New post by Randy Evans: Too often, government regulators seemingly do not want people to know when and how businesses fail to meet the baseline standards. www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/09/01/f...
Reporter covering Iowa politics (and sometimes wildflowers) for the progressive website Bleeding Heartland. https://www.bleedingheartland.com Part-time statehouse reporter for KHOI Radio in Ames. https://laurabelin.substack.com
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New post by Randy Evans: Too often, government regulators seemingly do not want people to know when and how businesses fail to meet the baseline standards. www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/09/01/f...
I'm saying Dems don't have a massive messaging machine to prop them up every day of the week. I don't believe they can win a messaging war over a shutdown. They will be forced to reopen the government in no better position than before. Rs didn't gain leverage over Obama through shutdowns.
Both options are bad for Ds. I'm not saying they should give Trump what he wants but I don't believe they will get any real concessions from a shutdown. It will be a mess with the right-wing noise machine telling tens of millions of people it's Democrats' fault. And mainstream media "both sides"
They aren't running the government because of shutdowns. They are running the government because a massive right-wing communications infrastructure has been pushing their talking points on people 365 days a year for many years. The shutdowns hurt their popularity and they gained no real concessions.
I think the idea is that Trump/Republicans will blame Dems for people not getting their Social Security checks, veterans benefits etc on time. Once the government is shut down how do they force Republicans to make concessions? That never worked for the GOP in past shutdowns.
Tonight's Iowa politics radio show is up on podcast platforms and smart speakers now: "KHOI's Capitol Week" Tomorrow I'll send the audio file & detailed written recap (for those who would rather read than listen) on my free newsletter: laurabelin.substack.com
Glad we didn't take the week off! @spencerdirks.bsky.social and I have a lot to discuss, starting with the latest reporting on Joni Ernst's 2026 plans. Tune in at 89.1 FM in the Ames listening area or online: www.khoifm.org (will be on podcast platforms later as "KHOI's Capitol Week")
Crime is literally lower than it has been in the entire life of every single non-senior-citizen American. If you are under age 65 you have never lived at a time with lower property crime rates, lower violent crime rates or lower homicide rates. Never.
New post by Rod Sullivan: Iowa Democrats cannot any longer claim to be the party of voting rights, then endorse a process that systematically excludes a big part of the population.
With the big special election last week in Sioux City, I forgot to mention that Dave Dawson, a former Iowa House member from Woodbury County, announced Wednesday that he's running for Congress in #IA04. I interviewed Dawson on Thursday: www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSEp...
The mental fitness of elderly Presidents has been such an important issue for the media lately, so I expect wall-to-wall coverage of how President Trump has once again thrown a fit about one of his own signature policies, showing no awareness of how it arose or who executed it.
100%, all of this. It's what we advise @runforsomething.net candidates to do (and with the exception of point 10, which wasn't relevant, is basically what Zohran did in NYC.)
I visited Chicago last year and stayed with a friend on the south side. Fantastic city.
New post by Dean Lerner: Most of the world deserves an apology. In Donald Trump's America, allies have been abandoned, while enemies are being embraced. www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/08/31/a...
I think there are benefits to politicians writing their own stuff on social media and not handing it over to staff. Look at Chuck Grassley's Twitter feed. It is fun and interesting a lot of the time because of his quirks.
It's incredibly frustrating for people when they want to help but the campaign makes it difficult or makes them feel like their time was wasted.
I can only speak about what Iowa Democrats are doing. They are paying attention to what has worked in this year's special elections.
I mean under the current administration.
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is a great show! Jesus Christ Superstar is pretty good too.
One thing's for sure: this will never happen in Iowa.
New post: greg wickenkamp covers an Iowa City rally opposing the state's decision to close the State Historical Society of Iowa archives. www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/08/31/a...
The Iowa House approved an age-verification bill this year, but it didn't reach the Iowa Senate floor. www.legis.iowa.gov/legislation/... Democrat Adam Zabner was the only Iowa House member to vote against it.
