Does anyone at Daily Kos still read state politics diaries? I'd like to bring those who are interested up to speed on who will be running the Iowa legislature, which reconvenes in January. Republicans elected their House and Senate leaders last week; Democrats did so yesterday and today.
Republican Governor-elect Terry Branstad will have a GOP-controlled House, but he'll have to cut some deals with a Democratic-controlled Senate.
The new Iowa House will have a 60-40 GOP majority. November 2 was a bloodbath for House Democrats, who previously had a 56-44 majority. We lost some outstanding representatives, and a few more held on by extremely narrow margins. Incredibly, three Iowa House Democrats who did not even have Republican challengers in 2008 lost this year.
House Republicans elected the same leadership team they've had for the last couple of years--no challenges. The incoming speaker will be Kraig Paulsen (formerly minority leader), and the new majority leader will be Linda Upmeyer. Upmeyer will be the first woman to hold such a senior position in the Iowa House. Her late father served in the chamber for more than two decades, rising to the speaker's chair.
Outgoing House Speaker Pat Murphy didn't seek the position of Democratic minority leader. Today Democrats elected Kevin McCarthy to be minority leader going forward. He was majority leader for the last four years under Speaker Murphy. It's not clear whether anyone challenged McCarthy today. I would have preferred to see new blood in the House Democratic leadership. McCarthy and Murphy sometimes pushed bad legislation, including the odor study bill that was a gift to CAFO operators. McCarthy is also a notorious opponent of real campaign finance reform (not only voluntary public financing, but even old-fashioned campaign contribution limits).
Two recounts are pending in the Iowa Senate, but the likely outcome is a 26-24 Democratic majority. Democrats are sticking with Mike Gronstal as majority leader. It doesn't sound as if he was challenged.
Senate Republicans didn't change their leadership either; Paul McKinley remains minority leader. One of his five assistant leaders is Brad Zaun, incidentally. Zaun is best-known outside Iowa as the guy who just lost to Leonard Boswell in a swing district (IA-03) despite the massive Republican wave. Zaun was a flawed candidate in many ways, and the Boswell/DCCC campaign was a textbook case of "winning ugly." That said, I'm not sure the GOP would have beaten Boswell by nominating Jim Gibbons, Zaun's main rival in the primary.
Gronstal promised immediately after the election and again this weekend that he will not allow any floor vote in the Senate on a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. McKinley's leadership team includes the two Iowa Senate Republicans who have been most involved in fighting marriage equality. David Johnson has circulated petitions demanding a floor vote on a marriage amendment. Merlin Bartz tried to get county recorders to refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2009. More recently he has fought any attempt by state agencies to rewrite rules in a way that extends benefits to same-sex couples. For instance, Bartz took a brave stand against letting gay couples pitch more than one tent at a campsite.
Amending the Iowa constitution is a long process. Two separately elected state legislatures have to approve any amendment before it can go before the voters, where it needs at least 50 percent approval. If Gronstal prevents passage of a marriage amendment in 2011 and 2012, Republicans would need to win the Iowa Senate in 2012, pass the amendment in 2013 or 2014, hold both chambers of the legislature in 2014, then pass the amendment in 2015 or 2016 before the amendment would appear on the 2016 general election ballot.
Share any thoughts about Iowa politics in this thread.
I'd also like to encourage Kossacks who are from Iowa or take an interest in our state's politics to cross-post your diaries at Bleeding Heartland. They could be about redistricting, the Republican presidential race or almost any state-level or local issue.
