Branstad: Republicans have chance to “repeat history” in 2016

DES MOINES – The occasion was the Republican Party of Iowa's annual prayer breakfast fundraiser before the start of the 2015 legislative session but Gov. Terry Branstad's focus clearly was on 2016.

The soon-to-be six-term governor told fellow Republicans Monday they should start planning for the next election with the goal once again being a GOP takeover of the Iowa Senate to go along with their strong majority in the Iowa House.

'In 2016, we have a chance to repeat history,” Branstad said, harkening back to 1996 when Republicans held sway in both legislative chambers for two years while he was serving his fourth gubernatorial term. 'We need to begin working right now recruiting, getting great candidates in every one of those seats.”

Republicans thought they had a good chance of taking control of the Senate in last November's GOP wave election but Democrats managed to hang onto their 26-24 edge for the next two years. Senators serve four-year terms, so 25 of the chambers 50 seats will be contested in 2016.

Looking to the next election cycle, Branstad said 'Democrats may be making the same mistake for president that they made for senator, for governor and for Congress in the 3rd District. They're going to clear the field for Hillary Clinton, another flawed candidate,” he noted, who may not face a primary opponent similar to Bruce Braley, Jack Hatch and Staci Appel prior to their 2014 election defeats.

By contrast, Branstad said Republicans will have a wide open, talented field of 2016 presidential contenders who will be campaigning extensively in Iowa in the run up to the state's first-in-the-nation precinct caucuses.

'There's a lesson for us, though,” he told more than 200 Republicans, party activists and lobbyists who attended the annual GOP pre-session fundraiser. 'Instead of attacking each other, we need to focus on restoring America. We cannot afford four more years of this.”

Regardless of which candidate Iowa Republicans support in the 2016 caucuses, Branstad said, it is important that they come together and work for the party's eventual presidential nominee to win back the White House in the next general election. 'If we can do that,” he said. 'we can indeed again play that critical catalyst role of revitalizing the American dream.”