Party leader: Iowa Democrats need to stay on message with voters, preach abortion and education

ALTOONA — Jennifer Konfrst, who leads the Democrats in the Iowa House of Representatives, has the responsibility every two years of working to get more Democrats elected to the chamber.

Konfrst on Saturday had a message for all Democratic candidates in Iowa in this fall’s election: When talking to voters, stay on message, and that message should be about abortion and education policies.

Konfrst called for Democratic campaign message discipline during her remarks at the Iowa Democratic Party’s state convention on Saturday.

“Message discipline is critically important this year, every year. But this year especially because Iowans are voting on two issues this year: what’s on their mind is public education and abortion and reproductive freedom,” Konfrst said. “And guess what. They’re with us. So that’s what we’re going to talk about. …

“(Republicans) are wrong on public education and reproductive freedom. They’re wrong, and Iowans aren’t with them. Iowans are with us. So we’re going to talk about the issues that matter to Iowans, not just to us.”

Sarah Corkery, one of the Iowa Democrats running for Congress this fall, delivered remarks that were in the spirt of Konfrst’s call. Early in her remarks to the gathered party activists, Corkery touched on both abortion and education policies.

Corkery is running in Eastern Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District against incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson.

“We have to get that vote out, No. 1. So I’m asking you, what are you mad about? Because sometimes we have to get mad to get people out to the polls,” Corkery said. “And I know what I’m mad about. I’m mad about women’s rights being taken away. I was mad about that. We need to have access to health care. It should be between a person and their doctor.”

Lanon Baccam, the Democrat running in central Iowa’s competitive 3rd Congressional District against freshman incumbent Republican Zach Nunn, highlighted abortion, contraception and fertilization treatments as critical policy debates in the election.

“When I go to Congress, I will fight to restore the rights found under Roe v. Wade,” Baccam said. “I’ll make sure women have their freedoms back to make their own health care decisions.”

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On education, Iowa Democrats said they will talk to voters about Republican-authored state policies that created taxpayer funding for private school scholarships and overhauled the operations and funding of the state’s nine Area Education Agencies that support K-12 public schools.

Iowa Democrats are attempting yet again this fall to break through the stranglehold Republicans have held on the state’s politics for nearly a decade: Iowa Republicans have had the state lawmaking trifecta — a Republican governor and Republican majorities in both chambers of the Iowa Legislature — since 2017, and two Republican U.S. Senators since 2015.

Beshear will speak at July fundraiser

During Saturday’s convention, it was announced that Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear will be the keynote speaker at the state party’s annual fall fundraiser, the Liberty and Justice Celebration on July 27.

Beshear in 2023 won re-election to a second term as governor in deep-red Kentucky, which has two Republican U.S. Senators and Republican supermajorities in both chambers of the state’s Legislature.

Iowa GOP: Democrats pushing ‘out-of-touch policies’

A statement from the Republican Party of Iowa showed the party’s strategy of pairing Democratic candidates with Democratic President Joe Biden, who has low approval ratings in Iowa. Just 29 percent of Iowans approve of Biden’s job performance, according to a Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll published in March.

“(Saturday), the Iowa Democrats will gather to host their state convention where they will outline their extreme, far-left platform that shapes their party,” Republican Party of Iowa spokesman Luke Wolff said in a statement. “Iowa Democrats wonder why they are in the super minority while they align themselves with Biden and continue to push out-of-touch policies such as high taxes, open borders, and abortion up until birth.”

No Democratic candidate in Iowa has advocated for abortions up until birth. Iowa Democrats have opposed changes to current state law, under which abortions are legal up until roughly the 20th week of pregnancy.

That state law could soon change. The Iowa Supreme Court within the next two weeks will rule on a law passed by Iowa statehouse Republicans that would ban abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which supporters of such laws say occurs at roughly six weeks of pregnancy, which often is before a woman is aware she is pregnant.

Wolff’s statement also highlighted Iowa Republicans’ legislative action raising salaries for public school teachers and reducing state income taxes.

The general election is Nov. 5.

At the state convention, Iowa Democrats also conducted party business, including discussing party policy stances and electing state delegates to the national party convention later this summer in Chicago.

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

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