Iowa Down Ballot

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Professional political analysts discuss Iowa politics with refreshing, in-depth conversations. iowawriterscollaborative.substack.com

  1. Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 5/30/26

    1d ago

    Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 5/30/26

    Pre-Primary Palooza: What to Watch Tuesday Night A new poll from JMC Analytics has Zach Lahn at 24%, Feenstra at 22%, and Steen at 15% — with 27% still undecided. We’re not putting too much weight in it, but it would explain why Feenstra went negative this week, hitting Lahn over a past investment in a men’s health company. Frontrunners don’t attack candidates they aren’t worried about. An outside group sharing a consultant with the Lahn campaign also launched its own immigration hit on Feenstra, so the gloves are off heading into Tuesday. Steen has the Family Leader network behind him, which has powered late surges before — but without TV money, he risks losing anti-Feenstra voters to Lahn if they consolidate around the more viable option. Dave stopped by a Feenstra house party Wednesday night and came away puzzled. Terry Branstad, the Lt. Governor, the Secretary of Ag — a full Republican who’s who — but no energy, no closing argument, just the standard Pizza Ranch stump speech. Meanwhile Lahn has been packing town halls with 100-150 people. The contrast is hard to ignore. On the Democratic side, VoteVets has dropped $10 million since mid-March for Josh Turek — more than Hubbell spent in all of 2018. Zach Wahls has the Iowa résumé and is leaning on an outsider frame, but electability seems to be the real tiebreaker for Democratic primary voters, and that spending has erased Turek’s early name ID gap fast. We’ll know a lot more by next week. See you then. A huge thank you to everyone who has already become a paid subscriber — your support is what keeps this conversation going. If you’ve been listening and haven’t yet, please consider subscribing or making a one-time donation through the link below. We’ve got a big year of Iowa politics ahead and we don’t want to stop now. Auto-generated transcript below: 00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:49.230 Dave Price: Hi everyone, welcome to the Iowa Down Ballot podcast. This is our pre-primary election Extravaganza. 10 00:00:49.350 --> 00:00:55.330 Dave Price: Hi, I’m Dave Price, joined by Laura Belin and Kathie Obradovich. Hello, ladies, how are you? 11 00:00:55.660 --> 00:01:02.849 Kathie Obradovich: Hello. Happy Friday. I think Primary Palooza is what we want to go with, don’t you think? 12 00:01:02.850 --> 00:01:04.859 Dave Price: Like, let’s start this sucker over again. 13 00:01:05.080 --> 00:01:05.989 Kathie Obradovich: No, no, no, no. 14 00:01:05.990 --> 00:01:11.849 Dave Price: I dug out… I was trying to think of a prop, you know, I keep different things. 15 00:01:11.850 --> 00:01:12.640 Laura Belin: This is from… 16 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:17.069 Dave Price: there was, way back in the day. 17 00:01:17.240 --> 00:01:33.119 Dave Price: Back in my hometown in southern Illinois, Belleville, Illinois, there was a longtime member of Congress named Mel Price, Melvin Price. I do not believe we were related to him in any way, but, 18 00:01:33.190 --> 00:01:48.070 Dave Price: my dad was sort of, like, both ways. Like, for a while, he was involved in Democratic politics when he worked for this stove company, and he was, he worked, I remember once a month on Saturdays working for the union, and then he was kind of one of those, 19 00:01:48.070 --> 00:01:55.170 Dave Price: He got laid off during the Carter administration, he flipped over and became one of these Reagan Democrats and kind of stuck with… 20 00:01:55.420 --> 00:02:01.079 Dave Price: the Republicans most of the rest of his life, although he was a Ross Perot guy in there, too. My dad was a… 21 00:02:01.180 --> 00:02:15.670 Dave Price: He was a fascinating swing voter over the time. I should have… I wish I would have recorded more stories with him before he passed away. But anyway, this is my… I’ve always kept this, and since it doesn’t say Mel on there, then… 22 00:02:15.670 --> 00:02:16.700 Laura Belin: That’s right. 23 00:02:17.290 --> 00:02:20.559 Dave Price: when I… when I… when I launch one day. 24 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:31.959 Kathie Obradovich: I could be your running mate, Dave, because I received a fortune in a fortune cookie just the other day that says, your determination will lead to victory in November. 25 00:02:31.960 --> 00:02:33.550 Dave Price: So… 26 00:02:34.510 --> 00:02:44.530 Kathie Obradovich: I don’t know whose fortune cookie I got, it clearly wasn’t intended for me, but it’s like, okay, I guess we’ve got a sort of a political bent here, so… 27 00:02:44.530 --> 00:02:52.939 Dave Price: A bunch of candidates who, who watch this podcast when it drops will probably reach out to you. Can we please have that fortune from you? 28 00:02:53.930 --> 00:02:57.720 Dave Price: Before Tuesday night. Hey, as we’re… 29 00:02:57.970 --> 00:03:20.430 Dave Price: as we’re gathering here, and we are gathering on… on Friday morning, there is a new poll that’s dropped, and Laura, maybe you can start us off. Can you be our asterisk, as we talk about this poll? Because this is a company that we don’t frankly know a lot about, and we are going to intentionally not put too much weight into this. 30 00:03:20.430 --> 00:03:26.039 Dave Price: It is one… new facet, perhaps, in this Republican gubernatorial race. 31 00:03:26.230 --> 00:03:37.469 Dave Price: But if it is true, or if it maybe has picked up on something, it does maybe make some sense with some recent developments that we’ve seen here, right? 32 00:03:37.620 --> 00:03:38.240 Laura Belin: Right. 33 00:03:38.530 --> 00:04:03.490 Laura Belin: So, JMC Analytics and Polling, and they say in their polling memo that they are not affiliated with any candidate running for governor or Senate in Iowa. So, they commissioned this poll of the Republican primary, and the big, shocking top line is that they found Zach Lane with 24% support, Randy Feenstra with 22%, and Adam Steen in third place. 34 00:04:03.490 --> 00:04:15.099 Laura Belin: with 15%, and then a huge number, 27%, undecided. So, if true, that would be very big, and, of course. 35 00:04:15.100 --> 00:04:39.979 Laura Belin: we’ve been saying for a while that Zach Lane, one of his big challenges would be to get his name ID up and consolidate support to allow him to overtake Feenstra, and this would suggest that all of his big spending on digital ads and TV ads may be paying off. Now, the Senate race was a little more of a snooze, with Ashley Henson way ahead, 58% to 19% over Jim Carlin, which is kind of 36 00:04:39.980 --> 00:04:42.640 Laura Belin: in line with, I think, what people would expect. 37 00:04:42.850 --> 00:04:43.580 Dave Price: And… 38 00:04:43.580 --> 00:05:01.400 Kathie Obradovich: Yeah, so, I mean, if this poll is accurate, two things really jump out at me. One, of course, is that Zach Lane has moved into the lead, but two, nobody had 35%, which is what you need to win a primary. That big, undecided 39 00:05:01.440 --> 00:05:19.579 Kathie Obradovich: block, also means that, you know, regardless of what the polls say, it’s still… and this is always really important in primary anyway, it’s still about getting your voters out. So, who has the best, get out the vote? Is, you know, does Zach Lane, can he… 40 00:05:19.690 --> 00:05:30.150 Kathie Obradovich: stand up? Can his get-out-the-vote effort stand up to a really experienced politician like Randy Feenstrod? But, you know, it raises some really interesting questions, I think. 41 00:05:30.280 --> 00:05:48.079 Dave Price: And the get-out-the-vote, as we’ve talked about throughout this podcast, it is the test for Feenstra. Can he translate what he’s pulled off in the fourth, where Republicans always do well in the way that district is? Is it 36 counties, is that right? 42 00:05:48.080 --> 00:05:49.170 Laura Belin: 36 now, yes. 43 00:05:49.170 --> 00:06:09.199 Dave Price: 36 of the 99, so geographically, just a humongous chunk, but it is so heavily Republican there. So Feenstrait’s challenge all throughout has been the other three congressional districts, where would he turn out people there, but also really has to juice his numbers in the fourth, if he can do that, to try to up his game. 44 00:06:09.200 --> 00:06:17.839 Laura Belin: Well, and I don’t know that he can, because remember 2 years ago, he had a primary opponent, Kevin Virgil, who was backed by Steve King. 45 00:06:17.840 --> 00:06:36.569 Laura Belin: And Feenstra won that primary only by 60% to 40% against a guy, you know, hardly anyone had ever heard of 6 months before the primary, who Feenstra outspent by 10 to 1, or maybe more. So I don’t know that he can really count on Northwest Iowa being this solid base of support for him. 46 00:06:37.750 --> 00:06:39.470 Dave Price: Kathie, you saw the… 47 00:06:39.970 --> 00:06:58.990 Kathie Obradovich: I was just gonna say, I mean, it’s a huge geographic area, but, but, you know, you look at the, you know, the population, you know, it’s just a… the big population centers are all elsewhere in the state, so I… it is… it is difficult, I think, to win… win the state by winning the 4th district. 48 00:06:59.080 --> 00:07:00.160 Kathie Obradovich: So… 49 00:07:00.160 --> 00:07:02.160 Dave Price: Okay, so, let’s… 50 00:07:02.770 --> 00:07:16.660 Dave Price: We can talk about this poll, whether this is or isn’t accurate, and how, and as Laura’s pointed out, 126 times, I feel like, in your columns and on your show this year, it is tough to measure the primary electorate, right? 51 00:07:17.640 --> 00:07:19.369 Dave Price: Okay, so Kathie. 52 00:07:19.680 --> 00:07:22.539 Dave Price: What about here late in the game? 53 00:07:22.800 --> 00:07:32.940 Dave Price: So it would be Wednesday night, Thursday morning, I believe, when this thing dropped, but Feenstra, who from the get-go has been the perceived frontrunner in this race. 54 00:07:32.940 --> 00:07:44.429 Dave Price: he goes negative with an ad against Zach Lane. And jus

