Des Moines, Iowa — Nearly 200-thousand registered Democrats did not vote in 2022 and Iowa Democratic Party leaders say they’re focused on getting that group to vote in 2024.
Rob Johnson, a Baptist minister from Des Moines, opened the party’s annual fall fundraiser by acknowledging Democrats in Iowa have taken some hits at the ballot box, but he said the party is ready to bounce back.
(Watch your ears. Starts loud.)
Iowa Democratic Party chair Rita Hart says Republican lawmakers in Iowa have gone too far by enacting abortion restrictions and a dramatic increase in taxpayer funding of private schools.
Jennifer Konfrst, the Democratic leader in the Iowa House, says the political pendulum in Iowa has swung too far to the right.
Pam Jochum is the Democratic leader in the Iowa Senate where Democrats occupy just 16 of the 50 seats. Jochum says it took six years for Democrats to fall to that low point and her goal is to chip away and regain the majority for Democrats in six years.
State Auditor Rob Sand, the only Democrat in statewide elected office, says Democrats in Iowa are far better than their record looks and he cites Democrat Cindy Axne’s loss to Republican Zach Nunn in Iowa’s third congressional distract.
As of November 1st, Republicans hold a 116-thousand voter registration advantage over Democrats, but nearly 200-thousand Democrats have been moved to inactive status because they did not vote in the 2022 election.
