Nothing is on the horizon to block Iowa’s steady march to the right and off a cliff.
Gov. Kim Reynolds came off a historic legislative session that has Ron DeSantis calling the Tall Corn State the “Florida of the North.” There’s book banning, gay bashing, welfare demeaning, private school vouchers and more from solid majorities in both the House and Senate for her to celebrate.
The public appears to be rolling with the agenda, while holding reservations about the vouchers.
The state’s congressional delegation is entirely Republican.
It’s going to take a seismic event, or series of them, and a messianic messenger for Democrats to even get back in the conversation.
There are no statewide races on the 2024 ballot. Iowa will be flooded with conservative propaganda — it’s already started — with the Republican presidential nominating process. Being anti-woke, whatever that is, will be the thing. The environment will heighten Reynolds’s visibility and burnish her image as a politician of national prominence. Democrats will ignore Iowa because there’s nothing at play here.
Iowa needs a two-party system but doesn’t have one. That’s been a long time coming. The GOP has played the long game in rural states since 1980 by investing in media, messaging and organization. It’s paying off in flyover country.
If the election were held today, you would want to bet on Trump winning Iowa bigly.
The next legislative session will be just as harsh as Republicans try to fire up their base heading into the general elections. Reynolds wants to eliminate the state income tax, for starters, and again the public appears to agree with her. The loyal opposition can barely get a message through.
It will take something seismic and someone messianic for the Democrats to even get into the conversation.
Abortion? Perhaps. The Iowa Supreme Court is expected to rule soon on a bill that could ban abortion. Historically, abortion politics have not played well for Democrats in Iowa. It is not clear they can turn the issue to their advantage in statehouse races.
Education? Huge tax cuts are popular, but the bite will be felt in public schools as we dole out vouchers for private education. It won’t be an immediate disruption, more like a slow erosion that increases class sizes and closes rural schools with declining enrollment.
Gay rights? Eighty-three congregations, in places like Pocahontas and Marcus, just pulled out of the Iowa Methodist Conference over allowing gay pastors and marriage.
Economic issues? Voters are going with tax cuts in the absence of a strong Democratic message.
As for a messenger, the minority party has State Auditor Rob Sand, the only statewide Democratic officeholder whose authority was eviscerated by the legislature. Not many people seem too worked up about him being stripped of investigative authority. He is a Decorah native who has worked assiduously to develop a reputation as a moderate turkey hunter who eschews party politics.
Harold Hughes broke through in 1962 under somewhat similar circumstances with a campaign built around liquor by the drink. Hughes had a fire in his belly. Does Sand?
The only other elected Democrat of prominence who understands rural areas is Rep. JD Scholten of Sioux City. He has the fire in his belly but does not appear to be in the inner circle of Des Moines. He continues to make appearances around the state and is not afraid of being associated with labor unions. Democrats fail to appreciate how important western Iowa is to winning statewide elections, and how their abandonment of rural voters has led to their demise.
They have until 2026 to figure something out. Sure, a lot can happen to change things. Who knows what happens with Sen. Chuck Grassley, age 89? Or abortion politics. For now, the Republicans are having a ball while on a roll, and there isn’t a whole lot the other side is doing about it. They need someone to fly the flag and lead the charge out of the weeds, with a message that can be heard out here. Starting with: Whatever happened to the family farm, an open market and the good union jobs? Somebody needs to change the conversation.
Art Cullen is the 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.
If you’re interested in commentary by some of Iowa’s best writers, please follow the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative members:
Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights
Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll
Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines
Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake
Suzanna de Baca Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley
Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County
Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji
Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames
Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines
Nik Heftman, The Seven Times, Los Angeles and Iowa
Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilla
Dana James: New Black Iowa, Des Moines
Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo
Fern Kupfer: Fern and Joe, Ames
Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey
Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa
Kurt Meyer, Showing Up, St. Ansgar
Kyle Munson, Kyle Munson’s Main Street, Des Moines
Jane Nguyen, The Asian Iowan, West Des Moines
John Naughton: My Life, in Color, Des Moines
Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines
Barry Piatt: Piatt on Politics: Behind the Curtains, Washington, D.C.
Macey Spensley, The Midwest Creative, Davenport and Des Moines
Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona
Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, Kalona
Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County
Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport
Teresa Zilk: Talking Good, Des Moines
The Iowa Writers Collaborative is also proud to ally with Iowa Capital Dispatch.
I read your column regularly, to remind me Iowa has not been swallowed whole, by the Republicans
I especially appreciated your mention of labor unions and of the need for well paying jobs.
Jean
This 84 year old who made the mistake of retiring back to Iowa is roiling, not rolling, and praying that the youth who have not been frightened away by the state's policies will find or exceed the drive many of us had in the late 50's, 60's and 70's or the hope of 2007.