    42 min
  2. Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 5-23-26

    May 23

    Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 5-23-26

    We debriefed on the Gray Media/KCCI Republican gubernatorial debate, which Dave helped moderate. Four of five candidates participated — Zach Lahn, Adam Steen, Brad Sherman, and Eddie Andrews — with Randy Feenstra a no-show despite the debate being scheduled on a Saturday to accommodate him. Lahn and Steen had the strongest showings. Lahn stayed on message with his four systemic issues, while Steen spent notable time invoking Rob Sand, positioning himself as the candidate ready for a general election fight. The H-1B visa exchange was telling — Dave tried to focus on legal temporary workers that Iowa industries depend on, but most candidates steered toward undocumented immigration instead. Surprisingly, none of the candidates went after each other much, and Feenstra was barely mentioned. We also covered Governor Reynolds signing the Iowa MAHA bill with RFK Jr. in attendance. The bill has some bipartisan appeal — screen time limits in classrooms, food dye restrictions in school lunches — but also some sharp edges, including a SNAP waiver tied to Iowa’s quirky sales tax food definitions and a provision protecting pharmacists who dispense ivermectin without a prescription. Fundraising numbers are coming next week, right before the primary. We’ll dedicate pretty much all of next week’s show to a primary primer. Stay tuned! Auto-generated transcript below: Dave Price: Hello, everybody. Well, welcome back to the Iowa Down Ballot podcast. I’m Dave Price, joined by Kathie Obradovich and Laura Belin. Hello to you on a Friday as we record this. 2 00:00:19.450 --> 00:00:21.730 Kathie Obradovich: Hey! Happy holiday weekend! 3 00:00:21.980 --> 00:00:29.719 Dave Price: Indeed, Memorial Day weekend, indeed. Hey, I’m gonna selfishly start with a topic that I was part of. 4 00:00:29.960 --> 00:00:53.540 Dave Price: Which is super arrogant, so I’m gonna, most of the time, sort of stop, step aside and let you two dive into this, but, my TV station group with Gray Media partnered with KCCITV in Des Moines, so we had this statewide debate. Four of the five Republican candidates for governor agreed to take part in this, unlike the Iowa Public TV debate. 5 00:00:54.230 --> 00:01:07.410 Dave Price: Where Zach Lahn protested and said, if Randy Feenster doesn’t come, neither am I. He gave up that protest and decided to take part in this, and, clearly got a lot more attention from doing the debate. 6 00:01:07.510 --> 00:01:13.069 Dave Price: 90 minutes, we did this, recorded it on a Saturday, and I just wanted to lay out 7 00:01:13.070 --> 00:01:29.440 Dave Price: why things worked the way they did. It was not because we wanted to record a debate on a Saturday and tape it and air it later, it was to give the best chance to get Congressman Feenstra to say yes, because he had not said yes to any of the other debates. 8 00:01:29.440 --> 00:01:53.370 Dave Price: in this cycle. So the thinking was, hey, let’s offer on a Saturday, even if he has to be in DC, he can fly back, which he comes home on the weekends anyway, so he could do it. But anyway, that didn’t work. But the other four said yes. So before I blather on about the behind-the-scenes stuff, Kathie, how about you lead off here? What was your takeaway? 90 minutes, what’d you think? 9 00:01:53.370 --> 00:02:13.300 Kathie Obradovich: Yeah, so, first of all, I was glad that you had 4 out of the 5 candidates. I think it was a smarter, much smarter move for Zach Lahn to join, and certainly, Ed, as you said, I think you probably did get a lot more attention out of it. Couple of quick observations. 10 00:02:13.300 --> 00:02:32.990 Kathie Obradovich: We did hear some differences, among the candidates on a couple of issues, which is always, you know, makes it a little, you know, makes a little news, which is, you know, what debate organizers are always hoping for, right? A little bit of news. You know, they… a little bit of difference in terms of 11 00:02:33.200 --> 00:02:49.919 Kathie Obradovich: how you treat H-1B visas, so essentially guest workers, to come into the country and fill jobs, you know, especially, jobs where there’s a shortage. So a little bit of difference among the candidates on that issue, and then also, I think, a little difference 12 00:02:49.920 --> 00:03:14.210 Kathie Obradovich: Among how you go about water quality and, the farm chemicals related to Iowa’s cancer issue. And, so I, so we did hear some differences among those candidates. And the other… one other observation I’ll just mention, before we dive into any detail is, I think that, Adam Steen mentioned Rob Sand more than anybody 13 00:03:14.320 --> 00:03:36.969 Kathie Obradovich: He certainly mentioned it more than anybody else… him more than anybody else on stage, but also mentioned him more than he mentioned Randy Feenster, which I thought was interesting, that Adam Stein, at least as one candidate, seems to be looking beyond the primary already, to try to make some general election arguments. So I thought those three things stood out. 14 00:03:38.190 --> 00:03:40.699 Dave Price: Laura, what’d you take away from this? 15 00:03:41.720 --> 00:03:54.960 Laura Belin: So as a former high school debater, I always look at this as who was most successful in coming in and getting out the messages that they want to get out, and I think Zach Lahn and Adam Steen definitely had the most successful debate. 16 00:03:54.960 --> 00:04:19.959 Laura Belin: Zach Lahn came in there in his opening statement, talking about the four systemic issues that he always talks about. Kids were top four in the country in terms of kids leaving the state. We’re losing family farms, we used to be number one for education and we’re not, and we have this fast-growing cancer rate. And then he was repeatedly able to bring answers to other questions back to some of these central 17 00:04:19.959 --> 00:04:44.809 Laura Belin: systemic issues that he talks about. And Adam Stein, what Kathie mentioned, it really struck me how often he mentioned Rob Sand, how he positioned himself as someone who knows Rob Sand because he’s seen him up close, because he’s worked in state government, and he can take on Rob Sand. So I felt like they both came in there and got the messages out. And regarding the water quality, Zach Lahn has been very open, and 18 00:04:44.810 --> 00:04:59.459 Laura Belin: cancer, he said, you know, these big ag companies have not been honest about their harmful products. And Adam Steen, it seemed to me very deliberate that he, on several occasions, was like, I’m not putting the blame on farmers, you know, farmers are trying to do the right thing. So I thought. 19 00:04:59.770 --> 00:05:17.840 Laura Belin: angling to get that rural vote. And I felt that Brad Sherman was trying, he mentioned several times that being a pastor and trying to bring God into this equation, but I just feel like that was an attempt to compete with Adam Steen, who has the endorsement of the family leader, and I don’t know that it was really successful. 20 00:05:18.410 --> 00:05:38.329 Kathie Obradovich: Brad Sherman, by the way, I think was… I could be wrong about this, but I think he was the only one who said that he wanted mandatory, conservation measures by farmers in order to try to control nutrients going into Iowa’s waterways. And I think he was the only candidate who said he, you know, he did… he did actually want 21 00:05:38.330 --> 00:05:43.660 Kathie Obradovich: some mandatory regulation there. So I thought that was interesting. 22 00:05:44.080 --> 00:05:51.820 Dave Price: And there was not… clearly, for this 90 minutes, there were not a lot of mandatory calls. Most of the things they talked about, whether it was 23 00:05:51.820 --> 00:06:05.710 Dave Price: ag-related, water-related, cancer-related, whatever, was… would be voluntary toward this. I thought, Kathie, you mentioned the H-1B visas, and Zach Lahn has a commercial specifically about that. 24 00:06:06.090 --> 00:06:23.419 Dave Price: I was listening to that, listening to them talk about this, I was thinking almost the disconnect, if you will, between what they were largely saying when it comes to immigration versus what the business community was talking about. And I’m not… 25 00:06:24.040 --> 00:06:27.579 Dave Price: Before we get some, messages on this. 26 00:06:27.620 --> 00:06:46.539 Dave Price: I’m not saying the business community, I’m not saying any of these for… nobody’s talking about violent criminals who are living in the country illegally, doing a bunch of bad stuff. We’re not talking about that stuff. And what I specifically asked about, because I was trying to tailor these in a certain direction. 27 00:06:46.590 --> 00:06:56.430 Dave Price: was I wanted to talk about the legal… those who are here legally with some kind of temporary legal permission to work here, and 28 00:06:56.490 --> 00:07:02.009 Dave Price: We have a variety of industries in this state that rely on those 29 00:07:02.930 --> 00:07:14.979 Dave Price: workers. Education, healthcare, ag, there’s probably something else I’m not thinking of, just business overall, I suppose. And so, when I talk to business folks, they want that pipeline still. 30 00:07:15.260 --> 00:07:30.279 Dave Price: I don’t know that these four on the stage, they were communicating that same thing. Now, maybe Eddie Andrews did a little bit when he was talking about, you know, he’s recruited tech workers as part of his professional career, but Lahn was very much… 31 00:07:30.630 --> 00:07:36.440 Dave Price: you know, Iowa universities are for Iowans, and we don’t want any of these people teaching. 32 00:07:36.540 --> 00:07:41.709 Dave Price: That, that to me was an interesting theme that came up throughout this. 33 00:07:42.060 --> 00:07:56.659 Kathie Obradovich: Yeah, and Adam Steen also, you know, basically was saying he wanted to bar, the universities and

