Campaign Almanac: U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh to headline Iowa Democrats’ event

Marty Walsh, who leads the U.S. Department of Labor and is a former mayor of Boston, will headline the Iowa Democratic Party’s annual Hall of Fame celebration this fall.

The event is scheduled for Oct. 2 in Des Moines.

“Mr. Walsh is a champion for working families and has a strong record of standing up for workers’ rights,” Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Ross Wilburn said in a news release.

“Unions have made our nation and Iowa strong. As we continue to see greedy corporations take advantage of workers, we need leaders like President Joe Biden and Mr. Walsh, who will ensure that every American gets the dignity and respect of a fair wage, good benefits, and a secure retirement.”

The news release said more information on the event will become available as it draws closer.

Walsh also visited Iowa in 2021 to argue on behalf of the administration that funding for child care programs should be included in federal infrastructure legislation. Ultimately, the child care provisions were not included.

AXNE AD: Democratic Iowa U.S. Rep. Cindy Axne makes an appeal to moderate voters in her latest campaign ad, in which she touts working with Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley on cattle pricing transparency and voting against her party to support federal derecho relief for Iowa in 2021.

“The last few years have been hard: record storms, inflation, a pandemic — and politicians who would rather fight than fix things,” Axne says in the ad. “But I ran on a promise to work with anyone to get results, and stand up to anyone when you needed me to.”

Axne is running for a third term in the 3rd Congressional District. She faces Republican Zach Nunn

REPUBLICANS NOMINATE CANDIDATE FOR CEDAR RAPIDS HOUSE SEAT: The Republican Party of Iowa at a convention last week nominated Anne Fairchild to challenge Democrat Sami Scheetz for a Cedar Rapids Iowa House seat.

Scheetz, a community organizer, was running unopposed for the Iowa House District 78 seat. If elected, he would become Iowa’s first Arab American state lawmaker.

The newly redrawn district has been represented by Democrat Rep. Liz Bennett, who is running for an open Senate seat.

According to her campaign website, Fairchild has worked in financial services since 1998 and has an MBA from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn.

She is a Cedar Rapids native who moved back with her family in 2018 after spending 31 years away, according to her website.

Gazette Des Moines Bureau