Iowans gathered at debate watch parties throughout the state to watch the ten leading Democratic candidates square off at the latest debate. As always, your Starting Line team was out at many debate watch parties across Central Iowa, from a Drake University gathering...
Presidential candidates currently command the spotlight in Iowa politics, but this summer also proved interesting for politicians eyeing the Statehouse. Since Republicans took control of the Iowa House, Senate and governorship in the 2016 election, Democrats have been...
Pictured, from left to right: Matt Blake, Erin Cubit, Bridget Carberry Montgomery. They're young. They're progressive. And they're coming to a city council near you. Most municipal races aren't partisan in Iowa, but several younger Democrats will vie for municipal and...
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...
Tax March Iowa and its supporters protested Senator Joni Ernst and the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in front of the Neal Smith Federal Building in Des Moines at noon Thursday. Before the protest, Tax March Iowa Director Sue Dinsdale edited a letter Ernst had sent her...
This year’s Iowa State Fair received spotlight attention from coast to coast, thanks in large measure to the presence of just about everyone with an itch to be the next United States president. The Iowa Tourism Office could never afford all of the glowing imagery of...
Abby Finkenauer took her public service career to Washington, D.C., with her election to Congress in 2018, but she hasn't forgotten her roots in the Iowa Legislature. Her second term in the Iowa House saw the 2017 and 2018 legislation sessions entirely guided by a...
Julian Castro, the former Secretary of Housing Urban Development under President Barack Obama, announced a new list of Iowa endorsements on Thursday. Four of the eight individuals have a connection to organizations advocating for Latinx Americans, particularly the...
Congresswoman Cindy Axne is not one of the House freshmen that national politics watchers follow on cable television, Instagram or on their Twitter feeds. But for Axne, that's the way she likes it. While Axne's staff will post images of her visits across the 3rd...