    34 min
  3. Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 5/16/26

    May 16

    Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 5/16/26

    We spent most of this episode breaking down Thursday night’s Democratic U.S. Senate primary debate between Zach Wahls and Josh Turek, moderated by our man Dave! The headline exchange was on abortion — Wahls went after Turek’s missed vote on the six-week ban, and Turek fired back that he was sick at the time due to a disability-related illness, calling the attack disgraceful. Laura dug into the context on that one, noting that the missed vote criticism is a bit of a cheap shot, and that Turek’s committee vote on the Moms program funding was more complicated than Wahls made it sound. The bigger takeaway: these two don’t have many actual policy differences, so the race keeps coming back to electability arguments and voting record attacks. We also previewed Tuesday’s Republican gubernatorial debate — four candidates, 90 minutes, no Feenstra (also moderated in part by Dave!). Zach Lahn is back after sitting out the Iowa PBS debate, and the big question is whether anyone can consolidate the non-Feenstra vote. A late-breaking story about how much time Lahn has been spending in Kansas could come up, though we’ll see if any of his fellow Republicans actually go there. We absolutely love doing this show, and we thank all of you for helping us spread the word it really, seriously helps. We’re planning on going through the June 2nd primary with new episodes dropping each Saturday through June 6th. If you are able to contribute financially, whether that’s through a Substack subscription or a direct contribution to the Iowa Writer’s Collaborative, you can help us go all the way through the Summer! If you’re interested in making a direct contribution, please email me at spencerdirks@gmail.com and I can get you more information. To those of you that already support us with your hard-earned money, THANK YOU!!! Auto-transcript below: 00:00:11.680 --> 00:00:21.029 Dave Price: Welcome back, everybody, to the Iowa Down Ballot podcast. I’m Dave Price, joined, as always, by Kathie Obradovich and Laura Belin. We’re going a little extra early. 2 00:00:21.260 --> 00:00:27.180 Dave Price: On a Friday morning. The coffee has barely even kicked in, so who knows what’s gonna happen in this show. Hey, ladies. 3 00:00:27.520 --> 00:00:28.789 Kathie Obradovich: Hey! Happy Friday! 4 00:00:28.790 --> 00:00:29.460 Laura Belin: Yeah. 5 00:00:29.820 --> 00:00:32.509 Dave Price: Kathie has important duties today. 6 00:00:32.770 --> 00:00:45.380 Kathie Obradovich: I’m on the Iowa Newspaper Association Board. We’re having a meeting today, so my colleagues here graciously agreed to get up early and get going on this thing. 7 00:00:45.380 --> 00:00:47.500 Dave Price: I mean, for the record, I’m always up early with. 8 00:00:47.500 --> 00:00:50.740 Laura Belin: I was gonna say, yeah, I was up 2 hours ago, so… 9 00:00:51.140 --> 00:00:54.710 Dave Price: And you have a doggie who needs to be walked, right? 10 00:00:54.710 --> 00:00:55.190 Laura Belin: Correct. 11 00:00:55.600 --> 00:00:57.140 Dave Price: Okay, so… 12 00:00:57.630 --> 00:01:13.499 Dave Price: I was part of a debate on Thursday night. KCCI in Des Moines was the host station, and my company, Gray Media Iowa, our stations across the state took part as co-sponsors 13 00:01:13.500 --> 00:01:26.520 Dave Price: primarily it was KTIV in Sioux City, KCRG in Cedar Rapids, and KWQC, and Davenport and KYOU in Ottumwa. I believe a few other stations, probably stream this as well. 14 00:01:26.520 --> 00:01:37.009 Dave Price: So, I can maybe give a little background on this. I don’t know what you both think about this, but one thing that’s so hard when you’re right there. 15 00:01:37.480 --> 00:01:44.039 Dave Price: you go through the debate, and it finishes, and the reporter in me, I’m like, okay, what’s the news out of here? 16 00:01:44.260 --> 00:01:48.899 Dave Price: And, like, it takes me a while… I had to go back home and, like, re-watch it. 17 00:01:49.320 --> 00:02:04.489 Dave Price: Because it couldn’t… there’s just, like, too much stuff going on, and I couldn’t really process… there were moments that stuck out to me, but I’m curious what stuck out to you as you watched Zach Walls and Josh Turek do this hour-long debate? 18 00:02:04.740 --> 00:02:19.880 Kathie Obradovich: Yeah, well, first of all, good job last night. I’ve moderated a lot of debates, and I will… I will tell you that I used to always insist that a different reporter would cover the debate, because I… same with me, I could come out of that 19 00:02:19.880 --> 00:02:30.299 Kathie Obradovich: after moderating, and have not a thought in my head about what was actually news, you know? And I’d ask people afterward, did this… did we make news somewhere? 20 00:02:30.300 --> 00:02:30.650 Dave Price: Yeah. 21 00:02:30.920 --> 00:02:35.690 Kathie Obradovich: Because you’re always thinking about, you know, you’ve got the timing, you’ve got 22 00:02:35.690 --> 00:02:59.720 Kathie Obradovich: if you… if you’re on the clock, you have to watch the clock, you know, figuring out who gets the next question first, and, you know, keeping track of all of that, and it’s… it is exhausting. So, believe me, good job on that. You know, I think that the exchange about abortion, was the headline out of that. The, Zach Wahls went after. 23 00:02:59.750 --> 00:03:02.959 Kathie Obradovich: Josh Turek, about… 24 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:19.959 Kathie Obradovich: missing some votes related to reproductive rights and abortion, and particularly the six-week abortion ban vote, and also about a vote on the budget for the Moms program, which is a. 25 00:03:19.960 --> 00:03:21.739 Kathie Obradovich: Sort of a… 26 00:03:21.800 --> 00:03:32.379 Kathie Obradovich: help for unplanned pregnancies type of program. And, you know, I think that, Turek. 27 00:03:32.380 --> 00:03:47.139 Kathie Obradovich: was ready for most of that, and the memorable point I think he made was that he was sick, when the six-week abortion ban vote was taken, with an illness related to his disability. He said. 28 00:03:47.140 --> 00:03:58.190 Kathie Obradovich: he, you know, that was known at the time that Zach Wahls knew, and he said it was, I don’t remember what the word was, disgusting, or… 29 00:03:58.190 --> 00:03:58.920 Dave Price: Graceful places. 30 00:03:58.920 --> 00:04:16.890 Kathie Obradovich: disgraceful that he would bring that up. So… so that was a pretty memorable exchange. I think it’s, consistent with the previous debates and forums that we’ve seen with these two, with Zach Wells throwing elbows at, Josh Turk’s record, and, really not 31 00:04:17.209 --> 00:04:30.630 Kathie Obradovich: In this particular debate, not a lot of Josh Turek, you know, pushing back at, you know, at Zach Wall’s record, as we saw in the previous debate. 32 00:04:31.120 --> 00:04:56.110 Laura Belin: I also liked the questions that they were very direct and on issues that a lot of Democratic primary voters care about, so I appreciated that aspect of it. And I have not moderated a televised debate, but I have moderated candidate forums, and I can relate to that thing that you’re trying to keep track and make sure you get to all the topics and make sure the time is fair, so that it… I think it makes sense to assign somebody else to write the story about the 33 00:04:56.110 --> 00:05:20.789 Laura Belin: debate. I have been looking at this reproductive rights stuff, because the Walz campaign has been pushing this line since January, when the Roe v. Wade anniversary rolled around. And the missed vote, I remember in 2023, I asked a bunch of the legislators who were absent for that vote why they missed it, and so I got that explanation at the time, and Josh Turric had posted at the time that he was against that bill. 34 00:05:20.820 --> 00:05:44.580 Laura Belin: But I do think that it’s fair to say that Council Bluffs, not a socially liberal place, and another thing that Zach Wells brought up is that Josh Turek, until this year, had not co-sponsored or introduced any legislation on reproductive rights, and that’s accurate as far as I can tell. But, you know, representing Coralville and Johnson County is really different from representing Council Bluffs. 35 00:05:44.580 --> 00:05:49.780 Laura Belin: And the missed votes, I just feel like that’s a little bit of a cheap shot, because 36 00:05:49.780 --> 00:06:13.919 Laura Belin: legislators missed some votes. Zach Wells missed a lot of votes around the time his son was born in 2024, and I don’t think anybody points fingers and says, you’re not… you don’t care about that issue because you were absent the day they voted this, that, or the other. I did look into the vote on the Moms program, that’s the money that goes for the crisis pregnancy centers that are not medical clinics, but sometimes present themselves as offering healthcare, and that… 37 00:06:13.920 --> 00:06:37.469 Laura Belin: That was a committee vote on a bill that had a lot of pieces to it, including something about creating OBGYN residencies or something. And it wasn’t just Turek. Austin Bates and several of the committee Democrats voted for that bill coming out of committee. Then they all voted, all the Democrats voted against the final version of the bill that had the extra funding for these clinics, this, the moms. 38 00:06:37.470 --> 00:06:46.159 Laura Belin: program. So I think that that’s a little bit… it is accurate that he voted for it out of committee, but I think it kind of misrepresents what that committee vote was about. 39 00:06:46.370 --> 00:07:05.939 Kathie Obradovich: Well, and they had double the money for that mom’s program, apparently, from $500,000 to a million dollars on the floor, which, either… I don’t know if Turk said that during the debate, or if it was something his campaign put out later, but they said that when they raised that fundin