I don't often see Spanish-language outreach from Iowa candidates. Catelin Drey's website was fully available in Spanish (she told us more languages are coming). A lesson for down-ballot races in other Iowa cities & towns with large Latino populations. www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/08/30/t...
There’s going to be a primary.
This “explicit” is a weird editorial choice. The constitution gives the president no power over this at all. It’s not ambiguous.
I doubt he will ever spend a day in prison.
Readers: "Great data & analysis on the win" "An article worth reading" "Any article that includes spreadsheets is my kind of article!" (of precinct-level results from Iowa Senate district 1 in 2022, 2024, and this week's special) www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/08/30/t...
This firefighter arrived in the US at age 4, has been here for 19 years, was on track to legal status, and was on a crew trying to contain a major blaze (in Washington state, vs Oregon, fwiw.) h/t @joshuajfriedman.com www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Oh--so it's a Firefox issue?
Thanks. I will let my tech guy know.
Which browser are you using? And was this on a phone or on a laptop/desktop?
I can see the media. Are you sure it isn't just slow loading for you?
New post: How did a Democrat win by 10 points in an Iowa Senate district that voted for Trump by 11? My take on what Catelin Drey and her team did right, and lessons Democrats can apply to other down-ballot races. www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/08/30/t...
Hearing some confusion about today's news, so to be clear: there are no indications Senator Joni Ernst is stepping down next week. Supposedly she plans to announce next week that she won't seek a third term in 2026. Very different. www.cbsnews.com/news/joni-er...
Does he think no one in other countries has mental health issues? Why do these mass shootings at schools only happen in the U.S.?
Vivek Ramaswamy is equally fake.
BREAKING NEWS: Joni “We’re All Going to Die” Ernst is bowing out of this race, because she knows what we’ve known for a long time — Iowa is WINNABLE! We’re the only campaign offering real change after decades of failed leadership from both parties, but we can’t do it without you. Chip in today!
It's no surprise Joni Ernst dropped out of the race. Just this week, a poll showed our campaign in a position to defeat her. Make no mistake – we're building the organizing operation to defeat whoever Republicans nominate instead.
It doesn’t matter whether Joni Ernst is running or anyone else. I know where I stand, and when I'm in the Senate, I'll never forget about Iowa.
Unbelievably bad. “The CDC you knew is over. Unless someone takes radical action, there is nothing there that can be salvaged.” www.advocate.com/politics/dem...
Absolutely possible. I don't know who will run there. Probably some state legislators.
Hinson will wait until the official Ernst announcement.
You lie! Ivermectin is a horse dewormer, not tranquilizer.
I asked someone yesterday why so many MAGA Republicans are against wind energy. Apparently they think wind turbines cause autism as well as cancer.
The math is very difficult. Democrats need sky-high Dem turnout and lower GOP turnout than we've seen in any Iowa midterm in many years. And more GOP crossover votes than usual and a clear majority of independents. Not impossible, just hard. This is not a toss-up race like 2020 seemed to be.
No-party turnout crashes in midterm years. Even if the Dem nominee gets 60 or 65% of the independent vote (unlikely), it isn't enough to make up for the huge advantage Republicans have with base turnout.
Sure, some Rs will vote D and I expect the majority of no-party voters to support Ds. I walk through the numbers in that post from June. When you start with almost 200,000 more Rs than Ds in the electorate, it gets hard to piece together a winning scenario. Very, very different from 2018.
It doesn't prove she knew she was going to lose. I think she would still have been favored to win but the election would have been much tougher than the last one. Maybe she just didn't want to deal with it and with the negative ads people would have run about this: www.propublica.org/article/joni...
Because in 2018 the parties were nearly level in terms of voter registrations. Now there are around 180,000 more Republicans than Democrats. And the GOP has had a higher turnout rate than Democrats in every Iowa midterm election since at least 2002.
