Iowa Democratic Party | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chairwoman | Rita Hart |
| Senate leader | Janice Weiner |
| House leader | Jennifer Konfrst |
| Founded | 1836 |
| Headquarters | Des Moines, Iowa |
| National affiliation | Democratic Party |
| Colors | Blue |
| Seats in the U.S. Senate | 0 / 2 |
| Seats in the U.S. House of Representatives | 0 / 4 |
| Seats in theIowa Senate | 17 / 50 |
| Seats in theIowa House of Representatives | 33 / 100 |
| Statewide Executive Offices | 1 / 7 |
| Election symbol | |
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| Website | |
| www.iowademocrats.org | |
TheIowa Democratic Party (IDP) is the affiliate of theDemocratic Party in theU.S. state ofIowa.
The party organizes the DemocraticIowa presidential caucuses. In recent years, the party has lost ground in the state, holding no congressional seats from Iowa, superminorities in both houses of the state legislature, and only one out of seven statewide elected officials.
Democrats hold no seats in theU.S. House delegation. They hold one of the seven statewide offices and currently hold minorities in theIowa House of Representatives andIowa State Senate.
Both of Iowa'sU.S. Senate seats have been held by Republicans since2015. Tom Harkin was the last Democrat to represent Iowa in the U.S. Senate.
Iowa's U.S. House delegation has been entirely Republican since 2023. Cindy Axne is the last Democrat to serve Iowa in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The following Democrats hold prominent mayoralties in Iowa:
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Considered the official start of the presidential election season, theIowa Caucuses have been the first official votes cast in the Democratic presidential nomination process since 1972.[1] That year, the Iowa Democratic Party scheduled its caucus to occur before theNew Hampshire Primary. South Dakota SenatorGeorge McGovern used his win that year to propel him to claim the party's nomination over Maine SenatorEdmund Muskie. The Iowa Caucuses would also helpJimmy Carter claim the Democratic nomination in 1976.[2] From 1984 to 1996, the winner of the Iowa Caucus, excluding incumbents, did not win their party's nomination. But in 2008, SenatorBarack Obama won the caucus over SenatorHillary Clinton, and used his momentum to eventually win the Democratic nomination as presidential candidate.
The Iowa Democratic Party adopts a new platform every two years, most recently on June 16, 2018.[3]
Democratic governorTom Vilsack issued a governor's order in 2005 that restored voting rights to felons who completed serving their sentences. The order's anticipated result would be returning the right to vote to over 80,000 Iowans.[4] In 2011, Republican GovernorTerry Branstad rescinded this order.[5]
Democratic governorTom Vilsack signed a governor's order in 2000 that created the Iowa Food Policy Council.[6]
In 2007, Democratic governorChet Culver signed legislation easing limitations on stem-cell research.[7]
Later in 2009 and 2010, Democratic governor Chet Culver signed into law $875 million to go towards the I-Jobs program.[8]Analysis from both Minnesota State Colleges and Universities andSouthern Illinois University estimate that through 2011 the I-Jobs program will create 32,000–36,000 jobs.[9]
Democratic governor Chet Culver signed legislation in 2007 that created the Iowa Power Fund.[10] The fund spent a total of $70 million on 49 projects related to renewable energy. The largest project dealt with experimenting with cellulosic ethanol at an ethanol plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa. In June 2011, the project was ended by Governor Terry Branstad.[11]
Democratic governor Chet Culver's first Executive Order in 2007 orders that the United States flag be flown at half staff to honor members of the Iowa National Guard, Iowa Air National Guard, or resident of Iowa who was serving as a member of the U.S. military and was killed in the line of duty.[12]In 2010, Culver signed House File 2532 which allows benefits paid for by the Veterans Trust Fund to be exempted from individual income taxes.[13]
From 1988 to 2012, Democrats at the presidential level had consistent success in Iowa. With the exception of the2004 presidential election, whenGeorge W. Bush carried the state's electoral votes, Iowa's electoral votes went to the Democratic candidate in every election during that twenty-four year period. This reversed the trend of the prior twenty years, when Republicans had consistent success in Iowa's presidential elections. In the2016 election,Donald Trump carried the state with 51.15% toHillary Clinton's 41.74%. In the 2020 election Donald Trump once again carried the state with 53.2% toJoe Biden's 45%.[14]
SenatorTom Harkin was Iowa's junior U.S. Senator from January 3, 1985, to January 3, 2015, serving alongsideRepublicanChuck Grassley. Harkin previously served in the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 1985.
In the2006 U.S. House elections, Democrats capturedIowa's 1st congressional district andIowa's 2nd congressional district from the Republican Party, which had controlled both districts for over three decades. When Senator Harkin announced his retirement, U.S. RepresentativeBruce Braley, from Iowa's 1st congressional district, announced he would run for the seat. In the2014 U.S. House elections, Republicans re-capturedIowa's 1st congressional district, but Democrats retainedDavid Loebsack inIowa's 2nd congressional district.
In the2014 U.S. Senate elections, State SenatorJoni Ernst beat U.S. Representative Bruce Braley. In the2018 U.S. House elections the Democrats managed to retakeIowa's 1st congressional district withAbby Finkenauer, andIowa's 3rd congressional district withCindy Axne; the two women were the first female U.S. Representatives from Iowa. In the2020 U.S. Senate elections, Ernst held her seat against Democratic candidateTheresa Greenfield. In the2020 U.S. House elections, Democrats lost control of the1st district to RepublicanAshley Hinson and the2nd district toMariannette Miller-Meeks, while retainingCindy Axne in the3rd district. In the2022 U.S. House elections, Democrats lost control of the 3rd district, marking the first time since1994 that Democrats were completely shut out of the House delegation.
