Iowa
Iowa Democrats to pitch new-look caucuses in bid to go first once more
Watch: The three things that led to the Iowa caucus disaster
Three things led to a disastrous caucus night for Democrats.
The Des Moines Register
Iowa Democrats will travel to Washington, D.C., this week to pitch a streamlined caucus plan they hope will convince national party leaders that Iowa deserves another shot to be at the front of the presidential nominating calendar.
The state is among a dozen that will make in-person appeals to members of the Democratic National Committee’s powerful Rules and Bylaws Committee across three days beginning Wednesday, May 27.
That committee is tasked with setting the calendar for the 2028 presidential primary — a move that will determine where a wide-open field of expected candidates will dedicate their time, attention and resources in the years ahead.
Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart has argued repeatedly that the committee should reconsider Iowa as Democrats work to regain ground with rural, working-class voters who have fled the party in droves.
“In order to do that, we’ve got to have a state like Iowa where any Democratic presidential candidate can compete, where it’s affordable and where the candidates can look forward to getting up close and personal and really understanding the issues that will bring us back to an understanding of working class voters,” Hart told the Des Moines Register.
The committee plans to choose one state from each of four geographic regions, as well as a potential fifth state.
Members said the final calendar should include a grouping of states that represent the wider electorate.
The applicants are:
- East: Delaware and New Hampshire
- Midwest: Illinois, Iowa and Michigan
- South: Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia
- West: Nevada and New Mexico
Each of the prospective states made written applications, which the committee reviewed at a January meeting.
Here’s what Iowa Democrats want their 2028 presidential caucuses to look like
Late last year, the Iowa Democratic Party released the results of a survey it conducted to gather feedback from rank-and-file Democrats about the future of the presidential nominating caucuses.
Hart said it was clear through that survey that Iowa Democrats want the caucuses to be more accessible.
She said Iowa Democrats are proposing opening an absentee window to allow Democrats to indicate their presidential preferences by mail ahead of an in-person caucus.
“We can no longer hold a caucus on one cold night in January and think that that’s representative of our Democratic Party,” Hart said. “That’s a priority for us that we have more accessibility, and the obvious way to do that is through a mail-in process.”
Hart said that absentee process will be completed before Caucus Day to allow for an in-person component, which is also important to Iowa Democrats.
But gone will be the caucus format of years past when Democrats had to physically stand to show their support for a candidate and be counted.
The complicated math and “state delegate equivalents” also are out.
Instead, Democrats will express their preferences for their favorite candidate in writing.
“I think from our party faithful, from our volunteers who were tasked with making that math work, I think that was a lot of pressure on people and just was a headache,” Hart said. “They want a simpler process.”
She said she believes the new proposed process retains “the character and the flavor of the in-person caucus” but ditches the things that overcomplicated the system.
The tabulation of results should be simpler, and the party plans to hire a vendor to ensure it can release the full set of results on Caucus Night, she said.
In the past, any hint of paper ballots has triggered a fight with New Hampshire, which has long argued that it holds the nation’s first primary after Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses. If Iowa’s caucuses starts to look too much like a primary, New Hampshire has pushed back.
“My major concern is not with New Hampshire,” Hart said. “New Hampshire’s got to do what New Hampshire’s got to do. We’re going to do what’s best for Iowa.”
At the presentation in Washington, D.C., representatives for Iowa will make the case to the committee that in addition to winning back rural voters, national Democrats need to be able to counter the message Republicans will be spreading in Iowa as they host their first-in-the-nation caucuses in 2028.
Republicans spent $120 million in ads while competing in Iowa’s 2024 Republican caucuses, they’ll say, far exceeding what was spent in other early states.
Iowa representatives contend that unanswered messaging overwhelmed Democrats in Iowa and nationally at a key moment in the campaign cycle.
They will also argue that Iowa Democrats are on track to regain ground in the 2026 midterm elections with key battleground seats in the U.S. House, U.S. Senate and the governor’s race.
How did Iowa Democrats get here?
The DNC stripped Iowa of its first-in-the-nation caucus spot and reordered the nominating calendar in 2022 following a disastrous 2020 presidential caucus in which Iowa’s results were riddled with delays and errors.
Then-President Joe Biden recommended that South Carolina replace Iowa at the front of the line in 2024, with New Hampshire, Nevada, Georgia and Michigan to follow.
In 2024, rather than holding their traditional in-person first-in-the-nation caucuses, Iowa Democrats held a fully absentee mail-in event with the results announced on Super Tuesday in March.
Democrats met in person only to conduct party business the same day Iowa Republicans held their caucuses.
The DNC reopened the calendar process in 2025, with committee leaders saying they would prioritize states that can create a “rigorous, efficient and fair” nominating contest.
Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Des Moines Register. She writes about campaigns, elections and the Iowa Caucuses. Reach her at bpfann@dmreg.com or 515-284-8244. Follow her on X at @brianneDMR.
POLK CITY, Iowa (KCCI) – The summer swimming season may just be getting underway, but the Iowa DNR says there are already some beaches people should not swim at.
As KCCI reports, four Iowa beaches have high levels of E. coli in the first tests of the year: Backbone Beach, Beeds Lake Beach, Pine Lake South Beach, and Bobwhite State Park all had high levels of the bacterial colony.
