IA-01 - 2018

[thomas.cromwell]

Predictions on who Democrats will run?

Also what did Iowa Democrats/political observers see as what went wrong with Vernon's campaign that led Blum to outperform Trump by over 5 points?

[publicunofficial]

From what I'be heard, Vernon ran a very unremarkable campaign that caused many Democrats to stay home. That, plus Trump killing in Iowa, doomed her.

I would love to see Anesa Kajtazovic give it a shot, personally.

[PAK Man]

Part of it was the fact that Hillary Clinton is absolutely abhorred here in Iowa. Most of my friends who supported Bernie Sanders either very begrudgingly supported her or voted for Gary Johnson instead. And part of it was also the fact that Vernon's campaign wasn't really all that remarkable. She kept trying to link Blum to Trump, which, given Trump's performance in Iowa, probably wasn't the wisest move.

I also would love to see Anesa Kajtazovic go for it again, if she's interested at least.

Iowa's problem is that it doesn't have very many young Democrats that can excite the base and turn out voters. Most Democrats that run in Iowa have either been around forever or they're just "generic D." Anesa would go a long way towards fixing that problem.

One other person who might be a good candidate is Ravi Patel, a hotel executive who briefly ran for IA-01 last cycle before dropping out. A friend of mine who knows quite a bit about Iowa politics was really excited when Patel announced his candidacy.

State Sen. Liz Mathis, a former TV news anchor, is another option, though she might run for governor next cycle. But she's constantly mentioned as someone who might seek higher office.

[thomas.cromwell]

Interesting, seems odd looking back that she did not want to debate, and when she did so late in the year