With a Republican governor, legislature and President Trump’s victory in the 2016 election, Iowa is shifting red – and now, national press is taking note.
The New York Times over the weekend published an in-depth story highlighting Iowa’s shift to the Republican column, explaining how an antiquated Democratic party has failed to compete in the state that brought Barack Obama to the White House.
The New York Times has more:
There is little to suggest a future for the party here in this once reliable Democratic stronghold.”
“Democrats hoping to put the state back in play have a difficult challenge. Jean Pardee, who led the Clinton County Democrats until March and has been on the state central committee for four decades, said she feared that her party no longer connected with the working-class voters of her town.”
Iowa’s most prominent pollster, J. Ann Selzer, remarked, “There has been a ‘reddification’ of Iowa, for better or for worse.”
Now, Democrats in Iowa are simultaneously panicking – and moving left on the issues.
While national Democrats gather and fret about the need to “regain the trust of rural voters” and stop getting “smoked” in rural areas, Democratic candidates for governor are embracing policies that could hurt rural voters.
Take gubernatorial candidate and “labor leader” Cathy Glasson. Glasson, from liberal Iowa City, is staking her campaign on a plan to have Iowa run its own “Medicare-for-all” socialized healthcare system – which would force a massive $12 billion tax increase Iowans can’t afford.
Unions are also rallying behind Des Moines liberal Nate Boulton, an untested State Senator who was first elected last November. Boulton is already facing questions over his “age & experience.”
Iowa is trending red, and democratic candidates for governor are working to make that trend stick.
Previously: