Rainy weather did not prevent a good crowd at the Governor’s 3rd Annual Harvest Festival on Saturday (21 September).
Party Chairman Jeff Kaufmann opened the evening and stressed the respect which President Trump has for the Governor.
Sen. Chuck Grassley stated that the “tremendous turnout” honored the service of Gov. Kim Reynolds. He pledged to do what he can to keep the Iowa legislature in Republican hands in 2020, and he declared that he wanted Ernst returned as his colleague; he admitted to getting along with a Democrat colleague for 30 years, but pointed out that his vote was canceled out by that colleague 9 times out of 10. He praised the President for being committed to doing in office what he promised to do during his campaign, and pointed out that “most Presidents” do not stand on their platform once elected; he also stressed the importance of the President keeping his promise to appoint judges who judge instead of legislating, and pledged to work hard to ensure that the President is re-elected so that he can continue to do so.
Sen. Joni Ernst called her colleague “the best mentor in the Senate”; she emphasized the need to pass the USMCA, and tweaked the Democrats for holding a steak fry across town although their Green New Deal calls for the elimination of cattle.
Gov. Reynolds claimed that being grandma to 10 grandkids was the best job ever, but that being governor of Iowa was “a close second.” She got a very positive reaction from the crowd when she stated that we need to turn all of our Congressional districts red. She noted that the Democrats’ “favorite word is ‘free,’” and criticized them for wanting “to tell us what kind of car we can drive” and “what kind of gun we can own.”
Karen Pence, a former governor’s spouse herself, began by recognizing Kevin Reynolds for his work to preserve the mansion; she then complimented Kim Reynolds for getting a college degree at age 57 (and added that she does not look 57 even now).
Mrs. Pence also provided an interesting vignette: she quoted her husband as saying that the President “doesn’t know reverse.” Unfortunately, with many of the Republicans in Washington (like the 11 Republican Senators who just voted anew to overturn the President’s emergency declaration, which enables him to find funds to build the border wall), that seems to be the only gear they have which works; like the failure to fund the wall, the failure of the Republican Congress to repeal and replace Obamacare is a reminder that we need to do more than elect more Republicans to Congress: we need to elect a better class of Republicans to Congress than we have had in the past.
