Rebound: Can the Scott County GOP help Turn the Tide for Republicans Statewide?
- Tuesday, November 3, 2009, 4:30
- Iowa, News Center, Top Story
- 998 views
- 8 comments
Just over a decade ago, Republicans held eight of the nine legislative seats in Scott County, today Republicans only control three of those seats. The difficulties that Republicans have recently experienced in Scott County are not confined to one county; it is something that ails Republicans in all of eastern Iowa. Currently, Republicans control only five senate seats and sixteen house seats east of Polk County. If you want to understand why Republicans have lost their majorities, one need to look at what has happened to the state of the Republican Party in eastern Iowa.
In January of 2000, there were almost 5,000 more registered Republicans in Scott County than there were registered Democrats. Today, Democrats enjoy a registered voter advantage of 8,622 over Republicans. The 13,000 person swing in registered voters explains why Republicans have struggled to win elections in Scott County, the first congressional district, and statewide.
In the late 1990’s, Republican statewide candidates could win if they were able to perform reasonably well in Polk County. Many times, western Iowa counties as along with eastern Iowa Republican strongholds like Scott County could offset the margin that Democratic candidates could build in Polk and Johnson counties. Unfortunately, those were the glory days of Republican politics. In recent years, the only area of the state in which Republicans can build significant margins over Democrats is in northwest Iowa.
The good news for Republicans is that recent elections have shown that good candidates can win in eastern Iowa. Nick Wagner and Renee Schulte were able to win two urban Linn County seats in the Iowa House in 2008, and Shawn Hamerlinck was able to win a Scott County Senate seat that year as well. Hamerlinck’s victory doubled the number of Republican state senators in the 1st Congressional District from one to two.
Another important development in terms of the Republican recovery in Eastern Iowa is the resurgence of the Scott County Republican Party. While Scott County has always enjoyed great activist support, they are now ramping up their fundraising efforts, which will allow them to have a greater impact on the 2010 elections. If successful, what is happening in Scott County should be implemented in every other urban county in the state.
Helping to lead the way for the Scott County GOP is former Republican Party of Iowa Chairman, Brian Kennedy. Kennedy, who ran for congress in 2006, has signed on to serve at the Scott County Republicans’ Finance chair. Kennedy’s first course of action was to develop and implement a major donor program. Raising money for county party organizations is not easy work. For most counties, Iowa’s first in the nation caucuses allow them to raise significant money to fund their efforts. Additionally, many counties also have a Century Club which solicits $100 donations.
Kennedy’s more aggressive fundraising approach has the Scott County Republican Party raising money more like the state party does. Instead of individual ticket sales and $100 contributions, the Scott County GOP has a Lincoln Club, which asks supporters for large yearly donations in return for tickets to all of their events and quarterly briefings from influential politicos. The Scott County GOP’s first quarterly briefing featured Gentry Collins, the current political director for the Republican National Committee. Collins, a native Iowan, met with members to give them an update about what RNC is currently working on.
Kennedy believes that eastern Iowa will play a critical role in next year’s Republican primary and general election. Five of the six current gubernatorial candidates all call western or central Iowa home. The only candidate from eastern Iowa is Cedar Rapids businessman Christian Fong. With no candidate having a geographical advantage in Scott County and the other river counties on the eastern side of the state, it is likely that the Republican primary will be determined by who is able to garner the most support in those counties.
Eastern Iowa also likely holds the key to defeating Governor Chet Culver. In TheIowaRepublican.com poll, the only candidate who was able to beat Governor Culver in a head-to-head matchup was Terry Branstad. The reason why Branstad was able to soundly defeat Culver is because of how well he did in eastern Iowa. For any candidate to be successful against Culver, he will have to perform well in eastern Iowa.
Kennedy believes that the message that will resonate with eastern Iowa voters should focus on job creation and the economy. Data from the Iowa Workforce Development office shows that the unemployment rate in Scott County is currently at 7.3 percent, four points higher than it was when Governor Chet Culver took office in January of 2007. The 1st congressional district has historically been considered to be a Democrat-leaning district because it contains blue-collar towns like Davenport, Dubuque, Clinton, and Waterloo. However, before the 2006 elections, the district was represented by Republicans for more than 20 years.
