Iowa Caucus

For Bernie Sanders, the campaign he’s built won’t end if he makes it into the Oval Office. There’s a lot he’ll still be asking of the movement he’s mobilized, though a President Sanders would be turning his supporters’ focus away from $27 donations and toward lobbying their members of Congress. “We’re trying to do things…

A guest piece from I-35 School Board Member Josh Hughes. When Elizabeth Warren announced her candidacy, I was initially dismissive. I was open minded about the field but not actively considering her. I met with a Warren organizer named Morgan mid-spring out of courtesy and came away impressed by the scale of the campaign’s efforts…

Beto O’Rourke returned to Iowa Tuesday evening with a fiery message to restart his campaign for president. The event was called “An Iowa Conversation: Standing up to Trump,” and during the event O’Rourke continued to condemn white supremacy. O’Rourke took a break from the campaign trail after a terrorist shooter killed 22 people at a…

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 his frequent talking points, including the…

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand rolled out a new plan today to create School-Based Health Centers that will provide children in rural Iowa and across the nation with mental health care services that are currently lacking. A few Iowa schools have already tried to launch similar programs, but they aren’t fully funded and they don’t necessarily meet…

Several common themes emerged from the first day of the Frank LaMere Native American Presidential Forum, but the top one was that a government’s priorities can be determined by where it puts its money, and each candidate promised money to address issues faced by Native Americans across the country. For the first day of the…

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,” said Joan Crowe, of rural Lee County, describing the despair and…

As the conversation about health care increasingly includes rural areas, the topic of maternal health is showing up in more places, too. This past week, South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg released a health care plan targeted at rural America. In it are several provisions that provide increased support for pregnant and postpartum women. “It’s…

Guest post from State Representative Heather Matson of Ankeny. As a state legislator, and as an Iowa caucus-goer, I have been privileged to meet and get to know several of our Democratic presidential candidates. I first met Cory Booker last fall while he campaigned for Democratic candidates here in Iowa. During his events, as well…

From gun control legislation to immigration reform and health care policy, presidential candidates have no shortage of issues to talk with Iowa voters about as they traverse the state ahead of February’s first-in-the-nation caucuses. End Citizens United, a nationwide organization dedicated to ridding politics of corporate financing, has a different, top-line issue on its mind:…