    40 min
  4. Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 5/9/26

    May 9

    Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 5/9/26

    We made it through the Iowa legislative session — barely. The Republican leadership powered through last weekend in a marathon that didn’t wrap until Sunday evening, leaving lawmakers, staff, and reporters running on fumes. We break down what that grueling stretch actually produced. The two big finishers: a property tax reform package and the standings bill. On property taxes, the Senate looked very different from the House — almost all Senate Democrats voted yes, while most House Democrats voted no. But here’s the catch nobody should miss: don’t expect to see anything on your tax bill until September 2027 at the earliest, and at least one Republican House member admitted in his newsletter he’s skeptical it will make a difference even then. We also dig into the water quality announcement — including a last-minute Senate amendment that rerouted $300,000 away from the University of Iowa’s real-time water monitoring program and toward the DNR, forcing UI researchers to compete for a grant to access money that was essentially already theirs. The $25 million headed to Central Iowa Water Works drew some grumbling too, and don’t count on skipping the lawn watering ban this summer. Plus: Tom Harkin endorses Josh Turek in the U.S. Senate Democratic primary ahead of the debate we’re co-hosting next week with KCCI. Elizabeth Warren is coming to Iowa for Zach Wahls. J.D. Vance was here. Ted Cruz headlined Faith and Freedom. Brooke Rollins has apparently moved in. And Senate Majority Leader John Thune rounds out an unusually star-studded week in Iowa politics. Thanks for being a part of the show, as always any shares are appreciated. We’re getting closer and closer to the primary and now is the time to get your friends and family on board! Auto-generated transcript below: 00:00:14.190 --> 00:00:22.419 Dave Price: Welcome, everybody, to the Iowa Down Ballot Podcast. I’m Dave Price, joined by Laura Belin and Kathie Obradovich. 2 00:00:22.680 --> 00:00:27.899 Dave Price: Ladies, we have been through a lot since we last met in this forum. 3 00:00:28.330 --> 00:00:44.690 Dave Price: Although, Kathie, I must say I spent more time sitting next to Laura than I have spent sitting next to my wife in a long time. I don’t know anybody in my life I’ve spent as much time, too, sitting next to continuously as Laura. It is… 4 00:00:45.110 --> 00:00:51.840 Dave Price: I have checked in this past week, and I’m sure you both have too, with people totally not related to… 5 00:00:52.000 --> 00:01:11.100 Dave Price: our profession, and when you try to explain the experience that everybody had as the Republican leadership decided to power through the legislative session last weekend and just keep going until they finally reached a deal, it is tough to put it into words, isn’t it? 6 00:01:11.880 --> 00:01:23.010 Kathie Obradovich: Yeah, it’s grueling, and it’s a marathon, and, you know, everybody feels really crappy afterward, and during, for that matter. 7 00:01:23.010 --> 00:01:32.139 Kathie Obradovich: And, you know, speaking only for myself, because I’m older than both of you guys, I am too old for these all-nighters, for sure. 8 00:01:32.140 --> 00:01:33.589 Kathie Obradovich: I, I… Definitely cool. 9 00:01:33.870 --> 00:01:39.299 Laura Belin: I am a night owl, and I actually pull a lot of all-nighters, so staying up and working… 10 00:01:39.300 --> 00:01:39.890 Dave Price: Crazy. 11 00:01:39.890 --> 00:01:56.099 Laura Belin: I like having the big block of uninterrupted time, so working until 5 a.m. or 6 a.m, I can handle, but they didn’t finish until after 7 p.m. on Sunday, and that’s where I could tell on Saturday when I realized they were not in a position. 12 00:01:56.100 --> 00:01:56.570 Dave Price: and today. 13 00:01:56.570 --> 00:02:17.109 Laura Belin: finish at 4 or 5 or 6 in the morning. They were… initially, I was thinking, oh, they could be going until noon on Sunday. Of course, it was a lot later. And then I started to get worried, because I really start to run out of steam after 6 or 7 in the morning, after pulling an all-nighter, and it’s just a bad way for people to be making decisions. Wayne Ford, who 14 00:02:17.110 --> 00:02:34.330 Laura Belin: many of our listeners may remember, because he served in the Iowa House for a long time, he wrote a guest editorial for my website this week, and he was talking… he cited the research that when you’ve been awake for 24 hours straight, it’s like having a blood alcohol level of 0.1. I mean, it impairs your ability to function. 15 00:02:35.760 --> 00:02:38.520 Dave Price: Found myself… Go ahead, sorry. 16 00:02:38.520 --> 00:02:47.639 Kathie Obradovich: I was gonna say, think of how many of those folks, left the State House and got on the road and drove home. Right. A lot of them did, I bet. 17 00:02:47.640 --> 00:02:49.800 Dave Price: I found myself, 18 00:02:50.590 --> 00:02:54.339 Dave Price: I don’t want to say half the time, but it seems like a lot of the time. 19 00:02:54.430 --> 00:03:12.240 Dave Price: trying to essentially have off-the-record conversations with anybody who would converse about trying to gameplay how this thing was gonna play out. I was trying to figure out, how to schedule my colleague in the TV bureau about 20 00:03:12.400 --> 00:03:28.239 Dave Price: you know, should she go home and sleep for a while? You know, how should we play this out? And as I was explaining to people, in my station group, what made it so difficult is that you knew that they were trying to reach final agreements on a bunch of big stuff. 21 00:03:28.250 --> 00:03:37.250 Dave Price: But there was so much horse trading going on that, you know, if you go for this, then we can support this, you know, between the two chambers and within the caucus and all that stuff. 22 00:03:37.250 --> 00:04:01.019 Dave Price: So it… there were so many moving parts that were so connected that… Laura and I must have talked, like, a hundred times with different scenarios about… because I think you and I were both sort of in the same mindset about, dang, it feels like they could… this could go for a long time, and getting, you know, little nuggets from people here and there saying, oh, we don’t seem to have agreement here, and, you know, whatever. But we also knew that 23 00:04:01.280 --> 00:04:14.819 Dave Price: when you reached it, when the breakthrough finally happened, it could go fast, and, like, it took, you know, forever to get there, but once they reached that point on Sunday, and we were primarily in the house. 24 00:04:14.820 --> 00:04:25.200 Dave Price: Like, it did go through reasonably fast when you’re talking about a property tax bill and the standings bill, which was primarily budget, although policy, too. 25 00:04:25.200 --> 00:04:28.420 Laura Belin: There were 40 pages, there was lots of policy in it. 26 00:04:28.420 --> 00:04:35.139 Dave Price: You know, so those two huge things, the debate didn’t take that long. Granted, everybody was… 27 00:04:35.280 --> 00:04:40.710 Dave Price: Torched by that point, but, you know, a couple hours, and they plowed through that and adjourned and called it good. 28 00:04:40.910 --> 00:04:59.569 Laura Belin: Yeah, I mean, in retrospect, you look at the action calendar, and there were windows where there were 4 or 5 hours where not very much was going on, but you don’t know, right? You don’t want to go home and go to sleep, and then find out that they came up with a property tax bill, and it’s all done by the time you can get back to the Capitol. 29 00:05:00.160 --> 00:05:12.420 Kathie Obradovich: Yeah, that’s… I actually wrote a thank you note, early this week to Pat Grassley’s, comms person, Melissa Seitz, because she, you know. 30 00:05:12.420 --> 00:05:13.020 Dave Price: Legendary. 31 00:05:13.020 --> 00:05:27.689 Kathie Obradovich: You know, when they’re coming back, she would, you know, tell you what’s the short list of bills that they’re going to do, and you could plan, and I wrote in this note, I really wish that your counterparts in the Senate would follow your example, because 32 00:05:27.690 --> 00:05:48.019 Kathie Obradovich: it was a mystery over there. You didn’t know when they were coming back from caucus, you didn’t know really what bills they were going to do, and so you had to keep watching, and keep watching, and keep watching, and, you know, if they didn’t come back for 4 hours, you still just had to keep watching, because you never know when they’re going to come back and knock out 3 or 4 bills and then… then go away again. 33 00:05:48.490 --> 00:06:00.850 Dave Price: I’m so glad you gave Melissa a shout-out, and I don’t think this would be divulging anything that’s… that’s confidential, but it’s, like, impossible to put into words how valuable Melissa is to all of us. 34 00:06:00.850 --> 00:06:13.480 Dave Price: to give us the heads up. At the beginning of the week, she kind of gives you a heads up for the House Republican Caucus about, hey, here… you know, and obviously they have the majority. Here’s what we think is gonna play out Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, whatever she can tell us. 35 00:06:13.480 --> 00:06:31.510 Dave Price: And she gives us a heads up when they’re coming back after they’ve met in caucus on a specific day, maybe what bills may come up, or maybe where the committee, activity will be, or whatever. It is so super helpful, and, you know, and the agreement is that we’re not gonna burn her. 36 00:06:31.510 --> 00:06:37.410 Dave Price: And we’re not going to report a bunch of stuff prematurely, or partially, or what have you, but it is… 37 00:06:37.410 --> 00:06:38.669 Kathie Obradovich: It’s all on background and nuts. 38 00:06:38.670 --> 00:06:39.010 Dave Price: Yeah. 39 00:06:39.010 --> 00:06:43.719 Kathie Obradovich: And it’s subject to change, so… but yeah, it’s still super hel

