Tag: SD-46
Bleeding Heartland's coverage of Iowa legislative races in 2019
Tuesday, Dec 31 2019
Laura Belin
I've always enjoyed writing about legislative happenings and campaigns, since my first year on the job as an analyst covering Russian domestic politics during a parliamentary election year.
While most political reporters were understandably assigned to follow the many presidential candidates visiting Iowa in 2019, I made it a priority to keep an eye on down-ballot races. The 2020 Iowa House and Senate elections may affect our daily lives more than whether Donald Trump or the Democratic nominee wins our state's electoral votes. For one thing, breaking the GOP trifecta is the only way to guarantee that Iowa preserves nonpartisan redistricting for the coming decade.
I'm proud that Bleeding Heartland provided more in-depth coverage of potentially competitive state legislative races than any other Iowa news source this year. All of those stories are linked below.
Iowa Senate district 46 preview: Mark Lofgren vs. Chris Brase
Wednesday, Nov 13 2019
A rematch is brewing in one of the six Iowa Senate districts Republicans picked up in 2016. Longtime Muscatine firefighter Chris Brase announced on November 12 that he will run for Senate district 46, which he represented for four years before losing to current State Senator Mark Lofgren.
Fifteen Iowa counties to watch on election night
Tuesday, Nov 8 2016
desmoinesdem
Every Iowan's vote counts the same in determining whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will win our state's six electoral votes.
I'll be watching the returns from some of our 99 counties more closely than others.
Republicans outspending Democrats in most Iowa Senate battlegrounds
Saturday, Nov 5 2016
Iowa House and Senate candidates were required to file their last pre-election campaign finance reports on Friday. In stark contrast to four years ago, Republicans are outspending Democrats in most of the contested state Senate districts. (I'll address spending in the key Iowa House races in a different post.)
Currently, there are 25 Senate Democrats, 23 Republicans, and one independent. If former GOP Senator David Johnson makes good on his promise to remain an independent in 2017, and Democrats win the December special election to replace the late Senator Joe Seng, Republicans would need to pick up three seats to gain control of the upper chamber for the first time since 2004.
I enclose below in-kind contribution figures for the Senate districts expected to be in play next Tuesday. Candidates running elsewhere did not report large in-kind contributions from their respective parties.
NRA's Iowa affiliate targeting four Senate Democrats
The Iowa Firearms Coalition, an affiliate of the National Rifle Association, has formed a political action committee that is targeting four Democratic-held Iowa Senate districts in its effort to strip power from "anti-gun Senate majority leaders." The strategy is logical, because in recent years several high-profile gun bills died in the upper chamber after clearing the Republican-controlled Iowa House.
However, I was surprised to see a couple of Senate races missing from the Iowa Firearms Coalition PAC's list.
2016 RAGBRAI route announced: A short ride across southern Iowa
Saturday, Jan 23 2016
After two straight years of taking bicyclists across northern parts of the state, the Des Moines Register announced this evening that the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) will cross southern Iowa from July 24 to 30. The route starting in Glenwood and ending in Muscatine will take riders "419.9 miles (third-shortest in the event's 44-year history), with a total climb of 18,488 feet (making it the 24th flattest)."
Full details on the 2016 route are on the official RAGBRAI website. After the jump I've listed the overnight stops, along with daily mileage totals and feet of climb and some political trivia about places riders will visit this summer.