Art Cullen delivers a powerful, informative analysis on the presidential election outcome. Amazed to read that Donald Trump won by 14 points over Kamala Harris in Iowa (220K votes), and 66-33% in Buena Vista County, home to thousands of Latino immigrants. Note: Incoming “border czar” Tom Homan pledged this week to ramp up workplace raids as part of an immigration crackdown. Curious to see how that shakes out in Iowa. Perhaps no impact at all, since everyone who voted must be documented. At issue is whether parents and children are, too. Homan said in a televised interview that families may avoid being separated if they all leave the US together.
"Iowans have been under stress for 40 years as the economy changed fundamentally from diverse, independent farmers and businesses and a union to contracted corporate agriculture and Walmart-Dollar General and no union. The Chinese own the hogs and we own their dung"
Toxic water and highest cancer rates.
But they keep voting Republican for 15+ years......Do Iowa voters not see the correlation there? I do, my mom in Ankeny does......my late Dad (John Deere tool & die) sure did. They vote Democrat. Let's see how many more layoffs there will be at John Deere (and Detroit, etc) after the tariffs.
Harris carried five counties in Iowa: Polk, Story, Johnson, Linn, and Black Hawk. I live in Black Hawk County, where more than 5,500 people worked at John Deere prior to the layoffs we've seen over the past year. It is also home to one of the largest private-sector union locals in Iowa -- UAW Local 838, which represents unionized workers at John Deere and other industrial plants. Black Hawk also has the highest percentage Black population in Iowa. Blacks make up 17 percent of the population of the largest city, Waterloo, and 27 percent of the public school enrollment. We also have sizable Bosnian, Latino, Asian and Congolese communities.
President Obama was very popular in Waterloo and Black Hawk County as was Vice President Biden. In 2008 Obama/Biden carried Black Hawk County by 22 percentage points with more than 60 percent of the vote over McCain/Palin. This time Harris/Walz carried Black Hawk County by just 1.2 percent of the vote, barely over 50 percent. And a House seat covering most of Cedar Falls flipped from Democrat to Republican, making our previously azure Statehouse representation a little more purple.
Both county party organizations are pretty strong and vibrant. The Republicans are resurgent.
But it seems to me the national and state Democratic parties have a "next-person-in" mentality that has resulted in a moribund organization, picking candidates based on seniority and who has been the best party servant rather than who can win.
In 2008 the Dems leapfrogged over Hillary Clinton and won with Obama. In 2016 they tried to make it up to her, pushed aside all but token competition and, well, we know how that turned out. On a state level, Dems haven't won an Iowa gubernatorial election since 2006.
I'm not the one to tell anyone how to figure it out but it seems the same old thing isn't working.
The Iowa Democratic Party need to stick its nose out of Polk County/Golden Circle land once in a while and talk to the folks figuratively and literally working in the trenches, fields and shop floors out here. And not just Iowa City. Maybe one constructive step might be following the Republicans’ lead with a one person, one vote, straw poll in the next presidential caucuses.
I'm on a news blackout, but needed to read Art! My head hurts from shaking back and forth. The real fallout from this election is still months away, but I'm sitting back and waiting to say 'I told you so' to everyone among my friends and family who didn't believe Trump's words and voted for him. I pity the uninformed who thought they were voting for their own interests. They were not. They were sold a bill of goods that will destroy their way of life as they know it.
Yep.....the shit storm is coming. Meanwhile Kimmy can't get teachers hired, she is hiring people without degrees.......wants to pay men to be "dad's", public schools are losing some $230M in funding due to voucher scam, brain drain due to graduates and doctors leaving, more factory farms, more polluted rivers and streams......
True, but a sad commentary on the state I left for Minnesota 53 years ago. I moved north for what turned out to be the best teaching job for my talents and growth I could have found, but Storm Lake has always been in my heart. As I've watched it over the years on my visits to family and class reunions, I’ve been proud of the town's ability to grow and change. However, I've also watched Iowa become more and more divided in its response to its demographic makeup. While Minnesota has also seen growth and change, not always without its own divisive issues, but remaining blue, I've felt comfort in its staying open to adapting. My hope is that Iowa can eventually do the same…
And yet, even MN is moving right: 2020 was Biden by 7+%; 2024 was Harris by 1.2%. Can't believe I am agreeing with Bernie Sanders but the D's are self-destructing-- identity politics, income redistribution (student loans) and coastal cultural values don't sell; even Latinos object to an open border. It's the economy and the workers' rebellion, independent of race and gender, that doomed Harris.