    44 min
  5. Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 5/2/26

    May 2

    Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 5/2/26

    We’re recording on a chaotic Friday afternoon as the Iowa legislature pushes past its scheduled adjournment date with no clear end in sight. The big unresolved question is property taxes — no deal yet, and we’re skeptical lawmakers can go home without getting something done. We also break down Governor Reynolds’ surprise water quality announcement, which dropped Friday morning instead of the property tax deal many expected. The plan totals $300-plus million over 12 years, but we dig into how much of that is actually new money (about $18.5 million) versus shifted funds — and why the lack of a public committee process is raising eyebrows heading into an election year. We also talk through Zach Lahn’s decision to skip the Iowa PBS gubernatorial debate, challenging Randy Feenstra to a series of one-on-one debates instead. We all agree it was a serious strategic mistake — the debate questions were practically tailor-made for him, and Adam Steen walked away with the spotlight. Finally, we touch on legislation that would allow the state budget to automatically roll over if a governor refuses to sign — a significant shift in the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches. Thanks to all of you that help us grow our audience by sharing. It means everything to us. We’re especially grateful to our paid subscribers. We recently reduced our monthly subscription if you’d like to join! AI generated transcript below: 00:00:25.510 --> 00:00:38.780 Dave Price: Welcome, everybody, to the Iowa Down Ballot podcast. I’m Dave Price, joined by Kathie Obradovich and Laura Belin on this mid-Friday afternoon. Holy, holy, holy, do we have a lot of stuff going on. 7 00:00:39.400 --> 00:00:40.000 Kathie Obradovich: Yes. 8 00:00:40.470 --> 00:00:41.800 Laura Belin: Too much. 9 00:00:41.800 --> 00:00:48.550 Dave Price: For real. It has been a bit since I’ve stood under the Golden Dome. 10 00:00:48.690 --> 00:01:06.199 Dave Price: and had people lay out so many different scenarios about how this weekend will go, and again, we’re talking on mid-Friday afternoon, which is, for those of you watching this podcast, Laura is tucked into a room 11 00:01:06.320 --> 00:01:20.190 Dave Price: that she found that was temporarily empty, so the drama of this next half hour could be whether security goes in there and drags her out of this private room, because this is like the governor’s secret room you’re in, right? Right? 12 00:01:20.190 --> 00:01:28.760 Laura Belin: Not the governor’s, no. It is a different room. The Republicans are caucusing downstairs, so I think I’m safe for now. 13 00:01:28.940 --> 00:01:40.850 Dave Price: Alright, so for the non-junkies out there, although probably a lot of people who listen to this really know what’s going on, but, like, it is non-stop caucus, so for those 14 00:01:40.850 --> 00:01:55.070 Dave Price: for those of you good folk who only pay, you know, kind of casual attention to all this stuff, the caucuses, it’s where the Republicans have their private meeting, the Democrats have their private meeting, they do their strategy, they do their yelling and screaming and talking and… 15 00:01:55.070 --> 00:02:01.390 Dave Price: plotting out with each other. They’re really the meetings we in the media really wish we could get in. 16 00:02:01.620 --> 00:02:06.420 Dave Price: Because those would be far more interesting than debates, am I right? 17 00:02:06.910 --> 00:02:07.810 Laura Belin: Correct. 18 00:02:07.810 --> 00:02:11.780 Kathie Obradovich: Except a few… I’m not… you’re gonna send me down a rabbit hole, but if. 19 00:02:11.780 --> 00:02:12.270 Dave Price: abuse. 20 00:02:12.270 --> 00:02:27.800 Kathie Obradovich: ago, Democrats invited the media into their caucuses, and I quickly, quickly determined that I really didn’t want to be there after all. When was that, Kathy? Because it was all performative. I mean. 21 00:02:27.800 --> 00:02:28.599 Dave Price: I just put on the show. 22 00:02:28.600 --> 00:02:34.679 Kathie Obradovich: for us, which we then got to see again on the floor, so it really wasn’t worth it. 23 00:02:34.860 --> 00:02:49.189 Dave Price: In this case, though, I think… I think there have been spirited, discussions in the… especially in the House Republican caucus about whether they would go along with the, Senate Republican idea and some Democrats to raise the gas tax. 24 00:02:49.190 --> 00:03:00.540 Dave Price: Regardless of whether that’s part of the overall piece of the property tax discussion, or if it’s a separate thing. But, it seems as if that has been a spirited 25 00:03:00.690 --> 00:03:09.540 Dave Price: discussion this week, but I don’t know what you both have heard, but… and again, I have to keep saying we’re talking Friday afternoon. And it’s already… 26 00:03:09.650 --> 00:03:21.840 Dave Price: weird and unusual that both chambers are there on a Friday, doing stuff, and the plan is, as we record this, that they’re probably… both chambers going to be there this weekend. 27 00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:33.640 Dave Price: As soon as I say these words, they might be outdated as soon as they get out of my lips, but maybe they both try to power through and work overnight Saturday so they can adjourn on Sunday? 28 00:03:33.700 --> 00:03:40.949 Dave Price: Or maybe the house powers through a bunch of stuff except for property taxes, and they go home. 29 00:03:41.340 --> 00:03:47.309 Dave Price: for… however long, until a deal is made and the Senate comes back next week? What are you hearing? 30 00:03:48.400 --> 00:04:03.509 Laura Belin: I don’t know, I brought a change of clothes and a toothbrush, just in case we’d be working all night tonight and finishing up tomorrow, but the debate list for Saturday, which is extremely weird to even have a debate list for Saturday, it doesn’t have property taxes on it, so I don’t know if they plan… 31 00:04:03.510 --> 00:04:04.539 Dave Price: No deal, I don’t think. 32 00:04:04.540 --> 00:04:06.810 Laura Belin: Finish all the budget stuff? 33 00:04:06.920 --> 00:04:17.019 Laura Belin: for this weekend, and then send everyone home, and then have leadership hash out a property tax thing. I do not know what they’re planning. 34 00:04:17.279 --> 00:04:18.689 Dave Price: Kathy, you’re a wise woman. 35 00:04:18.690 --> 00:04:21.830 Kathie Obradovich: seen the… has anybody seen the standings, Bill? Because… 36 00:04:22.399 --> 00:04:23.469 Kathie Obradovich: I have no idea. 37 00:04:23.470 --> 00:04:46.150 Kathie Obradovich: that’s the harbinger, typically. It’s one of the last bills, and the fact that they, you know, it hasn’t even, at least as far as I’ve seen, I’ve been in pseudo-rabies world this afternoon, so that’s how crazy things are going on here. But, the… the last I checked, I hadn’t seen the standings bill yet, and they’re not going home without that. 38 00:04:46.150 --> 00:04:51.810 Dave Price: I’m still skeptical, maybe I’m gonna be wrong, but… I just… 39 00:04:52.280 --> 00:04:59.129 Dave Price: I’m skeptical that… because one… one legislator told me a scenario where 40 00:04:59.640 --> 00:05:10.760 Dave Price: They work this weekend, they get everything done, property taxes, and then they’re like, you know, we tried, we’re not gonna do it, and maybe they… 41 00:05:11.200 --> 00:05:14.999 Dave Price: Appropriate some money in whichever way they do it. 42 00:05:15.090 --> 00:05:31.300 Dave Price: Whether it’s its own thing, so that the communities can use that, this shared service money, to help them explore options to kind of work together and save money like that, so that could at least potentially reduce some demand on property taxes, or they hire that Texas company 43 00:05:31.400 --> 00:05:38.019 Dave Price: With the money that the house already has access to, but that was, like, a hundred and something million, right? So that was a big old chunk of money. 44 00:05:38.020 --> 00:05:38.920 Laura Belin: 4 million. 45 00:05:38.920 --> 00:05:39.720 Dave Price: Yeah. 46 00:05:42.040 --> 00:05:50.110 Dave Price: But it’s… it just feels like there’s… if there’s no deal on property taxes, it’d be hard… I don’t know how they go home without a. 47 00:05:50.110 --> 00:05:53.139 Laura Belin: They cannot go home. I think that if… that in that. 48 00:05:53.140 --> 00:05:54.600 Dave Price: Like, home home for good. 49 00:05:54.600 --> 00:06:09.339 Laura Belin: they send everybody home, and leadership continues to work for a few weeks, because that happened in… I think it was 2021 or 2022. They had a few weeks where basically no one was around, and then they came back and finished things up around May… it was right before Memorial Day, so… 50 00:06:09.460 --> 00:06:15.519 Laura Belin: I can’t imagine that they would adjourn for the year without doing something on property taxes. They’ve been promising it so much. 51 00:06:15.520 --> 00:06:20.480 Dave Price: And would the governor allow that? Would she call him back in special session? Like, it seems like she wants a deal. 52 00:06:20.650 --> 00:06:24.970 Laura Belin: Yeah, yeah, I… Don’t know, but I can’t imagine that. 53 00:06:25.770 --> 00:06:45.129 Kathie Obradovich: The other thing, and I may be getting ahead of ourselves here, that tells me that nobody’s really that ready to go home, was the introduction of a major water quality plan by the governor this morning, 10 days after the legislature was supposed to adjourn. I mean, you know, that… 54 00:06:45.130 --> 00:06:59.619 Kathie Obradovich: Yes, supposedly there’s an agreement with the legislature, but it’s still going to take some time, I think, to… I mean, we were talking about two budget bills that would have to be amended with this new plan. 55 00:06:59.620 --> 00:07:10.470 Kathie Obradovich: So I, you know, I was a little shocked, this morning. I figured

