Former Quad Cities lawmakers endorse Bush

DES MOINES - The latest round of Iowa supporters for Jeb Bush's presidential campaign includes a former chief of staff to Gov. Terry Branstad, a former state attorney general and a former state lawmaker who now organizes an effort to get women elected to office.

Bush's campaign team announced the endorsements Wednesday.

'Jeb cut taxes, balanced budgets and conservatively governed in an important swing state,” former Branstad chief of staff and Quad-City-area legislator Bob Rafferty said in a statement. 'We need someone who is able to compete on a national stage, and able to win in November. Jeb Bush gives us the strongest path to victory, and I'm excited to support him.”

The latest Bush endorsements also includes Maggie Tinsman, another former Quad-City-area legislator who is co-chairwoman of 50-50 in 2020, a nonprofit that works to get women elected to public office and has set the goal of gender equity in Iowa government by 2020.

Also endorsing Bush is former Iowa Attorney General and veteran Evan 'Curly” Hultman of Waterloo and state legislators David Heaton and Greg Forristall.

One of a dozen Republicans running for president, Bush has been in the middle of the pack in polls in Iowa, behind the front-running quartet of Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, Marco Rubio and Ben Carson.