Iowa Democrats held the Governor's office from 1999 to 2011. In 1999, DemocratTom Vilsack was elected governor and served two terms. Following Vilsack's decision to not run for reelection then-Secretary of StateChet Culver ran in 2006 and won. However, in 2010, RepublicanTerry Branstad defeated Culver 52.9% to 43.3%.
In the2018 Iowa elections, DemocratRob Sand defeated incumbent RepublicanMary Mosiman to becomeState Auditor. DemocratMichael Fitzgerald held the post ofState Treasurer since 1983 to 2023 and was the longest-servingstate treasurer in theUnited States. Likewise, DemocratTom Miller held the post ofState Attorney General from 1995 to 2023, and was the longest-servingstate attorney general in theUnited States. In the2022 Iowa elections, Democrats lost every statewide office except that ofState Auditor.
As of July 2010 about 700,000 Iowans are registered Democrats compared to around 645,000 Republicans. Voters claiming independent outnumber both parties at just under 750,000 voters.[15]
The Democratic Party was active in Iowa then the area was still part of theWisconsin Territory in 1836.[16] During the first election held in the territory, Democrat Col G.W. Jones won 66% of the vote, and the Whig candidate won 57 votes in the county that today is the State of Iowa.[17]
Iowa entered the union in 1846 and its first governor wasAnsel Briggs. That same year Iowa would send its first two Representatives to Congress, both Democrats.[18] Two years later the Iowa Legislature elected two Democrats to represent the state in the United States Senate.
However, after the rise of theRepublican Party of Iowa following the American Civil War, Iowa Democrats had little political power for nearly a century. With the exception of the late 1890s and 1930s, during theGreat Depression, Iowa Democrats did not become a major political force until the 1950s. By that time, new waves of immigrants and their descendants, and working-class unions in industry in Iowa's largest cities had aligned with the Democratic Party. Such demographic changes in the 1940s and 1950s helped lay a foundation for Democratic success.
DuringWorld War II, thousands of Iowans had flocked to large cities to take advantage of war time jobs. By 1960 the state had become urbanized: more Iowans resided in urban areas than in rural ones.[19] Iowa's industrial areas were not concentrated in one town, but spread out among the state's 15 largest cities. Along with industry developing across the state, Democratic strongholds developed in such urban areas. This demographic change translated into Democratic success first in Iowa's largest cityDes Moines. There Democrats identified and registered thousands of new supporters.
In 1954 Democrats "won control of the Polk County Board of Supervisors, every county administrative seat, and [...] all of Polk County's state legislative seats.[20]Taking advantage of internal Republican strife and backing from organized labor, DemocratHerschel Loveless won an upset victory against incumbent Republican GovernorLeo Hoegh in the 1956 election. Two years later Loveless won reelection and Democrats would capture 50 State House seats, 12 State Senate seats, and 4 Congressional seats.[21]
In 1960 Iowa's government was dominated by Republican control. However, during the 1960s and 1970s Iowa Democrats used their success in Polk County as a model in organizing Democratic supporters that was repeated across Iowa. While Democrats were defeated in runs for several offices in 1966 and 1968, following social disruption related to opposition to the Vietnam War and cultural changes, GovernorHarold Hughes won three terms in office.
Democrats rebounded in the 1970s, in part due to the sophisticated approaches of Democratic candidatesJohn C. Culver andRichard C. Clark. They used computer models to analyze voters on a precinct-by-precinct basis, and ran issue-driven campaigns attuned to local issues.[22] Each was elected to the U.S. Senate, in 1972 and 1974, respectively. Republicans regained dominance in the late 1970s in state government, but Democrats remained a competitive party in Iowa.
Democratic presidential candidates were historically unsuccessful in capturing the state's electoral votes. The Republican Party's presidential nominee captured Iowa's electoral votes from 1856 to 1908, when the Republican Party dominated most of the Northern Tier of states. Southern DemocratWoodrow Wilson won Iowa in the1912 presidential election against Republican incumbentWilliam Howard Taft.
It was twenty years before another Democrat,Franklin D. Roosevelt, won the state, and that during theGreat Depression and a time of national crisis. With the exception of PresidentLyndon B. Johnson's landslide election win in the1964 presidential election, the Democratic nominee for president did not win Iowa's electoral votes from 1952 to 1984. Since the 1988 presidential election, Democrats have had more success in capturing Iowa's electoral votes.
Iowa Democrats were largely locked out of power at the national level until the 1930s. No Iowa Democrat served more than one term in the U.S. Senate untilGuy Mark Gillette was elected in 1936. Following Gillette's defeat in 1944, Iowa Democrats did not control a U.S. Senate seat until the election ofHarold Hughes in 1969. From 1985 to 2015, DemocratTom Harkin and RepublicanChuck Grassley each held a U.S. Senate seat.
In 1957Herschel C. Loveless broke nearly two decades of Republican control when he was elected as governor. Two years later he was reelected to a second term. In 1963Harold Hughes was elected Governor of Iowa; he was twice re-elected, serving a total of three two-year terms, from 1963 to 1969. On January 1, 1969, Hughes resigned to take the U.S. Senate seat he had just won. Lieutenant governor,Robert D. Fulton, succeeded as governor. As Republicans became more successful in the Midwest, Fulton was the last Democratic governor of Iowa untilTom Vilsack was elected in 1999.
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