    31 min
  6. Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 4/25/26

    Apr 25

    Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 4/25/26

    The Iowa Legislature is officially in overtime, and we break down where things stand. A broad budget agreement is in place at roughly a 1.43% spending increase, but property taxes remain the real sticking point — the House and Senate are far apart on a hard 2% revenue cap for local governments, and a dispute over multi-residential property taxes that critics warn would drive up rents. We also dig into the quiet death of joint House-Senate budget subcommittee meetings, a decades-old practice abandoned after COVID that’s made the process slower and less transparent. And Republicans are pushing to ban Polk County’s warrant resolution clinics statewide following a high-profile murder case — despite the victim’s own father saying the clinic had nothing to do with his daughter’s death. On the campaign trail, Cook Political Report now calls the GOP governor’s race a toss-up. Frontrunner Randy Feenstra keeps skipping debates, which we think is a real gamble with 30% of voters still undecided. The first Republican primary debate is Tuesday on Iowa PBS — and whether Zach Lahn shows up is the question heading into the week. AI generated transcript below: 00:00:13.020 --> 00:00:29.070 Dave Price: Hey everybody, welcome back to the new edition of the Iowa Down Ballot podcast. I’m Dave Price, joined, as always, by our regular collaborators, Laura Bellin, who’s dialing in long distance today, and Kathie Obradovich. Hello, both of you. 4 00:00:29.600 --> 00:00:32.940 Kathie Obradovich: I’m dialing in short distance today. Yeah, I’m in… 5 00:00:32.940 --> 00:00:35.369 Laura Belin: I’m in Storm Lake, which is beautiful. 6 00:00:35.750 --> 00:00:38.829 Dave Price: Would you like to tell everyone why? 7 00:00:38.930 --> 00:00:53.540 Laura Belin: The Iowa Writers Collaborative is having a gathering, and Buena Vista University is letting us use some of their facilities, and tonight we’re going to be at the legendary Byron’s in Pomeroy. That’s going to be my first visit there to hear some live music, so… 8 00:00:53.770 --> 00:00:55.810 Laura Belin: Really enjoyed the short getaway. 9 00:00:55.810 --> 00:00:58.109 Dave Price: And this is your first time on campus, right? 10 00:00:58.130 --> 00:01:04.450 Laura Belin: Yes, I’ve been to Storm Lake before, but I’ve never been on the BV campus, and they really have nice facilities. 11 00:01:04.780 --> 00:01:19.249 Dave Price: May I point out that Kathie and I, if we did not have pending deadlines, would have also been part of this two-day confab up in Storm Lake. So, we both send our regrets. That’s what you do when you can’t go to a wedding, right? 12 00:01:19.250 --> 00:01:20.680 Laura Belin: No regrets. That’s right. 13 00:01:20.680 --> 00:01:25.330 Kathie Obradovich: Yeah, yeah, we’re wearing blue, but we’re really green. We’re jealous that we’re out there. 14 00:01:25.430 --> 00:01:29.630 Dave Price: As we are… are those BV color… is that one of the BV colors behind you? 15 00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:30.490 Dave Price: that… 16 00:01:30.490 --> 00:01:34.960 Laura Belin: I don’t know, it’s… I’m in one of the library study rooms. I think this is one of their schools. 17 00:01:34.960 --> 00:01:47.120 Dave Price: That’s what I was thinking, and I’m sorry to… I shouldn’t have… I just probably embarrassed myself on the spot, and then put you on the spot, but I think that’s… I think that’s one of the colors. All of you folks who are listening audio only could really care less that we’re… 18 00:01:47.120 --> 00:02:09.290 Dave Price: Talking about the color right now, so, forgive me for the distraction. Okay, ladies, so let’s catch up of what we have going on in the Iowa State House. First of all, we’re officially on overtime, much as the three of us have predicted for quite some time that they were not going to finish on time, so 100 days, not enough for the Republican trifecta. They are still pushing forward. 19 00:02:09.289 --> 00:02:17.580 Dave Price: There is apparently an overall budget agreement. House and Senate came together. I presume that the gov is cool with 20 00:02:17.710 --> 00:02:23.900 Dave Price: with their final number, if my… I believe it’s 1.43% increase. 21 00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:33.340 Dave Price: From the current level of spending, so you’re up at, like, $9.5 billion or so, something like that. So now they have the… they’ve got the big number, and they just gotta… 22 00:02:33.830 --> 00:02:44.129 Dave Price: fill in who gets what and where. So that… I mean, not a lot of drama there, but in theory, if you’re an optimist, that means that helps them move closer to adjournment, 23 00:02:44.510 --> 00:02:56.999 Kathie Obradovich: every little bit helps. Senator Clemish, the Senate Republican Majority Leader, indicated that they had a deal, except that they were still $3 million apart. 24 00:02:57.410 --> 00:03:03.110 Kathie Obradovich: On the total, which, you know, in the… you know, we’re talking about 25 00:03:03.110 --> 00:03:19.350 Kathie Obradovich: over $9 billion, so $3 million is not… not a big deal, in terms of the… the percentage that they don’t agree on. But yeah, I was a little surprised when they say they have a deal, but oh, we still have to figure out all the line items. I’m like, well… 26 00:03:19.350 --> 00:03:23.360 Kathie Obradovich: Okay, but this doesn’t seem like it’s gonna be done quickly. 27 00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:24.310 Dave Price: It’s a deal with us. 28 00:03:24.310 --> 00:03:25.369 Laura Belin: They used to have… 29 00:03:25.370 --> 00:03:26.699 Dave Price: Add a capital D. 30 00:03:26.850 --> 00:03:46.170 Laura Belin: Yeah, they used to have these budget targets for the 7 different areas, or whatever it is. They used to have those agreed in March. I mean, we’re really late to be just coming to an agreement in overtime, but I think that they’ll… they will… would be able to get the budget figured out next week. I would feel pretty optimistic about it. I feel like… 31 00:03:46.170 --> 00:03:48.570 Laura Belin: The property taxes are what makes me think. 32 00:03:48.570 --> 00:03:52.759 Dave Price: Don’t skip ahead, I’m not too bad yet. Quit skipping ahead. 33 00:03:52.760 --> 00:03:57.220 Laura Belin: I just think, I think the budget, they could get wrapped up next week, in theory. 34 00:03:57.250 --> 00:04:10.589 Dave Price: And, you were… you were talking to Senator Clemish during his avail on Thursday, kind of about how this process used to be done, which he had said, you know, was kind of pre his arrival there. 35 00:04:10.980 --> 00:04:24.520 Laura Belin: Yes, so for decades, since at least the 1970s, the House and Senate had joint budget subcommittee meetings, and in fact, they used to meet 3 times a week for a long time. And when I’ve talked to past legislators. 36 00:04:24.520 --> 00:04:39.440 Laura Belin: from both parties, they’ve always told me that those meetings… the joint meetings were so helpful, they would bring in people from the different agencies, they were very educational for the legislators to understand how the different state agencies work, and… 37 00:04:39.440 --> 00:05:03.099 Laura Belin: lately, ever since COVID, I mean, COVID was the pretext for the Senate to stop participating in these joint budget subcommittee meetings. Oh, well, it was a social distancing thing. And then they never went back to meeting them. And so the House members have continued to have these meetings, but because none of the Senators are participating in them, they don’t… I feel that it’s harder for them to get on the same page. When I talk to people 38 00:05:03.100 --> 00:05:05.219 Laura Belin: Who used to be part of the process. 39 00:05:05.220 --> 00:05:17.779 Laura Belin: They felt like it was very helpful for legislators in both chambers to be hearing the same presentations and hearing the questions and answers that were given, and in general, the process went more smoothly. 40 00:05:18.260 --> 00:05:39.369 Kathie Obradovich: I’ve heard Republicans complain, even before they stop doing joint budget meetings, that it… that when the agencies come in, it’s just them coming in begging for money, and they didn’t… for some reason, didn’t like that. And yet, you know, now we have complaints that these agencies are not responsive, and in fact, we’ve seen 41 00:05:39.370 --> 00:06:03.259 Kathie Obradovich: you know, lack of transparency from one agency as being the reason why its director was not confirmed again. That was Larry Johnson, who failed by 7 votes to be reconfirmed as director of the Department of Health and Human Services, and one of the major issues was we can’t get information from this department, including for fiscal notes, for budget bills. 42 00:06:03.260 --> 00:06:04.120 Kathie Obradovich: So… 43 00:06:04.310 --> 00:06:22.780 Kathie Obradovich: So I think that, you know, I totally agree that overall, I think the process went more smoothly, not only because the senators and representatives were hearing the same information from the agencies, but also they could get some sense of what each other 44 00:06:22.780 --> 00:06:35.060 Kathie Obradovich: You know, what their fellow lawmakers from across the aisle are thinking. And right now, with just the leaders negotiating, and maybe the committee chairs negotiating, the rank and file have no idea. 45 00:06:35.820 --> 00:06:59.380 Laura Belin: And I think that the rank and file have much less knowledge, period, about how the state agencies work and what they do on the Senate side when they don’t have the budget subcommittees even meeting. Maybe the Admin and Regulation Subcommittee, Dennis Guth, who’s the chair of that, he did convene a couple of meetings, but most of the Senate budget subcommittees haven’t met for years, and most of the senators 46 00:06:59.470 --> 00:07:11.200 Laura Belin: were elected on the