I didn't say that. It's not helpful to Democrats to pretend that Republicans aren't favored in Iowa. People need to understand how the terrain has changed.
I would say the conventional wisdom in Iowa has shifted over the past year. Now many believe Hinson would be harder to beat than Ernst. I don't think Whitaker would be as strong a general election candidate, but in any scenario, Republicans are favored. www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/06/15/r...
I think Hinson would be harder to beat than Whitaker.
Any Republican nominee for any statewide race goes into a general election as the favorite in Iowa. www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/06/15/r... And the GOP primary electorate is very MAGA-fied.
Plenty of time for other Democrats to plan a campaign in this district. The filing deadline isn't until next March.
I'm sure five SCOTUS justices will find it perfectly legal as part of the unitary executive power.
NBC News confirms this report, adding that Matt Whitaker (now US ambassador to NATO) will consider coming back to run for #IASen. That would create a big problem for Ashley Hinson #IA02, who is widely seen as the top GOP candidate for Senate if Ernst retires. www.nbcnews.com/politics/202...
New post: Former State Senator Nate Boulton announced today that he's running for the Iowa House next year. He carried the precincts in House district 39 even as he narrowly lost his Iowa Senate re-election bid in 2024. #ialegis www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/08/29/n...
Before long Trump will start pressuring Congress to make January 6 a national holiday. Most Republicans would probably go along.
Trump and RFK Jr. hand picked Susan Monarez to lead the CDC. Now, they are trying to force her out for refusing to rubber stamp their anti-vaccine conspiracy theories. This administration is so hellbent on killing people that even their own nominees are saying no. It must end.
“In a free market system” let me stop you right there, buddy, “free markets” for healthcare generally mean “lots of poor people die unnecessarily” and in this specific case, it means “poor people die early after selling their organs to avoid collection agencies”.
I don't think he is a Susan Collins type. He seems pretty conservative.
I'm not saying he's a great guy. I think his comments signal big problems unifying the GOP base if Randy Feenstra is their nominee for governor.
No Democrat is winning any statewide election in Iowa in a landslide.
Republican Mark Nelson: "I do think that it was about Kim Reynolds. [...] and about what Republicans have done in the Iowa legislature for several years now. [...] The policy that's been coming out of Des Moines, if you're a regular Iowan—Republican, independent, Democrat—has just been awful."
Making the rounds in Iowa: an epic Facebook rant by a Woodbury County Supervisor Mark Nelson (a Republican), about why Democrat Catelin Drey just won a special election by a wide margin. www.facebook.com/615554997371...
Post is back up now: www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/08/27/i...
Post is back up now: www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/08/27/i...
Post is back up now: www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/08/27/i...
We had a technical problem last night, but this week's #Iowa #wildflowers post is working now! Lora Conrad explains how to distinguish Poison Ivy from similar looking plants and fact checks many folk sayings about the plant. www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/08/27/i...
A Democrat has flipped a state senate seat in Iowa. Here's why that's bad news for Democrats.
I had to take down the article because there was a glitch with the photos, but hope I can publish tomorrow. Her point is that poison ivy can present in a lot of different ways. So we may think we know what it looks like but we might not recognize all of its forms.
New post by Gerald Ott: Anti-DEI is small potatoes cooked up by small minds—an epidemic of political witchcraft seeking to restrict academic discovery. www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/08/27/t...
There is a weird glitch happening with this--I am unpublishing and will try again tomorrow.
There was a technical problem so I had to temporarily take down the post. Sorry about that!
Iowa State Senator-elect Catelin Drey is going to be the next guest on with @velshi.com (who is filling in for @lawrenceodonnell.msnbc.com on MSNBC) tonight. ICYMI, our conversation with her this morning: laurabelin.substack.com/p/iowa-senat...
Authoritarian-style propaganda (images via Gemini)
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), top Dem on the Senate health committee, on this evening's chaos at CDC: “We cannot let RFK Jr. burn what’s left of the CDC and our other critical health agencies to the ground—he must be fired."
