Early voting in the Nov. 8 general election began on Wednesday with auditors’ offices mailing out absentee ballots requested by voters and opening their doors for early in-person voting. Early in-person voting will run through Monday, Nov. 7, the day before Election Day, and all absentee ballots must be received in the auditor’s office by […]
2022 Elections
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New Iowa Poll finds Franken almost tied with Grassley, Reynolds still far ahead of DeJear
Over the weekend, the Des Moines Register published the results of a new Iowa Poll on the two big races in the Nov. 8 general election. The reported results show the Republican incumbents still lead their Democratic challengers, but in the case Iowa’s longest-serving senator, that lead continues to get smaller. Mike Franken is now […]
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Election 2022: Public Measure 1 would eliminate ‘current and future common-sense gun laws’
Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks was blunt in his assessment of Public Measure 1, which would amend the Iowa Constitution in a way that would stop most attempts to regulate guns in the state. “This amendment is a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” Maybanks said at a news conference on Tuesday at the Cedar Rapids Public […]
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This election may be different for Chuck Grassley
Things were different 42 years ago. Chuck Grassley, then a three-term congressman looking to move up to the Senate, declared himself an opponent of negative political ads. Grassley devoted his opening statement in the Iowa Public Television’s Republican primary debate in 1980 to complaining about ads targeting him. Grassley called his primary opponent Tom Stoner […]
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Deidre DeJear, facing funding gaps and racist jabs in her quest to defeat Gov. Reynolds, says ‘Iowa is worth the work’
Deidre DeJear worked on her first campaign while she was still in high school. Her grandmother, Mattie Washington, was running for a seat on the Election Commission in Yazoo County, Mississippi, and a young Deidre Howard spent the summer of her sophomore year helping with the campaign. Washington already had a long history as a […]
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‘This is your power. You own that power’: Black leaders encourage Iowans of color to vote Nov. 8
The Iowa Legislative Black Caucus hosted the fundraiser Stepping up to Justice on Sept. 22 at Noce in Des Moines. I attended to hear what candidates think voters need to know heading into the Nov. 8 midterm elections. The event supported Black Democratic caucus members who are up for reelection. The state legislators serving on […]
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Have incumbents met their match? An overview of the statewide races on Iowans’ midterm ballots
It’s a truism of American politics that with rare exceptions, incumbents always have a big advantage in an election. And nowhere is that truism truer than Iowa. Chuck Grassley has been in the U.S. Senate longer than all but one of his colleagues — Democratic Patrick Leahy, who is retiring this year — and longer […]
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Biden issues pardon for simple possession of marijuana convictions; DeJear promises to ‘legalize cannabis in Iowa’ as governor
On Thursday, President Joe Biden announced “a pardon of all prior Federal offenses of simple possession of marijuana.” “There are thousands of people who have prior Federal convictions for marijuana possession, who may be denied employment, housing, or educational opportunities as a result,” the president said in his statement announcing the pardon. “My action will […]
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Voters can now request absentee ballots for the November election
Registered voters in Iowa can now request absentee ballots for the November general election from their county auditor’s office. The first day auditors can mail the ballots to voters who have requested them will be Oct. 19, the same day early in-person voting begins. Printable absentee ballot request forms are available on the Iowa Secretary […]
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Former Rep. Jim Leach breaks with the Republican Party, endorses Bohannan for House and Franken for Senate
Jim Leach, who represented Johnson County and much of southeastern Iowa in Congress for 30 years as a Republican, changed his party registration to Democrat ahead of the June 7 primary, the Quad City Times reported on Wednesday. “Today, the Republican Party that I spent so many years with has really let the country down,” […]
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‘We can do better, because we’ve done better’: Deidre DeJear on Iowa’s future, LGBTQ rights, abortion access and legalizing cannabis
“I just want to get back to basics,” Deidre DeJear told the people gathered on the fifth floor patio of the Chauncey on Thursday evening, in response to a question about what her first three priorities would be if elected governor. The Democratic nominee named funding public education, guaranteeing the right to choose an abortion […]
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‘Cresting at the right time’: Franken wins, Reynolds forsakes fellow Republicans, and other takeaways from the primary election
Retired Adm. Mike Franken easily defeated Abby Finkenauer to win the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in what was the highest profile contested race in the nation on Tuesday. Franken won 55.2 percent of the vote and carried 76 of Iowa’s 99 counties, including Johnson and Linn, according to the unofficial totals published by the […]