Art Cullen delivers a powerful, informative analysis on the presidential election outcome. Amazed to read that Donald Trump won by 14 points over Kamala Harris in Iowa (220K votes), and 66-33% in Buena Vista County, home to thousands of Latino immigrants. Note: Incoming “border czar” Tom Homan pledged this week to ramp up workplace raids as part of an immigration crackdown. Curious to see how that shakes out in Iowa. Perhaps no impact at all, since everyone who voted must be documented. At issue is whether parents and children are, too. Homan said in a televised interview that families may avoid being separated if they all leave the US together.
"Iowans have been under stress for 40 years as the economy changed fundamentally from diverse, independent farmers and businesses and a union to contracted corporate agriculture and Walmart-Dollar General and no union. The Chinese own the hogs and we own their dung"
Toxic water and highest cancer rates.
But they keep voting Republican for 15+ years......Do Iowa voters not see the correlation there? I do, my mom in Ankeny does......my late Dad (John Deere tool & die) sure did. They vote Democrat. Let's see how many more layoffs there will be at John Deere (and Detroit, etc) after the tariffs.
Harris carried five counties in Iowa: Polk, Story, Johnson, Linn, and Black Hawk. I live in Black Hawk County, where more than 5,500 people worked at John Deere prior to the layoffs we've seen over the past year. It is also home to one of the largest private-sector union locals in Iowa -- UAW Local 838, which represents unionized workers at John Deere and other industrial plants. Black Hawk also has the highest percentage Black population in Iowa. Blacks make up 17 percent of the population of the largest city, Waterloo, and 27 percent of the public school enrollment. We also have sizable Bosnian, Latino, Asian and Congolese communities.
President Obama was very popular in Waterloo and Black Hawk County as was Vice President Biden. In 2008 Obama/Biden carried Black Hawk County by 22 percentage points with more than 60 percent of the vote over McCain/Palin. This time Harris/Walz carried Black Hawk County by just 1.2 percent of the vote, barely over 50 percent. And a House seat covering most of Cedar Falls flipped from Democrat to Republican, making our previously azure Statehouse representation a little more purple.
Both county party organizations are pretty strong and vibrant. The Republicans are resurgent.
But it seems to me the national and state Democratic parties have a "next-person-in" mentality that has resulted in a moribund organization, picking candidates based on seniority and who has been the best party servant rather than who can win.
In 2008 the Dems leapfrogged over Hillary Clinton and won with Obama. In 2016 they tried to make it up to her, pushed aside all but token competition and, well, we know how that turned out. On a state level, Dems haven't won an Iowa gubernatorial election since 2006.
I'm not the one to tell anyone how to figure it out but it seems the same old thing isn't working.
The Iowa Democratic Party need to stick its nose out of Polk County/Golden Circle land once in a while and talk to the folks figuratively and literally working in the trenches, fields and shop floors out here. And not just Iowa City. Maybe one constructive step might be following the Republicans’ lead with a one person, one vote, straw poll in the next presidential caucuses.
Preach, Brother Pat! Amen
I'm on a news blackout, but needed to read Art! My head hurts from shaking back and forth. The real fallout from this election is still months away, but I'm sitting back and waiting to say 'I told you so' to everyone among my friends and family who didn't believe Trump's words and voted for him. I pity the uninformed who thought they were voting for their own interests. They were not. They were sold a bill of goods that will destroy their way of life as they know it.
Yep.....the shit storm is coming. Meanwhile Kimmy can't get teachers hired, she is hiring people without degrees.......wants to pay men to be "dad's", public schools are losing some $230M in funding due to voucher scam, brain drain due to graduates and doctors leaving, more factory farms, more polluted rivers and streams......
But yeah, let's keep voting repugs in Iowa.
True, but a sad commentary on the state I left for Minnesota 53 years ago. I moved north for what turned out to be the best teaching job for my talents and growth I could have found, but Storm Lake has always been in my heart. As I've watched it over the years on my visits to family and class reunions, I’ve been proud of the town's ability to grow and change. However, I've also watched Iowa become more and more divided in its response to its demographic makeup. While Minnesota has also seen growth and change, not always without its own divisive issues, but remaining blue, I've felt comfort in its staying open to adapting. My hope is that Iowa can eventually do the same…
Iowa could learn SO MUCH from Minnesota.....if they would just open their eyes & ears to truth and better ways of governing.
And yet, even MN is moving right: 2020 was Biden by 7+%; 2024 was Harris by 1.2%. Can't believe I am agreeing with Bernie Sanders but the D's are self-destructing-- identity politics, income redistribution (student loans) and coastal cultural values don't sell; even Latinos object to an open border. It's the economy and the workers' rebellion, independent of race and gender, that doomed Harris.