Iowa angles from the DNC, news from Congressional and legislative races
August 26 "Capitol Week" is online
I wanted to give readers a heads up about an upcoming event at Iowa State University on Thursday, September 5. Former U.S. Representative Ed Mezvinsky, who represented southeast Iowa from 1973 to 1977, donated his papers to ISU years ago. Those materials “include records of all the closed sessions of the House Judiciary Committee during Watergate. The papers will now be open to the public after being sealed by the Government for 50 years.”
The formal release of the Watergate papers is happening at the Iowa State University Parks Library at 2:00 pm on September 5. Starting at 5:30 pm in the Great Hall at the Memorial Union, there will be a panel discussion moderated by Kathie Obradovich of Iowa Capital Dispatch: “Watergate 50 Years Later: What Have We Learned?” Ed Mezvinsky and others will share their insights, and I’m looking forward to it.
On to this week’s radio show! The recap is coming to you a bit later than usual, because I wanted to finish another DNC-related story Monday night, and needed to update my post on Republican infighting in the fourth Congressional district on Tuesday morning.
The audio from Monday night’s program is at the top of this message, or you can find it on podcast platforms and smart speakers as “KHOI’s Capitol Week.” Our full archive (going back to February 2021) is available on KHOI’s website.
Here’s what Spencer Dirks and I covered during the August 26 show:
We both shared our big takeaways from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. I wrote much more about this at Bleeding Heartland. Still amazed by how much Tim Walz packed into a speech that was less than 16 minutes long;
We talked about some of the Iowa DNC delegates; for the full list, check out this Des Moines Register story;
I was surprised by how many prominent Democrats—including possible future presidential candidates—came to speak to the Iowa delegation in Chicago, even though the Iowa caucuses aren’t what they used to be;
Also surprising: I haven’t seen mainstream media report that Iowa’s delegation didn’t unanimously support Vice President Kamala Harris during the ceremonial roll call. The Iowa Democratic Party has ignored my emails seeking to clarify the situation. State party chair Rita Hart said Iowa had one “absent” vote and cast 45 votes for Harris. She told Paul Brennan of Little Village that she meant to say “present.” But what I’ve gathered from other sources is that one of Iowa’s 47 DNC delegates was absent for health reasons, and Newman Abuissa (the chair of the party’s Arab-American caucus) voted “present.” According to the Rock Hard Caucus podcast, Abuissa was expressing his opposition to the Biden administration’s stance on Israel/Gaza;
Anecdotally, Iowa Democrats report a surge in fundraising and volunteer involvement since Harris replaced Biden as the presidential nominee;
Dr. Emily Boevers, who is the only OB/GYN practicing in Bremer County, spoke about the impact of abortion bans on rural health care at a DNC Rural Council panel last Thursday. Hat tip to Iowans for Health Liberty for making me aware of this presentation. I wrote more about Boevers’ remarks at Bleeding Heartland;
Former Governor Tom Vilsack and First Lady Christie Vilsack also spoke to the DNC Rural Council, beginning around the 46:30 mark of this video;
Although a record number of Republicans from around the country spoke at the DNC, I haven’t heard of any prominent Iowa Republicans abandoning Donald Trump. We briefly ticked through some of the Iowa GOP comments during last week’s convention. I forgot to mention that in addition to Senator Joni Ernst and Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks (IA-01), Representative Zach Nunn (IA-03) also signed on to the Trump campaign’s letter from veterans in Congress, which bashed Tim Walz;
The window has closed for candidates to qualify for Iowa’s general election ballot. I explained why Robert F. Kennedy Jr. remains on the ballot, even though he ended his presidential campaign last week and endorsed Trump;
For now, six presidential and VP tickets are on Iowa’s ballot: Republican, Democratic, Libertarian, RFK, and two socialist options, which reminded me of a classic moment from the Monty Python movie “The Life of Brian”;
I mentioned that Cornel West isn’t on the Iowa ballot but forgot to mention that Jill Stein also won’t be an option here;
At this moment, the three Libertarian candidates running for Congress in Iowa remain on the ballot. That may change later this week; I will be at the State Objection Panel’s meeting on Wednesday, and Spencer and I will talk about what happened during next week’s show;
I’m fascinated by the drama unfolding in the fourth Congressional district, where Kevin Virgil (who won nearly 40 percent of the vote in the GOP primary) has urged his supporters to split their tickets between Trump and Ryan Melton, the Democratic challenger to Representative Randy Feenstra. I believe Bleeding Heartland was the first to report this story, and I’ve continued to update that post;
Democratic challenger Lanon Baccam answered reporters’ questions at a volunteer event in Windsor Heights on Saturday, and I shared some of what he said. Baccam believes Walz on the ticket will be helpful to Democrats in rural areas. A more thorough update on the IA-03 race is in progress;
IA-03 incumbent Nunn launched a new tv ad focusing on border security, and the American Action Network confirmed it will spend money backing Nunn and Miller-Meeks;
Spencer and I plan to flag important state legislative races from here on out to the general election. This week, I highlighted the first guaranteed Democratic pickup: Dan Gosa was the only candidate to file in Republican-held Iowa House district 81, covering part of Davenport. You can read more about him and that district here;
A monumental screw-up happened in Iowa House district 73, covering part of the Cedar Rapids metro area. Although two Republicans hoped to challenge State Representative Elizabeth Wilson, neither of them managed to get on the ballot after a GOP staffer declared the wrong winner at a special nominating convention;
We discussed some of the legislative endorsements of two influential Republican-aligned groups: the social conservative FAMiLY Leader and the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity;
A bit of state government news: Governor Kim Reynolds announced the launch of a new state-run child care portal. I talked about its strengths and weaknesses;
The Cedar Rapids Gazette learned more about the state’s proposal to use federal funds for summer meals for a new food distribution program, instead of the USDA’s “Summer EBT” program;
Last week’s South Dakota Supreme Court ruling on the Summit Carbon Solutions CO2 pipeline could affect the project in Iowa;
Jack O’Connor wrote a good article for Iowa Capital Dispatch about efforts to legalize fentanyl test strips in Iowa. These remain illegal in just a handful of states.
Thanks for reading or listening! Spencer and I will be back on Labor Day to discuss more Iowa campaign and state government news.
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