Iowa Dems’ caucuses getting fair hearing after rough start, state party leader says

JOHNSTON — At first, Scott Brennan was not sure if Iowa was getting a fair shake.

When the national Democratic Party announced its plan to reexamine the order in which states pick the party’s presidential candidates, Brennan, an Iowan and member of the national party’s rules committee, felt like national Democrats simply sought to punish Iowa for the 2020 caucuses, when the program that was designed to report results malfunctioned on caucus night.

“When the process started, it seemed like it was a lot of folks looking for a pound of flesh and retribution for failures in 2020,” Brennan said Friday while recording this weekend’s episode of “Iowa Press” on Iowa PBS.

With a decision on Iowa Democrats’ first-in-the-nation status imminent — the rules committee is scheduled to meet the first week of December — Brennan said he now feels like the case Iowa Democrats are making to remain first are being heard and given a fair hearing.

“I think we’ve gotten a fair hearing and now we’re working whatever angles we have,” Brennan said.

Iowa Democrats and Republicans have been the first to cast presidential nominating preferences every four years since 1972.

While Iowa Republicans will once again go first in 2024, Iowa Democrats’ spot is up for grabs with the national party reconsidering its nominating calendar.

The national Democratic Party’s rules committee voted in April to reopen its presidential nominating schedule, forcing all interested states — including the current early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina — to apply to be included in the party’s early presidential nominating window.

Iowa is among 16 states and Puerto Rico that applied for an early voting spot.

National party leaders have said early voting should feature states that have primary elections and not caucuses, have diverse populations, and are competitive states during presidential elections.

Iowa does not fit that mold at all well. It nominates presidential candidates via caucus, not primary elections; it has the sixth-lowest minority population in the U.S., and Republicans have dominated Democrats for most of the past five elections here.

In order to address the caucus concerns, Iowa Democrats proposed a dramatic overhaul to the presidential caucus system, which would make it much more similar to a primary election and address many of the accessibility concerns expressed by caucuses’ critics.

Brennan, who also is a former state party chairman, was asked during the “Iowa Press” recording whether national Democrats are giving fair consideration to keeping Iowa as an early voting state with its proposed changes, or whether national leaders’ minds were made up from the start to bump Iowa from its envied first-in-the-nation perch.

Brennan said he believes that, after that questionable start, he believes Iowa has been getting “a very fair hearing.” His concern now, he said, is whether any decision on the nominating calendar will be made publicly and with transparency, or if it will be the result of backroom dealing.

“Ultimately we’ll find out — if the process is as open and transparent as they keep claiming it’s going to be, then that’s fine,” Brennan said. “If it turns out that there was a lot of deals being made behind the scenes, that’s a problem.”

Brennan was asked what he believes the national party will ultimately decide to do with Iowa.

“I have great hopes that we’ll remain in the (early voting) window. Whether we are first or not remains to be seen,” Brennan said. “I think we have a shot at remaining first.”

“Iowa Press” airs on Iowa PBS at 7:30 p.m. and noon Sunday, and can be viewed any time at iowapbs.org.

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