Third District Congressional Primary Gets Crowded
- Tuesday, December 15, 2009, 4:30
- Iowa, News Center, Top Story
- 2,061 views
- 19 comments
Two years ago, Iowa Republicans struggled to find one candidate to challenge Congressman Leonard Boswell in the general election despite the fact that Boswell faced a primary challenge of his own. Now, as many as five candidates are vying for the Republican nomination in Iowa’s third congressional district.
The latest candidate to emerge is Mark Rees. Rees, a retired architect, looks to be the moderate candidate in the Republican primary.
Rees told the Des Moines Register, “It’s not that I support what is and has been happening in Washington because I don’t any more than my fellow candidates, but it serves no legitimate purpose to craft politically motivated, emotionally driven statements laced with selected statistics promoting and promising unrealistic, unachievable results.”
The Des Moines Register also reported that Rees supports some sort of cap on carbon emissions and civil unions for same-sex couples.
The addition of Rees to the Republican field of candidates brings the number of candidates who have filed the necessary paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to four. Rees joins Dave Funk, Jim Gibbons, and Brad Zaun as announced candidates, and Pat Bertroche has campaigned but not filed with the FEC.
The robust field of candidates provides Republicans in the third district with a lot of choices when it comes time to vote in the primary next June. Dave Funk was the first candidate to enter the race in August. Funk is a retired airline pilot who has been involved in a number of Republican campaigns. He recently served as a co-chair of Iowa Sportsmen for McCain. Funk is also the President of the Iowa Chapter of Safari Club International.
Jim Gibbons was the next candidate to enter the race. Gibbons is best known for his years as the head wrestling coach at Iowa State University. In 1987, Gibbons led Iowa State to a national championship. As a wrestler at Iowa State, Gibbons was a three-time All-American and NCAA champion. Before dedicating all of his time to his congressional campaign, Gibbons served as the Vice President of Investments with Wells Fargo Advisors. Gibbons offers Republican voters a fresh conservative face who is also well known outside of the typical Republican circles.
Shortly following Gibbons’ announcement, State Senator Brad Zaun made it known that he too would be a candidate. Zaun, who’s held elected office since 1997, is the traditional candidate in the race. Zaun’s senate district covers Urbandale and parts of Des Moines. Zaun is well liked and known as a tenacious campaigner. Of all the candidates in the race, only Zaun’s name has appeared on a ballot before. In addition to being a State Senator, Zaun works in the commercial real estate business.
With so many candidates in the race, there is a chance that none of the candidates will reach the 35% threshold to win the Republican nomination outright. With all five candidates hailing from Polk County, the chance that a special nominating convention will be needed to determine the nominee is more likely. The last time a Republican was elected to Congress was in 2002 in Iowa’s fifth district. That race had a crowded primary field too, which ultimately was settled at convention. Congressman Steve King won on the third ballot. King also had the highest percentage of the vote in the primary.
The crowded field of candidates will also put a premium on fundraising. With the current state of the Iowa economy, raising money could be difficult for any candidate, let alone unknown candidates with little or no history of Republican involvement. To win the primary, candidates will have to raise enough money to run radio and TV ads across the district.
The Des Moines media market isn’t cheap. Complicating matters for these congressional candidates is the amount of other campaign ads that will fill the airwaves. The primary ballot in the third district will have contested primaries for Governor, Congress, Secretary of State, and State Treasurer. Cutting through the clutter will be no easy task. Still, with so many candidates emerging, it’s apparent that Republicans feel like they have a real shot against Congressman Boswell next fall.
About the Author
Craig Robinson has written 502 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.
19 Comments on “Third District Congressional Primary Gets Crowded”
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It certainly does seemed like five is a crowd. That reminds me of this one time over at Al’s Saloon where Trixie invited four of her friends to join us in our appointment. Honestly, while that sounds good on paper in reality its just too much for one guy. I’m not a machine. Just kidding, you all wish you were me! Giggidy giggidy goo!
Craig is right on the money…if these 5 stay in all the way until June..its very likely you’ll see a convention scenario.
Meaning organization will be key for all of these candidates. These candidates MUST then make sure that they get their supporters out to the caucuses on January 23rd and get elected as county delegates for county conventions.
I like Mike Rees. He is a very nice man but I just don’t see him being able to raise the money to compete with Gibbons and Zaun. I think those two will rise to the top based on name recognition and financial backing. I know Zaun’s fundraising ability has been called into question but he is a known quantity. Gibbons has not impressed me so far but it’s a long time until the primary.
Thanks for the update, Craig. Not sure Rees is in it to win it. He says he doesn’t want to craft politically motivated, emotionally driven statements laced with selected statistics promoting and promising unrealistic, unachievable results. Duh. But you’re not running for the local boy scout troop leader position. This is politics at the highest level. Boswell and his supporters will eat Rees up. Gibbons is a strong leader with a background in finance and management. He can raise money and beat Boswell.
Its still very early..none of these candidates have very strong organizational structure yet, but that comes quickly to the candidates who will rise to the top here.
Zaun has to prove he can fundraise more than what he did in his Senate campaigns in a VERY short amount of time, plus be able to balance being a State Senator, while campaigning.
Gibbons will be able to fundraise based off his name, but he has to show a firm grasp of the issues very quickly. Plus, with his background as a champion ISU wrestler and coach…when IDP tries to attack him based on his background there…they will risk alienating a LOT of central Iowa folks.
