Republicans are determined to test their limits

Republicans are bearing full steam ahead on their platform to shift Iowa hard to the right, and in doing so might give Democrats the opening they sorely need.

The minority party was left in a shambles following the midterm elections. The GOP controls the governor’s office, both legislative chambers, and the state congressional delegation. State Auditor Rob Sand is the last Democrat standing statewide.

The Republicans ran on cutting taxes, giving vouchers to students at private schools, banning abortion, expanding gun rights and use, and bringing back the death penalty. Voters are getting what Republicans think they asked for.

The state is about to give away nearly a billion dollars to families of private school students. The Iowa Supreme Court is scheduled to decide whether abortion should be banned at the detection of a heartbeat. The trainer for the Cherokee School District is telling staff who want to be armed that they should shoot to kill.

The public might start to realize what they voted for.

Large crowds showed up last week at the capitol to protest the voucher bill. Rural school boards fear this could be the shoe that drops. It’s a hot topic on social media. The Buena Vista County Democrats just ran a big ad in the Times Pilot about vouchers.

Interesting that Auditor Sand is stepping out front trying to lead the charge against vouchers, along with Democratic legislative leaders. Sand, from Decorah, thought about running against Gov. Reynolds last time but decided against it. The donor base was not fired up about burning money against Reynolds. He didn’t think the time was right.

Sand has arduously pursued a centrist course in hunting outfits. He obviously has found an issue that strikes a nerve among a state that traditionally put public education first.

It is presumed that since the Supreme Court reversed itself and ruled that abortion can be outlawed, it will look favorably on a ban. The issue was not live for the last campaign because abortion remained legal. When it becomes illegal, voters may change.

Iowans remain deeply suspicious of capital punishment. Methodists remain a force when mobilized.

Many people in Cherokee and Spirit Lake (maybe not most) are alarmed by school training that advises to press your problem away by pulling the trigger. In a tight statewide race, those small pockets of votes can matter.

Republicans could be content to execute the $2 billion in tax cuts enacted by Gov. Reynolds but insist on overreaching. Rep. Megan Jones, R-Sioux Rapids, is being careful. She is hearing about the voucher stuff in Spencer and Storm Lake. So is Sen. Lynn Evans, R-Aurelia, who voted the voucher bill out of committee in hopes of bargaining something better than 2.5% allowable growth for K-12 schools. Jones said last week that she was not sure there are enough votes to pass the voucher bill in its current form. There were. She voted for it.

The voucher program, called School Choice, is being pressed nationwide, and ads in Iowa are being financed by out-of-state interests.

Republican leadership thinks their big electoral wins give them a mandate.

Yet more than 60% of the comments at statehouse hearings are against the voucher plan. Reynolds has national ambitions, no doubt. Evans and Jones are being asked to put their hides on the line as the governor surveys the 2024 presidential field.

Lurking in the background: What will Sen. Chuck Grassley do? He just won a six-year term. He is 89. His grandson is House Speaker Pat Grassley. If the senator decides to retire to the farm, the governor appoints his replacement. How Chuck feels, and how Kim feels that Chuck feels, will color everything about Republican Party politics over the next two years.

Sand has two to four years to build a coalition that includes a lot of money. Democrats need someone they can get behind. Sand won.

Democratic legislative leaders need to be able to sustain the public skepticism over vouchers into other issues that matter with voters. The Iowa Supreme Court might come to their aid by making an abortion ban effective this year. And when you realize that the middle school librarian is packing a cute little derringer in her hair bun you might begin to ask if this state is heading overboard. It all sounds good until you shoot the piano player.

Art Cullen is editor of the Storm Lake Times Pilot in Northwest Iowa, where this column appeared. For more columns and editorials, please consider a subscription to the Times Pilot. Or, if you wish, you can make a tax-deductible gift to the Western Iowa Journalism Foundation to support independent community journalism in rural Iowa. Thanks.

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