Credit for the Win: 1) Catelin Drey 2) Iowa State Senate Dems 3) Woodbury County Democrats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . National Groups who are trying exaggerate their efforts
How can that be legal? Don't they need some probable cause?
Lust for power. He can do a lot as chair of the Judiciary Committee.
What a way to start the day! @zacharyos.bsky.social and I spoke to the woman of the hour, State Senator-elect Catelin Drey, and Iowa Senate Dem leader @janice4iowa.bsky.social about how they pulled off a big win in a Trump+11 district. laurabelin.substack.com/p/iowa-senat...
Yes, but there may not have been many switchers. This was a lower turnout special election.
Thank you so much! I really love covering state legislative races. We're going to have a lot of interesting ones in Iowa next year.
She was endorsed by everyone! Labor unions, Sierra Club, and more. But very glad she's a strong supporter of LGBTQ rights.
Catelin Drey crushed it tonight, winning by 55.2% to 44.8% in an Iowa Senate district that Trump carried by 11. Can't wait to dig into the precinct-level results. @ZacharyOS.bsky.social and I will talk with the Democrat tomorrow.
That's 8 a.m. Central time, Wednesday, August 27.
He'll likely try this, but I think the real danger comes after the 2026 midterms. Sure, they'll try to sway them with gerrymandering and "emergencies" that shut down polling places in key Democratic areas. But if Dems make real gains the current GOP majority can cry fraud and refuse to seat them.
Here's the audio and written recap (for those who would rather read than listen) of the latest "KHOI's Capitol Week." @spencerdirks.bsky.social and pack a lot of news into every episode, and the show will never take up more than 30 minutes of your time. laurabelin.substack.com/p/new-candid...
Always fun to talk Iowa politics with Arnie Arnesen @nharnie.bsky.social. Link to last week's show: www.podomatic.com/podcasts/sta...
My Iowa Senate district 1 election preview, including background on the political landscape (voter registrations and recent voting history), the candidates, fundraising, advertising, and early vote numbers as of Monday afternoon: www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/08/24/i...
Polls are open until 8 pm in Iowa Senate district 1, covering most of Sioux City and parts of Woodbury County. Voting locations: elections.woodburycountyiowa.gov/elections/in... Completed absentee ballots can be hand-delivered to the county elections office (620 Douglas St, room 103) by 8 pm.
Tonight's show is available on all podcast platforms and smart speakers: "KHOI's Capitol Week" Tomorrow I'll send the audio file and a detailed written recap (for those who would rather read than listen) on my free email newsletter: laurabelin.substack.com
New post: Peggy Huppert profiles Jill Alesch, one of the progressive candidates running for the Johnston School Board this fall. (Progressives hope to defeat several Moms for Liberty candidates who were elected to the Johnston school board in 2021) www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/08/25/j...
Using the military against American citizens. We are in an incredibly dark place.
In a few minutes @spencerdirks.bsky.social and I are going to be live on KHOI Radio to talk about the week in Iowa politics. 89.1 FM in the Ames listening area or online: www.khoifm.org (will be on podcast platforms later as "KHOI's Capitol Week")
Updated my Iowa Senate district 1 preview with early voting numbers as of this afternoon. 3,174 ballots received: 1,535 from Democrats 1,294 from Republicans 333 from no-party voters 12 other (probably Libertarians) Polls open 7 am to 8 pm tomorrow. www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/08/24/i...
Will they remove him from the US before or after SCOTUS says they can?
Reading an article titled "Why didn't Brazilian democracy die?" and a key part of the story is a Supreme Court that actually did its job
My lab's been attacked by an anti-wind group and their lawyers. They threatened the science funding of my whole university, to shut me and my undergraduate research assistants up. NYT just covered it. 1/n www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/c...
I find it interesting how the press rationalizes Trump's drive towards corporatism as a "revision of capitalism": www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/b...