    43 min
  7. Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 4/18/26

    Apr 18

    Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 4/18/26

    Speaker Pat Grassley dropped a new property tax proposal this week — and we’ll be honest, it’s a lot. The three-pager is dense, and we’re still not sure we can answer the question every homeowner is actually asking: will my taxes go down, or just up more slowly? House bill Triples the homestead exemption for all residential owners. Hard 2% cap on local government revenue. No gas tax, no age-based carve-outs. Senate bill Blows up the rollback system entirely. Raises the gas tax, gives local governments inflation flexibility, and heavily favors homeowners 65+. Bottom line These two chambers are miles apart. We don’t see adjournment next week — but something has to pass. Failing on the session’s top priority isn’t an option. Campaign ads: gubernatorial race Randy Feenstra - Link to ad: Randy Feenstra Hard Work Trump, Trump, Trump — and a property tax freeze that sounds great on the trail but has never been seriously on the table at the Capitol. He knows that. He was Ways and Means chair. Zach Lahn - Link to ad: Zach Lahn Defend Our Land “Defend Our Land” — tax Wall Street hedge funds and data centers to buy down property taxes. Sharp message, strong production. Can he build enough name recognition before June 2nd? That’s the question. Rob Sand - Link to ad: Rob Sand Stealing is Bad No primary, so he’s already playing the general. Carhartt, tough-on-crime energy, mandatory jail time for stealing from taxpayers. A preemptive strike before Republicans can paint him as soft. Also this week A conference committee on the governor’s immigration bill — rare under the Republican trifecta — over an E-Verify dispute nobody quite understood. We’re covering U.S. Senate race ads next week. AI generated transcript below: 00:00:34.530 --> 00:00:49.160 Dave Price: Welcome, everybody, to the Iowa Down Ballad Podcast. Glad that you are joining us today. I’m Dave Price, along with my co-hosts, Kathie Obradovich, Laura Bell, and fellow collaborators from the Iowa Writers Collaborative. Hello, ladies, how are you? 11 00:00:49.920 --> 00:00:51.599 Kathie Obradovich: Doing great, how are you? 12 00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:54.220 Dave Price: Yeah, good. I love… is that fuchsia you’re wearing today? 13 00:00:54.220 --> 00:00:59.770 Kathie Obradovich: Mmm, yeah, probably. 14 00:00:59.770 --> 00:01:05.689 Dave Price: I was on my… we had a TV consultant years and years ago who had, you know, that, like, did our home… 15 00:01:06.230 --> 00:01:10.300 Dave Price: workup or whatever, and would tell us, because I… apparently I’m, like, an autumn. 16 00:01:10.680 --> 00:01:14.919 Dave Price: But I think that color was in my scheme, if I remember right. 17 00:01:14.920 --> 00:01:15.590 Kathie Obradovich: the book. 18 00:01:15.590 --> 00:01:19.980 Dave Price: Just because I thought, why not? It’s like a souvenir, it’s like 15 years old, so why not? 19 00:01:19.980 --> 00:01:21.899 Kathie Obradovich: wear a lot of fuchsia back then? 20 00:01:21.900 --> 00:01:31.109 Dave Price: Not a lot, but I do have one tie that has that color in it, and I’m sorry for those of you who are only listening and not watching, and you’re thinking, what the heck are these people talking about? 21 00:01:31.110 --> 00:01:32.620 Kathie Obradovich: Just… 22 00:01:32.890 --> 00:01:38.440 Dave Price: Take my word for it that Kathie has a great-looking fuchsia-like sweater to begin our. 23 00:01:38.440 --> 00:01:41.300 Kathie Obradovich: It’s just a t-shirt. 24 00:01:41.300 --> 00:01:56.779 Dave Price: Okay, well, whatever, who cares, it looks good. It looks good on video. We’re also talking before we could have a big ol’ storm, so I’ll be curious as everybody tunes into this this weekend, hopefully this storm has missed us, but, 25 00:01:56.990 --> 00:02:15.860 Dave Price: That is on my mind as… as we assemble today. Hey, I thought… I know we talked about property taxes a lot, but I feel like we need to do it again, and, Thursday, we got this handout. Reminds me of, like, being in class again in school. It is a 3-pager. 26 00:02:15.950 --> 00:02:21.489 Dave Price: that we got from Speaker Pat Grassley. He, to his credit. 27 00:02:21.800 --> 00:02:27.250 Dave Price: he does an avail with the media basically every week. Almost every single. 28 00:02:27.250 --> 00:02:28.960 Laura Belin: Almost every week, yep. 29 00:02:28.960 --> 00:02:53.520 Dave Price: Sometimes if he’s had a family thing where he’s had to hustle home for one of the kids’ games or something, they don’t always do it, maybe, but to his credit, he almost always does it, and for those of you who care about this kind of stuff, it’s really anything goes. I mean, they don’t screen the questions or anything like that. So anyway, so it was sort of like this unveil, you know, he starts kind of teasing it up and teeing it up at the beginning, like, hey, we’re gonna have… 30 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:58.319 Dave Price: Now, he called it a compromise. I think it takes two to compromise, but, 31 00:02:58.320 --> 00:03:07.349 Dave Price: Regardless, so, perhaps his caucus has come up with this new proposal for property tax reform, and then during the course of the 32 00:03:07.610 --> 00:03:12.010 Dave Price: Availability we had with him, then, staff brought out the little handouts. 33 00:03:12.160 --> 00:03:23.440 Dave Price: Laura, you were standing very close to me during this thing. If there is any subject that I have covered this legislative session that makes me feel dumber 34 00:03:23.880 --> 00:03:35.510 Dave Price: than property taxes. I really do not know what it is. I have been a homeowner for years. This would be, in our married life, our third house, I think, because we lived in a townhouse when we got married. 35 00:03:35.620 --> 00:03:39.630 Dave Price: All I know is you pay it, like, twice a year, or however you pay it. 36 00:03:40.090 --> 00:03:44.200 Dave Price: This was supposed to be a simpler version. 37 00:03:44.630 --> 00:04:03.679 Dave Price: And, no offense to the speaker, but I do not find this simple, nor do I find, as a television dude, the ability to look through a three-pager and stand in front of a live camera for a minute and a half and break this down in ways that people can watch and go. 38 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:09.710 Dave Price: Hey, honey, our taxes are going up or down, but I’m not sure you can really figure it out. 39 00:04:10.720 --> 00:04:12.769 Laura Belin: It’s such a complicated system. 40 00:04:12.770 --> 00:04:19.079 Kathie Obradovich: Well, I think we should dedicate a future show to the difference between a homestead tax exemption and a. 41 00:04:19.089 --> 00:04:19.439 Dave Price: Fantastic. 42 00:04:19.440 --> 00:04:33.700 Kathie Obradovich: tax credit. Yes. It’s like, I was reading Robin Opsel’s story, and I was like, read this three times. Okay, what is the difference between a homestead tax exemption or a homestead tax credit? 43 00:04:33.700 --> 00:04:35.989 Dave Price: It’s better with an exemption than a credit. 44 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:36.770 Kathie Obradovich: I mean. 45 00:04:36.770 --> 00:04:42.439 Laura Belin: I mean, for the people listening, there were about 15 minutes of Q&A just on the property tax. 46 00:04:42.440 --> 00:04:42.920 Dave Price: Excuse me. 47 00:04:43.050 --> 00:05:01.570 Laura Belin: And I have been posting the videos of Pat Grassley’s media veils every week that he’s done them. I’ve been posting those on the Bleeding Heartland YouTube channel. So if anyone wants, like, the director’s cut to see exactly what Speaker Grassley said, you can go and find that. But it… I mean, I felt that 48 00:05:01.580 --> 00:05:07.149 Laura Belin: the House Republicans are trying to incorporate some ideas from the Senate 49 00:05:07.250 --> 00:05:25.199 Laura Belin: bill that we discussed last week, but it still seems to me that they are so far apart, just philosophically. Like, they don’t have… the Senate wants to completely get rid of that rollback system that’s very complicated. They’re not touching that. The Senate wants to raise the gas tax. 50 00:05:25.200 --> 00:05:28.399 Laura Belin: They’re not doing that. The Senate wants this broad relief. 51 00:05:28.400 --> 00:05:38.840 Laura Belin: if you’re age 65 and up, they’re not doing that. They’re doing something that I think politically, is better… is a better sell, what the House Republicans are doing, which is that 52 00:05:38.840 --> 00:05:51.080 Laura Belin: every homeowner gets something, and it is a little bit complicated. Yeah, I also didn’t understand the difference between the homestead tax credit and the homestead tax exemption, but they are increasing it, so whatever it is. 53 00:05:51.080 --> 00:05:57.400 Laura Belin: you are going to get more of a break than what you currently get on the home that you own. And the one. 54 00:05:57.400 --> 00:06:19.000 Kathie Obradovich: What I gather is that the difference is who… who loses the money. So, in one homestead Tax Credit, the state is paying for that. Homestead’s tax exemption, it comes out of the tax base, and the local governments take the hit for that. Right. So I think that… I think it doesn’t really make that much difference to… to you and me. I think the difference is who pays. 55 00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:21.270 Laura Belin: Well, they are tripling it, though, so you… 56 00:06:21.270 --> 00:06:21.650 Kathie Obradovich: Yeah. 57 00:06:21.650 --> 00:06:46.649 Laura Belin: be an increase in the exemption, so that… so as you say, then the local governments… I mean, the House bill is definitely worse for the local governments, because they still have that firm cap of 2% increased revenue year on year, with exceptions for new growth and schools and debt servicing. But the Senate bill was much more flexible for local governments, because they had an inflation adjustment. 58 00:06:47.310 --> 00:06:52.649 Laura Belin:

