Iowa lawmaker talks historic leadership posts and Democrats’ path back to relevance

DES MOINES — Jennifer Konfrst, a Drake University professor from Windsor Heights, leads the Democrats in the Iowa House. She was elected to the position by her fellow Democratic House members in 2021, becoming the first woman to serve in the post.

This year, House Democrats elected an all-female leadership team, also a first for any group in the history of the Iowa Legislature.

Konfrst recently discussed those historic appointments and the uphill path forward for Democrats in the Iowa Legislature. Their numbers fell again with the results of the 2022 general election, which left Republicans with a 64-36 majority in the Iowa House and 34-16 majority in the Iowa Senate.

Q: You recently elected new leaders, and you have an all-female leadership team. How important was that to you? How significant?

A: Well, I’m the first woman to lead the Iowa House Democratic Caucus. And so that was a milestone that was important to me in 2021.

This (election of all female leaders) wasn’t something that happened by design. It was something that happened by happenstance. The leaders in the caucus were elected by caucus. What it means to me is that we’re a representative caucus, we have good voices at the table. And fundamentally what it means to me is the symbolic value of letting young girls see that women lead. And I think we sometimes underestimate the value. But what you see is what you can be. And so allowing girls across the state to see that they can have an equal share at the table and be part of the conversation and lead is really important to me personally.

Plus, as someone who works with college students every day, I like to sort of sometimes say, ‘Oh, it doesn't matter. None of this matters.’ But then I hear from them about what the symbolism of it means. And then I’m reminded that it does matter. As (former U.S. Supreme Court Justice) Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, women belong where all decisions are being made. And here we are.

Q: How do Iowa Democrats move forward after this election, and what’s your focus at the statehouse level? What are the challenges? How do you grow your numbers and get back to a place where you have more of a voice in the state lawmaking process?

A: A lot of it’s going to be, we came up with this policy agenda this fall because it was what Iowans want. Our job is to remind them that we are with them on the issues they care about most, the issues they vote on, the issues that affect their daily lives. Our job is to point out extremism when it happens here at the Capitol. Iowans are sick and tired of extremism. They’re sick and tired of politics. And they want straight shooters. And so what they don’t want is someone knocking on their door saying that they’re going to do this, and then getting up here (to the Capitol) and doing something different.

So I like to call it my doors to the floor transition, and we’d like to make sure that we’re the same person on the doors (during the campaign) as we are on the floor (during the legislative session). And we want to make sure that our colleagues across the aisle do the same. They answer to their constituents whether there is an election year or not. They don’t answer to special interests. Our job is to point that out.

Additionally, we just need to make sure that Iowans across the state realize that an Iowa Democrat is different than a D.C. Democrat. And that the conversations that we’re having with them are about the issues they care about, and not get distracted by social media conspiracies, by lies and falsehoods online, and truly listen to what we’re fighting for. Because I think they’ll find it’s what they want, too.

This is going to be a long process. This is going to be hard. I'm committed to, you know, Sen. (Zach) Wahls and Auditor (Rob) Sand and I are working together to move this party forward as a group. And we’re all the class of 2018. So we’re ready to try some new things and to move forward aggressively, because Iowa deserves better. And Iowa’s a purple state.

Q: What is the difference between an Iowa Democrat and a D.C. Democrat? What is the distinction you are trying to make?

A: Just because something is introduced in Congress or something passes on the East Coast doesn’t mean that Iowa Democrats support it. And they’ve done a nice job of tying us to national Democrats. We’re just not going to have it anymore. You know, I’ve never met Nancy Pelosi. I’m certainly not her. And that’s fine. She represents people in California. I represent people in Iowa. I’m here to tell you what we care about.

Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com