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Iowa Democrats running for U.S. congressional seats share farm policy stances
Candidates took the stage during a forum at Iowa Farmers Union annual conference
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AMES – Democrats hoping to represent Iowa in Washington, D.C., highlighted the need for a new Farm Bill, an end to foreign trade tariffs and more support for small and medium sized farms Friday during a candidate forum at the Iowa Farmers Union’s annual conference.
Leadership with Iowa Farmers Union said all of the congressional and Senate candidates were invited to attend the forum. The attending candidates were all seeking the Democratic nominations in their respective races.
Each candidate was asked to respond to the question: How do the values of Iowa farmers, ranchers and rural community members shape your vision for the future of Iowa?
District 1
Christina Bohannan, who has run against U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks in the past two elections, said her family “like many many families in Iowa” could not make it in farming, even though it’s what they wanted to do.
Bohannan said protecting and expanding markets for farmers is something she would fight for in Congress.
The Democrat from Iowa City also pointed to corporate corruption in politics, which she said has allowed for greater consolidation in the farm economy that ultimately “hurts Iowa farmers and hurts our agricultural economy.”
She said her time spent in rural communities across her district has given her the skills to “get bipartisan support” to pass a Farm Bill.
The federal piece of legislation which outlines farm policy, subsidies and nutrition assistance programs has not been reauthorized since 2018.
Bohannan said she would also work to break down agricultural consolidation and the lack of competition in farm input industries like fertilizer and seeds.
She said congressional leaders need to negotiate for open markets so that farmers “can see the fruits of their labor.”
Miller-Meeks is running again for the seat. Bohannan is competing for the Democratic nomination against Taylor Wettach, who also spoke at the Friday event.
Wettach, a trade and national security lawyer from Muscatine, called farmers the “heart and the backbone of our state.”
Wettach said Iowa Farmers Union values “are the vision” and the “moral compass” dictating the path forward. Wettach, a seventh-generation Iowan, said work ethic, integrity, fairness, responsibility and faith in community are the ethics he was raised with.
He said farmers, and therefore rural communities, have been “squeezed” by consolidation in the seed, fertilizer markets and meatpacking industries.
“For too long, corporate greed and political neglect have put rural Iowa on the ropes,” Wettach said.
He advocated for enforcement of antitrust laws, supporting small and midsized farmers and local food processing and purchasing.
District 2
Lindsay James, currently serving as a state legislator from Dubuque, said her conversations with rural Iowans often center on the “impossible decisions” they are forced to make because of the current economic reality.
James said these issues impact Iowans everywhere, but for farmers, she said it means they’re picking up extra jobs and sacrificing social opportunities.
James said it’s not just a policy failure, but a “moral failure.”
“Iowa is not Iowa without our farmers, and we need to have policies that are going to help our farmers, our producers, our growers, truly thrive,” James said.
James said rural communities need grocery stores, hospitals, public schools, small farms and post offices.
Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District seat is currently occupied by U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, who has announced plans to run for U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst’s seat in the Senate.
Iowa Rep. Shannon Lundgren, R-Peosta, Sen. Charlie McClintock, R-Alburnett, and former state lawmaker Joe Mitchell are running for the Republican spot on the ticket.
Clint Twedt-Ball is a Cedar Rapids pastor and founder of the organization Matthew 25 who is also running for the Democratic nomination in the district.
As a fourth-generation Iowan, Twedt-Ball said rural Iowans and farmers are “an optimistic people.”
He said it takes optimism for farmers to do their job, especially under all of the challenges they currently face.
Twedt-Ball said “it’s time” for a Farm Bill that supports family farmers, diversified crops and water quality.
“We need to get back to a place where ‘America needs farmers’ is much more than a sticker on the Hawkeyes’ helmets,” Twedt-Ball said.
Kathy Dolter, another Democrat running for the seat, said Friday that as a retired nurse, she “can’t stand by and watch people suffer,” as she said they are under the current policies from President Donald Trump.
“We Iowans all need to use our voices and our votes to make Iowa strong and make America, America again,” Dolter said.