    32 min
  8. Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 4/11/26

    Apr 11

    Iowa Down Ballot with Dave Price 4/11/26

    The Iran War Is Hitting Wallets Gas is up 21% — the biggest spike since 1967 — and diesel has jumped more than $2 a gallon. We dig into how the ongoing Iran conflict is driving inflation and why Trump’s “lower energy costs” promise is looking increasingly hollow. War Powers Resolutions, 25th Amendment talk, and a declared victory that doesn’t quite feel like one round out the national picture. Iowa’s Delegation Is Hiding The Iowa Republican delegation has gone almost completely silent — no real comment on the war, the Easter tweets, or the gas prices constituents are grumbling about every time they fill up. We’re especially surprised Joni Ernst, in her final term with nothing to lose, hasn’t said a word. Property Tax Standoff The Iowa Senate passed a bipartisan property tax reform bill — and now the real fight begins. The Senate and House are philosophically miles apart: soft cap vs. hard cap, gas tax vs. no gas tax, age-based relief vs. universal relief. Something has to pass, but nobody can quite see where the middle is. Feenstra Pokes the ESA Hornet’s Nest Randy Feenstra said private schools taking voucher money should have to accept any student, period. The blowback was swift. It’s probably a great general election position — just maybe not a great primary one. Wahls vs. Turek: Gloves Off At a Wednesday forum, Zach Wahls went sharper than expected for a candidate who appears to be ahead — hitting Turek on super PAC money and an immigration vote. Turek kept it positive, leaning on his one argument: he’s already won in Trump country. The race feels closer than the polling lets on. AI generated transcript below: Dave Price: Hi, everybody, and welcome back to another edition of Iowa Down Ballot Podcast. I’m Dave Price, along with my Iowa Writers Collaboratives cohorts, Kathie Obradovich and Laura Belin. Happy weekend, ladies! 4 00:00:26.020 --> 00:00:27.530 Laura Belin: Happy Friday! 5 00:00:28.020 --> 00:00:47.970 Dave Price: We were just having a long discussion about technology. Friend or foe? You decide. Mostly a friend. I was just sharing how we had this unexpected issue in our house right before a TV live shot, because I was using my home studio, and my daughter inadvertently, playing with her friends, like, kicked out the modem, and… 6 00:00:48.050 --> 00:00:58.159 Dave Price: It was, like, 40 minutes of drama, me running from room to room trying to figure out why it didn’t work, and in the end, I couldn’t fix it, and the company did. I’ll spare everybody the details, but… 7 00:00:58.360 --> 00:01:07.570 Dave Price: I was sweaty and out of breath right before I was trying to go on TV and talk, but in the end, it all worked out, so… Technology ended up being our friend. 8 00:01:09.010 --> 00:01:11.710 Laura Belin: But she can smell your fear, Dave. 9 00:01:11.710 --> 00:01:27.680 Dave Price: I’m sure they smelled it, because, oh my gosh, yeah, I was sweating blood for a while. I’m thinking, how… you know, like, some… especially with technology, like, sometimes you just don’t know how to solve it. And so that’s what… it was my own fear. I’m like, I’m not smart enough to solve this. 10 00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:34.780 Dave Price: But my live shot is at 6.07 on TV last night, and I needed to be ready before then, and… 11 00:01:35.850 --> 00:01:36.310 Laura Belin: You made it. 12 00:01:36.310 --> 00:01:44.239 Dave Price: the company fixed it. Whatever the heck it was, they finally fixed it. So here we are. Okay, so let’s catch up on a few things. I feel like, 13 00:01:44.670 --> 00:01:57.930 Dave Price: our list is sort of growing of things I wanted to get into this week, but, Kathie, how about you lead off today? Although, the headline, we’re not going to go deep into this, but did you both see some of the national numbers about 14 00:01:58.130 --> 00:02:14.180 Dave Price: what the war with Iran has done to inflation, so 3.3%, diesel costs are up, like, more than 2 bucks a gallon. Regular gas is up, like, 21%, biggest increase since 1967. 15 00:02:14.340 --> 00:02:19.709 Dave Price: I don’t know if we have a ceasefire or don’t have ceasefire, I never quite understood the provisions of 16 00:02:20.310 --> 00:02:32.309 Dave Price: who’s controlling the straight, and if things have changed, and if… I don’t understand all of it, but I just think that’s something worth… worth watching here. I’m curious the people’s patience level as they keep seeing these higher costs. 17 00:02:32.890 --> 00:02:46.790 Laura Belin: I mean, well, I keep seeing that these gas prices are not going to come down, maybe, for the whole rest of the year. I mean, even if the ceasefire holds, there’s so much disruption, and some of the production facilities have been destroyed, so… 18 00:02:48.160 --> 00:02:54.440 Kathie Obradovich: Yeah, it’s… it’s off-brand for Trump, given that he campaigned on, you know, lowering gas. 19 00:02:54.440 --> 00:02:54.760 Dave Price: That’s. 20 00:02:54.760 --> 00:03:09.640 Kathie Obradovich: etc. And, you know, as this conflict drags on and on and on, his, you know, reassurance that this is just a blip, and that oil and gas prices are going to go right back down once the 21 00:03:09.640 --> 00:03:16.829 Kathie Obradovich: You know, once they’ve declared victory, which both Trump and Hegseth, I believe, did declare victory this week. 22 00:03:16.830 --> 00:03:31.860 Kathie Obradovich: Although their negotiations with Iran are far from settled. So, I do think that we have, an ongoing situation. There’s more talk in Congress about war power resolutions. 23 00:03:32.490 --> 00:03:50.650 Kathie Obradovich: you know, sort of a… you’ve got Congress on, on recess right now, so… but they have, like, little Gavilan sessions, kind of like the legislature does when they’re not in session. There were some Democrats who tried to bring up a war powers resolution during the Gavilan section… session. 24 00:03:50.650 --> 00:03:51.040 Dave Price: pursue. 25 00:03:51.040 --> 00:04:10.149 Kathie Obradovich: You know, of course it was not, it was not successful, obviously, but, you know, I think we haven’t heard the last of that, and I think it’s entirely possible that there will be more Republicans that come on board with the War Powers Resolution as this goes on, and then you’ve also got this sort of renewed 25th Amendment. 26 00:04:10.650 --> 00:04:34.070 Kathie Obradovich: effort that, you know, trying to remove, Trump from office because of his comments on Easter and afterward about, you know, destroying a whole civilization in Iran. So… so I do think that we’re not hearing the last of this, and, I mean, it’s… the timing of it just virtually guarantees that it’s going to be a major campaign issue. 27 00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:49.389 Dave Price: Have you both noticed how quiet the Iowa delegation has been with this? And I’m… I mean, I… obviously the… I didn’t expect any of them to get up and tweet after 28 00:04:49.870 --> 00:05:06.160 Dave Price: however you want to characterize Trump’s Easter message when he’s threatening to wipe away an entire, civilization, sort of a two-part, series of tweets that he had done over a couple of days. But, I feel like almost with… maybe initially. 29 00:05:06.620 --> 00:05:13.859 Dave Price: with the war, there was, there was a show of support with some of our Republican… 30 00:05:14.030 --> 00:05:17.629 Dave Price: Delegation, but largely has been pretty quiet since then. 31 00:05:17.630 --> 00:05:21.579 Laura Belin: I think they’re trying to say as little about it as possible, and Dave. 32 00:05:21.580 --> 00:05:23.819 Dave Price: Including after his speech, his primetime speech. 33 00:05:23.820 --> 00:05:27.099 Laura Belin: And you got a comment last week from Ashley Hinson’s 34 00:05:27.130 --> 00:05:45.110 Laura Belin: staff saying that she trusts the Commander-in-Chief to keep us safe, but at some point, the Iowa delegation is going to have to start commenting on it. I mean, you can run and hide from some of these issues, but every time people fill up their tank, they’re noticing that it costs a lot more. 35 00:05:45.110 --> 00:05:53.470 Laura Belin: So, I’m… I don’t know… I don’t know what the best play is for them right now. I think they’re just hoping to say not very much about it. 36 00:05:53.980 --> 00:05:59.020 Kathie Obradovich: I’m pretty surprised that Joni Ernst hasn’t said anything, really, by now. 37 00:05:59.020 --> 00:06:15.739 Kathie Obradovich: Given that she’s leaving Congress. You know, she’s leaving the U.S. Senate. She’s got, you know, essentially nothing really to lose there. So I… I’m a little surprised, especially given, you know, her brand as a military veteran, etc. 38 00:06:15.740 --> 00:06:30.600 Kathie Obradovich: I mean, I can see why Zach Nunn wouldn’t say anything. He’s running for re-election in a competitive race and, you know, needs Trump’s support. But I would have thought Joni Ernst would have maybe said more about it by now. 39 00:06:30.870 --> 00:06:33.159 Dave Price: Don’t you think, though, that maybe… 40 00:06:34.080 --> 00:06:42.090 Dave Price: pre-HEGSeth confirmation, Ernst would have been more vocal, Now, granted, pre… 41 00:06:42.220 --> 00:06:50.090 Dave Price: That pre-nominate… pre-confirmation, it was still the expectation that she was perhaps going to run again, and she said. 42 00:06:50.670 --> 00:06:55.020 Dave Price: publicly announced differently, but I feel like she’s pivoted to… 43 00:06:56.420 --> 00:07:06.549 Dave Price: really being a fervent supporter of the administration at all times. I don’t know that I… I can’t think of anything over the last… 44 00:07:07.120 --> 00:07:10.620 Dave Price: however many months, where she has said anything. 45 00:07:10.970 --> 00:07:12.039 Dave Price: In disagreement. 46 00:07:12.040 --> 0

    44 min
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About

Professional political analysts discuss Iowa politics with refreshing, in-depth conversations. iowawriterscollaborative.substack.com

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  • Creator
    Iowa Writers Collaborative Members
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    54
  • Rating
    Clean
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    © Iowa Writers Collaborative
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    Iowa Down Ballot

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