James Q. Lynch The Gazette 2020 hopefuls headed to Iowa Trump probes, but maybe not impeachment, on House agenda A new U.S. House majority will look to 2020, but what else will come of it? Finkenauer defeats Blum in 1st District Iowa governor’s race all about voter turnout All articles by James Dave Loebsack, the Democratic U.S. representative in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District, doesn’t see many similarities between Tuesday’s election results and the blue wave he rode into Congress 12 years ago. In 2006, the former college professor defeated longtime Republican Rep. Jim Leach. Democrats picked up 21 seats in the U.S. House that year and made Rep. Nancy Pelosi the first female speaker of the House. This week, with some races yet to be settled, Democrats have gained 30 seats to once again, perhaps, make Pelosi speaker. However, Loebsack, who cruised to a 55 percent to 43 percent victory Tuesday to win a seventh term, thinks the similarity ends there. “The world has changed dramatically since that,” Loebsack said Thursday. “In 2006, it was largely a reaction to the Bush administration’s war in Iraq and some of the attempted overreaches on Social Security privatization and issues like that.” This year, the Democratic surge came largely from suburban voters because they are unhappy with President Donald Trump, Loebsack said. “We didn’t have anything like that in 2006. It was a simpler time,” he said. That may signal a continuation of the realignment seen in 2016, with rural areas becoming more… [Read full story]
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