Funk, Bertroche and Rees all have one huge obstacle..name recognition…Funk recognized that and starter earlier…but still has a long ways to go.
It is so refreshing to see there are now 3 Republican candidates running for Congress in the third district that are pro-equality for gays, lesbians and bisexuals. Kudos to Pat Bertroche, Mark Rees and Brad Zaun.
I think it will be an interesting race. So good to see at least one candidate coming out with positive Ideas to move Iowa and America forward. And also not afraid to point out how he would vote differently compared to Boswell. Go Gibbons!
I’ve never been able to bring myself to vote for Boswell. He is far too pro-union for my tastes. I generally skip that spot on the ballot.
Amber, I’d be really surprised if they were really ok with marriage equality. I believe Mark Ress for instance wants to protect traditional marriage but is ok with Civil Unions. The other two I’m not sure. The other two I’m not as sure about. I haven’t been watching the congressional level primary runs that closely.
Vast, you may be right in terms of marriage equality. However, seeing Republicans that are open to civil unions and protection of gay, lesbian and bisexual youth is very good progress to see from a party that is generally very hostile to the community. I am not much of a Boswell fan either, but with Bertroche, Rees or Zaun there is at least an opportunity to look at supporting a Republican that embraces protections to gays, lesbians and bisexuals.
Craig, do you anticipate endorsing any of these candidates before the primary? As a reader of the site, it would be helpful to know if any of The Iowa Republican bloggers are volunteering or doing paid work for any of these candidates.
donlee, Rees’ statement does come across as idealistic, however I think he is simply trying to make the point that too much politics is driven by such unproductive rhetoric, while he wishes to approach office by being more forthcoming and proactive. Rees may suprise some people, he is intelligent and a good speaker. Shame that he might not be able to raise enough funding to get his name and stance out there as many have already asserted.
Craig is right about Zaun being a terrific campaigner……Zaun was featured in a great article in the Oskaloosa newspaper this week about his trip there to meet with supporters and give the commencement address at William Penn University, and I hear he about to be featured in another 3rd district newspaper this week with some other travels. Good to see Zaun making the rounds around the district discussing his conservative agenda and highlighting the outstanding record in office that he has representing us.
desmoinesdem,
I think I have answered that question before. I will not be working for any Republican candidate who is involved in a contested primary. I have made it a point to limit my professional involvement in any campaign. As for endorsements, I don’t think that is a road I will go down either. I can not speak for the other bloggers on the site. It is there call to make.
The only blogger on the site that is actively involved in a campaign to my knowledge is Dave Davidson who is a Bob Vander Plaats supporter. He has clearly stated that in his profile which is posted at the bottom of all his posts.
I heard that Zaun gave an interesting speech this morning filled with lots of I do this, I piss off big donors, I have done this. Not much vision for the future. Really too bad.
I also heard he said he votes with this heart. Again, really too bad I would think he would vote with his head and what is in the best interest of his constituents. It could be interesting now looking at his voting record.
wonders, i heard the speech this morning was excellent, filled with much of what Zaun HAS done as you said, as he is the only one in the race with an elected background. My understanding is he outlined his model that has worked that he plans to bring to DC. What about his 8 years as mayor with the lowest taxes in the metro area and record growth are you against? What about his voting record in the state senate of fiscal responsiblity, strong drug controls, and being elected assistant minority leader by his peers are you against? I respect all of his competitors greatly, however it seems to me the others in this race could not give the same speech as they haven’t done a thing in elected office. Clearly Zaun has a conservative model that works at every level, that being less government, low taxes, and producing growth. I am sure Zaun can’t wait for you to look at his voting record as it is one we are all proud of…and his constituents have voiced their opinion in 5 different elections, and voted Zaun in every time. They seem to like him a lot.
Mirage,
So you are clarifying Zaun is a career politician living off my tax dollars. Not sure if we need more of that in Washington. That is what I thought we were running against. Hmmmm.
wonders…are you still lying?…we all know Zaun has a career outside of politics, and always has. wake up. besides, isn’t it YOUR candidate Gibbons’ company that TOOK tax dollars to stay in business???….oh that’s right! Be a good little Gibbons minion and crawl back in your hole.
Is the reason Brad Zaun quit paying his mortgage to wells fargo because they took tarp funds? oh no, he quit paying his mortgage twice. you know, if people like brad would have kept paying the bills they owed, things like tarp never would have happened.
Mirage..you’ve spent a considerable amount of time tearing down the other candidates that you supposedly claim to respect…So go sell that line of BS somewhere else…
The fact that Zaun has been in office eight year is a blessing and a CURSE as well. We have a bunch of Congresscritters over in DC right now–many of whom were just like Brad Zaun…former mayor, state legislator…in leadership etc..one can certainly argue that their “experience” has done little in the way of good for our country right now.
The 2010 elections are looking more and more like the 1994 elections. We clearly have an extremely virulent anti-incumbent mood building in the country…except this time..its going for both sides. Voters are tiring quickly of the “career politician”…and lets be honest here, Zaun track is moving in that direction.
Let’s also keep in mind that the last Republican to hold this seat, Greg Ganske, also came into Congress with no elective experience. So, tooting Zaun’s horn about his “experience” might not play very well with people who are tired of the “career politician”.