Campaign Almanac: National progressive group endorses in Iowa state, local campaigns

People’s Action, a national group that supports progressive candidates for public office, has endorsed candidates in Iowa campaigns for the statehouse and county offices.

People’s Action endorsed Austin Frerick for an Iowa Senate seat in northeast Cedar Rapids and Marion; Jaylen Cavil for an Iowa House district in Des Moines; Jon Green and V Fixmer-Oraiz for Johnson County supervisor; and Kimberly Graham for Polk County attorney.

“We’re proud to back the only candidates in Iowa who are building a movement instead of just building power,” People’s Action director of movement politics Brooke Adams said in a news release. “They come from the multiracial working class and will fight for us at the statehouse, not greedy elites. Everyone in Iowa will be better off once they are elected.”

SCIENCE GROUP ENDORSES FRANKEN: 314 Action Fund, which works to elect more people with STEM backgrounds to public office, has endorsed Mike Franken in Iowa’s U.S. Senate campaign.

Franken is a U.S. Navy veteran from Sioux City, and one of three Democrats running for the U.S. Senate in Iowa.

“Engineers are trained to solve problems, and with so much on the line for Iowans — reproductive rights, climate change and the future of programs like Social Security and the Affordable Care Act — voters will look for a proven problem solver like Admiral Michael Franken in November when they enter the ballot box,” 314 Action president Shaughnessy Naughton said in a news release.

“Admiral Franken has the experience and discipline necessary to cut through the partisan noise in Washington and lead using evidence-based policy on Day 1.”

The other Democrats in the June 7 primary are former U.S. Rep. Abby Finkenauer of Cedar Rapids and Minden physician Glenn Hurst.

The incumbent is Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley. He is being challenged in the primary by Sioux City attorney and state legislator Jim Carlin.

Gazette Des Moines Bureau