Vernon kicks off House campaign with vow to ‘make a difference’

CEDAR RAPIDS - Cedar Rapids City Council member Monica Vernon is running for Congress because 'there's too much at stake to pull the covers back over,” she said Tuesday.

Vernon formally kicked off her campaign for the 2016 Democratic nomination in Iowa's U.S. House 1st District by telling supporters she wants to fulfill the folk song lyrics of 'this land is your land, this land is my land.”

'Call me Pollyanna, but doggone it, I believe that,” she told about 60 people at her campaign's kickoff fundraiser Tuesday at CSPS Hall.

And Vernon told them she's running 'because I know I can make a difference and I think you all know that, too.”

The nominee will face incumbent Republican Rep. Rod Blum of Dubuque, who won something of an upset last fall in the heavily Democratic 20-county 1st District that includes Cedar Rapids, Cedar Falls-Waterloo and Dubuque.

'We have a guy we elected here who wants to dismantle the government, who wants to dismantle Social Security and Medicare - a promise we made,” Vernon charged.

Rather than try to 'cut our way to prosperity,” Vernon, 57, a former business owner, said it's time to invest in people and infrastructure. In particular, she wants to secure the federal match for the city's flood protection plan.

'He's not interested,” she said without mentioning Blum by name.

Before Vernon faces Blum, however, she has to defeat two other Democratic hopefuls - hotel owner Ravi Patel of Cedar Rapids and advertising executive Gary Kroeger of Cedar Falls.

Vernon was the first to jump into the race and was the first U.S. House challenger endorsed by Emily's List, which backs Democratic women candidates who support abortion rights.

Blum is considered one of the most vulnerable members of the House because the 1st is one of the most Democratic districts represented by a Republican. President Barack Obama carried it by a 14-point margin in 2012 and Democrats have a 20,474 advantage among active registered voters. Despite that, the Rothenberg & Gonzales Race Rating is 'Tossup” and the Cook Political Report rates it 'Republican tossup.”