Inspiring turnout in Iowa despite voter fatigue

If you walk into Prince’s Tavern in Sioux City, my neighborhood bar, on a Wednesday night there’s a good chance you’ll run into a man named Ricky. The first time I met him, he gave me a standoffish vibe. It was something I became familiar with when I ran for Congress in 2018 in a district Trump won by 27 points in 2016: it’s the “I know you’re a Democratic politician and I watch my Fox News” vibe. The second time we met, we talked politics. I shared my belief that special interests, multinational corporations and billionaires have too much power in this country. He was surprised by my economic populism. The third time we met, he bought me a whiskey and said, “I’ve been telling my Republican friends about you.” In my world, that’s one of the greatest compliments you can give me.

That type of persuasion experience comes from running a grassroots-focused congressional campaign that moved the needle 24 points in a district that has over 70,000 more Republicans than Democrats. It also comes from being the only Democrat in the Iowa Legislature representing the 32 counties that make up Northwest Iowa.

That type of persuasion campaign is very difficult. The other type of persuasion campaign is getting people either aligned with you or sympathetic toward you to turnout to the polls. That persuasion campaign is going to define who wins in 2024.

As it becomes inevitable we’ll see round two of Biden versus Trump, whichever side can win their persuasion campaign will be the next president. In nearly every poll I see, people are frustrated and fatigued with American politics.

Not only was the Republican Iowa caucuses low turnout, but the viewership of caucus coverage on Fox News, CNN and MSNBC were way down.

A week and a half before the caucuses, I was shoveling out my driveway when I noticed three young men walking down my street. They were working for Americans for Prosperity and door knocking to support Nikki Haley. Of the three 20-somethings, none of them were actually going to caucus for Haley. For them it was just a $20/hour job. I jokingly asked if they would knock doors for me for $22/hour after Labor Day. Rather than laughing, they said they were interested. I engaged them in about 20 minutes of good dialogue. By the time we were done, two of the three were now “Biden-curious.”

The next time I saw Ricky I asked him who he was going to caucus for. Without hesitation he said he was “done with Trump.” I am not a betting man, but if I was, I would bet the farm Ricky stayed home.

It’s not those canvassers or Ricky that keep me up at night. It’s the 30-year-old woman with a buzz cut and a nose ring who introduced me to her girlfriend at a mutual friend’s birthday party. It’s the young barista who I became friends with who told me about her abortion. It’s my neighbor down the street who works the second shift at one of the meat packing plants and just became a citizen. Because those three people who would very likely support President Biden in the fall have still not registered to vote. At least not yet. Let the persuasion begin.

J.D. Scholten represents Iowa's 1st District in the state House and is an advocate for residents in small towns across Iowa.