DES MOINES — A rising tide of energized Iowa Democrats will be deciding June 5 who among a six-person field of gubernatorial candidates offers the best hope for leading a blue wave in November that will break Republicans’ grip on the levers of state government.
Only one of this year’s slate of Democratic hopefuls seeking to face Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds in the November general election has previously run for statewide office, and only two have been elected to public office before:
- Nate Boulton of Des Moines, 38, is a sitting state senator and labor lawyer.
- Cathy Glasson of Coralville, 59, is a registered nurse and local union president, organizer and activist.
- Fred Hubbell of Des Moines, 67, is a retired business executive and former state government administrator.
- Andy McGuire of Des Moines, 61, is a physician with a master’s degree in business administration and former Iowa Democratic Party chairwoman. She run unsuccessfully as Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike Blouin’s lieutenant governor pick in 2006, but they lost the party’s gubernatorial nominations to Chet Culver and Patty Judge.
- John Norris of Des Moines, 59, is a small-business owner and former state and federal government administrator.
- Ross Wilburn of Ames, 53, is a former Iowa City mayor and council member with considerable outreach, diversity and social work experience.
“It’s going to be very important we pick the right candidate” in the June 5 primary to take on Reynolds, said Tom Henderson, a party activist and former chairman of the Polk County Democratic Party for 19 years. Reynolds is 1e facing her first test at the top of the GOP ticket with running mate Adam Gregg after assuming the governorship a year ago when Terry Branstad resigned to become ambassador to China.
“It’s critical that we get it right, both in the 2018 election and also in 2020 when we pick a presidential candidate,” Henderson said.
Democrats see a chance to undo the damage caused to them by the 2016 Trump election wave that brought Republicans into power at the Statehouse by delivering a midterm counter punch in an election cycle traditionally favoring the party out of power.
Henderson said that Trump administration gaffes and trade policy threats that could hurt Iowa agriculture — along with a number of GOP initiatives at the Statehouse dealing with hot-button issues like limiting public sector unions, revoking higher minimum wages, banning most abortions and turning Medicaid over to private companies — have energized the Democratic base and softened support for Republicans among independents.
“The Trump presidency has absolutely gotten Democrats energized. He has a polarizing effect on the Democratic Party like no one I’ve seen since Richard Nixon,” Henderson said.
The 2018 race for the Democratic nomination for governor has been a fairly low-key affair so far, but things are starting to heat up as the candidates square off in televised debates and with early voting underway with 17 days to go until the primary election.
There is agreement among the candidates they want to adequately fund public education and end the privatization of Iowa’s Medicaid, returning to a state-administered system that focuses on care of patients and reimbursing providers rather than making profits.
The candidates also say they would restore Planned Parenthood as a state-funded provider of women’s health services, and halt Iowa’s controversial “fetal heartbeat” law signed earlier this month by Reynolds — and a result, a lengthy legal fight over what is considered the nation’s most-restrictive abortion standards.
“I think any one of us would be better than Kim Reynolds,” candidate McGuire said.
Hubbell has used his financial edge to build a strong paid-media presence, while Boulton and Glasson have used their labor backing and grass roots organizing to build support and TV time. McGuire and Norris have used their party connections effectively as well, and Wilburn has built a “Let’s Be Iowa” message and touted his 12 years in public office as a credential no other competitor can match.
“I’m running this gauntlet right now with few resources but winning support with ideas and a vision for the future of Iowa and wearing my car out while I’m at it,” Norris told a statewide audience during last week’s debate on Iowa Public Television.
Norris has worked the rural and small town circuit the hardest of the candidates, hoping to build on his credentials as a “southwest Iowa farm kid” active during the farm crisis of the 1980s who worked for Democratic stalwarts Tom Vilsack, Tom Harkin, Jesse Jackson and Barack Obama in various capacities.
Glasson has adopted a Bernie Sanders-style message touting herself a the “bold progressive” ready to push for a $15-an-hour minimum wage law on her first day as governor, repeal Iowa’s right-to-work status while promoting unions and undoing GOP collective bargaining changes, and put Iowa on the path to establishing a state-level universal single-payer health care system with a yet-to-be-determined price tag.
“It’s very clear that we have a lot of middle-of-the-road Democrats that have some good ideas, but not clear enough to win a victory in the primary or against Gov. Reynolds in November,” said Glasson, who noted Democrats have lost 11 of Iowa’s last 14 governor’s races “by staying safe in the middle” pushing a centrist approach.
“Primaries across the nation have shown us that bold, progressive women candidates can win. I’m proud to be that voice for progressives in this state,” she said.
McGuire and Wilburn have relied on their experience and backgrounds to entice voters — Milburn as a former Iowa National Guardsman with a master’s degree in social work who has worked in a variety of capacities and McGuire as a doctor who managed a Medicaid provider and has expertise in health care and management.
“I have some expertise here than no one else has,” she said. “I have real solutions to problems and I do understand this better than most.”
McGuire said she would re-establish a process of gathering public input and seeking the best ideas before starting new initiatives — as opposed to Branstad’s unilateral decisions to privatize Medicaid in four months and close two mental health institutions without alternative services, or GOP legislative action, with little time for Iowans to react, to push changes in tax policy, workplace rules, abortion restrictions and voter ID requirements.
Hubbell, able to raise money and appeal to independent voters, has built his campaign as an outsider who has delivered measurable results in his private business and public administrative undertakings as head of the Iowa Power Fund Board and interim state economic development director for four months.
“I’ve never run for office before, I’ve never been a politician, so I don’t have any special interests — none,” he told the IPTV debate audience. “You’ve got to put people first. If you don’t have special interests, you can put people first.”
Boulton said he gained valuable experience and insight as well as establishing relevant relationships during his two years as a minority-party state senator fighting GOP legislation that will help him as a governor with a new vision for moving forward.
“Right now Iowa is on the brink. We have seen a very hurtful, aggressive agenda take Iowa down the wrong path this past two years in particular. We cannot miss this opportunity. We’re going to do it by winning back voters that got distracted this last couple of election cycles from our core Iowa values,” said Boulton.
Even though it’s a fairly crowded field with six candidates, Henderson said he believed the winner in the June 5 Democratic primary will exceed the 35 percent threshold of total votes cast needed to land the party’s nomination outright, and not have the nominee decided later at a state convention.
Meet the candidates:
NATE BOULTON
CATHY GLASSON
FRED HUBBELL
ANDY MCGUIRE
JOHN NORRIS
ROSS WILBURN