Michael Franken, Liz Mathis, Paul Pate among new candidate filings

DES MOINES — It’s starting to feel like an election year.

Candidates for office in Iowa are beginning to inundate the Secretary of State’s Office with their nominating signatures, which place them on the ballot for this fall’s midterm elections.

Two new candidate filings Wednesday came from Democrats running for federal office: Michael Franken, who is in the Democratic primary in Iowa’s U.S. Senate race; and Liz Mathis, the favored Democratic candidate in Iowa’s new 2nd Congressional District.

Earlier this week, the man who currently occupies the office, Secretary of State Paul Pate, filed his nominating signatures.

Iowa’s primary election is June 7, and the general election is Nov. 8.

FRANKEN FILES: Michael Franken, one of four Democrats seeking the party’s nomination in Iowa’s U.S. Senate race, filed more than 6,400 nominating signatures.

“I would like to have the voice that spans the needs of a broad populace and also be the voice of pragmatic realism,” Franken told reporters at the Capitol. “And I’d like to really energize the Democratic Party.”

Franken finished second in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary in 2020.

The other Democrats in Iowa’s 2022 U.S. Senate race are former U.S. Rep. Abby Finkenauer, of Cedar Rapids; Minden physician Glenn Hurst; and Burlington veterans advocate Bob Krause.

MATHIS FILES: Liz Mathis filed more than 3,000 nominating signatures in the 2nd District race, her campaign said.

“I was welcomed warmly at doors all across the 22-county district and am proud to have accomplished this with entirely volunteer support,” Mathis said in a campaign news release.

Mathis, a state legislator, nonprofit leader and former TV news journalist from the Cedar Rapids area, will face Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, herself a former state legislator and TV news journalist from the Cedar Rapids area.

PATE FILES: Secretary of State Paul Pate filed more than 7,250 signatures among his re-election paperwork Tuesday. Pate, a Republican, is seeking a fourth, four-year term.

In a campaign news release, Pate touted his work on new state elections laws that require identification to vote, and increase cybersecurity around state elections.

“Election officials are the referees. We don’t wear team jerseys. I promised Iowans I would make it easy to vote, but hard to cheat in Iowa and the numbers speak for themselves. Since implementing voter ID, we’ve had record-high turnout in four elections,” Pate said in the news release. “We also adopted post-election audits that ensure the vote count is accurate. Because of the reforms we put in place, Iowans can be confident in the sanctity of their vote.”

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