2 for 1 on retirements today!
I wonder if Boswell wants to try again. If he doesn't, I'm sure Des Moines has a decent Dem bench.
But man this is really, really great. We have one Democratic pickup each in NJ-3, VA-10, IA-3, FL-13, AR-2, possibly MT-AL, and hopefully others to come from maybe Ros-Lehtinen, LoBiondo or Heck.
The race itself I'm already calling for D+1. We'll have to fight harder in VA-10 for sure because that's a complete tossup. This is a lean D race.
Appel is actually a former State Senator and she lost 57-40% in 2010. IIRC, she also wasn't the DCCC's first choice even when Latham was running for re-election (I think it was some wealthy businessman or something). From what I've read, I get the impression that she's a credible candidate (at least, as far as sacrificial lambs go), but not a particularly strong one either. While someone who knows more about Iowa politics would have a better idea of this than me, I suspect that there are some stronger potential candidates. Some have already mentioned the Mayor of Des Moines (I don't know anything about him) and I know State Senate Majority Mike Gronstal lives in the district (but I don't know if he'd be a good candidate or not). If the state treasurer, Mike Fitzgerald, lives in the district he'd be great.