The 2010 elections should bring a lot of opportunities for Iowa Republicans to pick up legislative seats and win statewide contests. However, if Republicans are going to be successful, they must build the grassroots organization necessary to turn out enough votes on Election Day. That takes a lot of money, and that is why Brian Kennedy and the Scott County GOP should be commended for their hard work and dedication to help elect Republicans.
The Scott County GOP will hold its first annual Reagan Dinner next Tuesday. The event will feature the Republican candidates for governor, as well as former New York Governor George Pataki. The event will be held at the Quad-Cities Waterfront Convention Center at 5:15 p.m. For more information or to purchase tickets, click here. TheIowaRepublican.com will be in Scott County to cover the event next week.
About the Author
Craig Robinson has written 452 stories on this site.
Craig Robinson serves as the founder and Editor-in-Chief of TheIowaRepublican.com. Prior to founding Iowa's largest conservative news site, Robinson served as the Political Director of the Republican Party of Iowa during the 2008 Iowa Caucuses. In that capacity, Robinson planned and organized the largest political event in 2007, the Iowa Straw Poll, in Ames, Iowa. Robinson also organized the 2008 Republican caucuses in Iowa, and was later dispatched to Nevada to help with the caucuses there. Robinson cut his teeth in Iowa politics during the 2000 caucus campaign of businessman Steve Forbes and has been involved with most major campaigns in the state since then. His extensive political background and rolodex give him a unique perspective from which to monitor the political pulse of Iowa.
8 Comments on “Rebound: Can the Scott County GOP help Turn the Tide for Republicans Statewide?”
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Encouraging article. Thanks.
Wow, a whole piece about Republicans and Scott County without any mention of Jim Leach. Scott County was a GOP stronghold when there was still room in the GOP for moderates. Jim Leach represented eastern Iowa in Congress for decades, but Mariannette Miller-Meeks was trashed for praising Leach, and Christian Fong ducked a question about whether he had voted for Leach.
Also, the right wing’s ouster of Maggie Tinsman in the 2006 primary for Iowa Senate district 41 didn’t help the GOP’s image in Scott County. Tinsman was highly capable and respected. Dave Hartsuch, not so much.
Sorry, DMDim, there is NO reason any Republican should listen to another loser Dim. There is no such thing as a smart Dim. If you voted for Obama, Culver and the rest of this wrecking crew, you would be best to keep your mouth shut.
Even those voting Dim have to live with the economic consequences of Dim policies. Those voting Dim are usually voting Dim because they’re coveting the wealth of those who earned it and they expect Dim lawmakers to steal the wealth of the producers and give it to them, the non-producers.
The problem with this theory is that as Maggie Thatcher once said, “The problem with liberalism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.” They’re killing the goose that lays the golden egg. People are leaving NY and NJ and CA in droves.
The migration will happen here, too, unless we get rid of these Dims running this state. Wait until they turn over the reigns of state to their sugar daddies–the labor unions.
This proposed convoluted destructive “health care” plan, coupled with the RAT “Cap and Tax” plan is a certain economy buster. I’d be ashamed to be associated with Dims.
I am writing off topic, since I know most of the people on here do not watch the colbert report, you are not aware that the US Speed skating team lost its primary sponsor and is scrabling for funds. Colbert has stepped in to help fundraise for them. I know many of you probably don’t like him, but this is a good patriotic cause I thought everyone could get behind. You can go to colbertnation or the US speed skating cite to make a donation.
silence
Brian Kennedy is a national treasure, Silence.
Craig you are right on: “For any candidate to be successful against Culver, he will have to perform well in eastern Iowa.” This is why if we nominate “one-note” BVP or a legislative policy wonk like Rants, instead of a respected leader — the only thing we will be hearing 1 year from now is Culver playing “happy days are here again”.
I hope those out there who do not recognize this wake up soon. Because if we have another 4 years of Culver due to Republican primary ineptness, many of us native born conservative Iowans who love this state dearly may have to consider other places to be able to make a living.
Excellent point. Considering the fact that my overriding objective is to make sure Culver is not reelected, I will likely wait until the last moment and decide which one of our candidates is most likely to take out Culver and that will be the person I vote for in the primary.
Anyone of our guys is better than Culver. Since all are worthy, go for the one most likely to defeat Culver. There isn’t that much difference in any of them. We have a good bunch.
nwiowaguy,
You’re endorsing Rod Roberts?