She listed a number of policies she would prioritize, including: a higher minimum wage, an end to trade tariffs, continued funding for wind and solar energy, right to repair laws and support for rural post offices, hospitals, schools and grocery stores.
Guy Morgan, a Democrat who grew up in Garden City, also spoke Friday about his campaign which focuses on water quality, support for small and midsized farmers and environmental issues.
District 3
Sarah Trone Garriott, a state senator from West Des Moines and a pastor, said the things that “bring us together” like hospitals, child care and public schools, in a rural community are being “chipped away at.”
She said the decisions of the current administration, like tariffs and a system that “does not allow for diversification” on the farm are “hurting the future of agriculture.”
Trone Garriott said it’s time for a new Farm Bill that supports diverse operations, conservation practices and local food markets.
“We want to make sure that people can stay in their rural communities and support their families and have a great future and a good life that they can pass on to their children,” Trone Garriott said. “But we need leaders who are willing to go and fight for that.”
Trone Garriott is running for the seat currently held by U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn. She is vying for a Democratic nomination against Rep. Jennifer Konfrst, D-Windsor Heights, and several other candidates.
Konfrst, who served as House minority leader, said she would stand up for Iowans from all counties, because the future of the state and the country “involves every single one of you.”
“Because it can’t just be the counties that are growing, it has to be everyone,” Konfrst said. “We’ve got to bring counties back up, we’ve got to bring population back up, we need to do real economic development.”
Xavier Carrigan, is also running for the Democratic nomination and spoke late Friday evening.
District 4
Ashley WolfTornabane and Stephanie Steiner are two of the Democratic candidates running for Iowa’s 4th Congressional District, currently occupied by Republican U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, who is running for Iowa governor.
Steiner, a retired women’s health nurse and small livestock farmer from northwest Iowa, said her life has been shaped by rural America.
Steiner said her vision includes “fair markets and fair prices” for farmers who want to compete in the market.
“Fair markets aren’t radical, they’re the bedrock of a healthy farm community,” Steiner said.
She advocated for a price floor for grain, mandatory country of origin labeling, enforcement of antitrust laws, greater availability of local processors and right to repair laws.
Steiner also advocated for conservation incentives that “actually fit the scale of our Midwest family farms” to help fix Iowa’s problems with water quality.
“Stewardship is a core Iowa value, but policy must reward it,” Steiner said.
WolfTornabane, a sixth-generation Iowan from Storm Lake running for the Democratic nomination, said Iowa politicians have “favored agribusiness instead of the family farmer.”
“It’s time for a new machine,” WolfTornabane said. “We need federal law that protects farmers’ financial and physical health, as well as our precious precious resources of water, soil and wildlife.”
Former state Rep. Dave Dawson of Lawton is also seeking the Democratic nomination.
U.S. Senate
Josh Turek, a state representative and two-time Paralympian, announced his intention to run for U.S. Senate in August. He joined a crowded field of Democrats running for nomination in the seat currently held by Ernst, who does not plan to run for reelection.
Turek said he understands in a “deeply personal way” what a “great senator from Iowa can do for an individual, for state and for society,” he referenced former U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, specifically his work for Americans with disabilities.
Turek compared himself to Harkin as a “prairie populist” and said rural Iowa can be summarized by hard work, community and resilience.
He criticized President Donald Trump’s foreign trade policy and said farmers are being “betrayed and ignored” by the politicians in Washington.
“We need representatives in Washington who will fight to strengthen our rural communities, protect our small farms and conserve Iowa’s most precious God given resource: our soil,” Turek said.
State Sen. Zach Wahls, D-Coralville, is also running for the seat, along with Nathan Sage and Bob Krause, who both spoke Friday. Republicans vying for a nomination include Hinson and Jim Carlin.
Sage, a former sports radio host who grew up in Mason City, spoke against the current tariff policies, the lack of a farm bill, farmers’ inability to work on their own equipment and corporate support of politicians.
Sage said rural Iowa needs broadband, more hospitals and economic development.
“But more than anything, we need strong, midsize to small farms,” Sage said. “Those are the ones that power those rural communities.”
This article was first published by Iowa Capital Dispatch.
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