The DNR tests state beaches every year from Memorial Day to Labor Day for various bacteria.
Big Creek Beach passed its first test of the season. With the beach testing high for bacteria in previous years, families said they were glad the beach tested all clear so far.
“The kids are happy to be playing in the water this year, so I’m glad that they’re able to swim and we’re not as worried,” said Sarah Sarton of West Des Moines.
Health officials urge caution even when water looks clean. Polk County Public Health director Juliann Van Liew said people should avoid consuming the water and use swim goggles when going underwater.
You can look up the water quality monitoring map on the DNR’s website.
Copyright 2026 KCRG. All rights reserved.
We at High School On SI previously offered up a list of candidates for the Iowa high school boys soccer player of the year award.
Now, we take a look at some of the best girls high school soccer players in the state of Iowa.
Like with with the High School On SI Iowa High School Boys Soccer Player of the Year Award, the High School On SI Iowa High School Girls Soccer Player of the Year Award will be named in each class following the conclusion of the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union State Soccer Tournament in June.
Here are the nominees for the High School On SI Iowa High School Girls Soccer Player of The Year Award. Stats are official as of Sunday, May 24, 2026 from the Bound website.
High School On SI Iowa High School Girls Soccer Player Of The Year Candidates
Class 3A
- Ilana Vasconez, Ottumwa: The senior leads all players with 48 goals, averaging almost three per match.
- Sloane Moeller, Davenport Central: Moeller is just one goal behind the class lead, as the junior has tallied 47 with 10 assists.
- Callie Stanley, Iowa City Liberty: Both a scorer and distributor, Stanley has 24 goals and 13 assists in 16 matches.
- Izzy Simonini, Waukee Northwest: The top goalscorer on the No. 1 team is Simonini, as the senior has tallie dnine on the year.
- Andie Vanderschaaf, Pleasant Valley: A brick in net, the senior has allowed just five goals in 1,200 minutes, recording 94 saves.
Class 2A
- Nora Barnett, North Scott: Opponents have found it nearly impossible to score on Barnett, as she has allowed just nine goals in 1,145 minutes with 100 saves.
- Hadley Wolfe, Fort Madison: The senior has 38 goals and 13 assists in 15 matches played, as she is the leading goalscorer in the class.
- Addy Wood, Norwalk: Wood leads the No. 1 ranked team in Class 2A with 11 goals, adding six assists.
- Anaka Ott, Waverly-Shell Rock: The senior has registered 22 goals with eight assists this season for the Go-Hawks.
- Irelynn White, Lewis Central: White has put 28 shots into the net and assisted on 11 more for the Titans.
Class 1A
- Maelyn Kluever, Maquoketa: Among the leading players in goals scored this year is Kluever, as the senior has 47 and another 24 assists – which leads Class 1A.
- Morgan Crees, Panorama: Crees has been among the top scorers over the past few seasons, recording 46 this year with 14 assists.
- Meadow Lane, Colfax-Mingo: Just a sophomore, Lane has another 45 goals added to her resume.
- Addyson Shepard, Denver: The sophomore sits atop the Cyclones list with 26 goals in addition to her 17 assists.
- Addy Oetker, Des Moines Christian: One of the top athletes in the state, Oetker has 24 goals and 21 assists on the season.
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The Iowa State Cyclones had to undergo some major changes with their men’s basketball roster this offseason.
Four key rotation players from their incredible 2025-26 team, Tamin Lipsey, Joshua Jefferson, Milan Momcilovic and Nate Heise, won’t be back with the team. However, the Cyclones were able to successfully fill those voids on the roster with five players in the transfer portal and three players in their Class of 2026.
Other programs that have spent the offseason upgrading their rosters may not be as fortunate. The new NCAA eligibility requirements could significantly alter the outlook of many teams across the country, with a particular focus on international players.
After virtually everyone was granted eligibility to play in the 2025-26 season, rule changes came down in May that will impact several programs. Kevin Sweeney of Sports Illustrated named a few players who may no longer be eligible to participate in the 2026-27 season: Quinn Ellis (St. John’s Red Storm), Saliou Niang (LSU Tigers), Márcio Santos (LSU Tigers) and Mantas Rubštavičius (Auburn Tigers).
NCAA eligiblity rules will have major impact on men’s college basketball
Some Iowa State fans will see that and wonder how this could impact players on their team. Head coach T.J. Otzelberger has done a great job with international recruiting in recent years, unearthing gems such as Killyan Toure and Dominykas Pleta in the Class of 2026.
In the Class of 2026, one of Toure’s former teammates, big man Dorian Rinaldo-Komlan, committed to the Cyclones.
Luckily for Iowa State, none of those players are going to be impacted by the new eligibility rules and should maintain their ability to suit up for the Cyclones during the 2026-27 campaign.
Toure played high school basketball at Brewster Academy before coming to Ames. Rinaldo-Komlan is currently with SPIRE Academy. Pleta played in the Porsche Ludwigsburg, which has a professional-level team, but he was with the academy team, which is the equivalent of high school basketball.
Cyclones won’t be impacted by eligibility rule changes
While the rules about international players are constantly changing, all of the players who have come from overseas who are with Iowa State should remain eligible. The focus of the new rules is on players who have professional experience internationally and are older prospects.
That isn’t an area of recruiting that Otzelberger has had to turn to during his tenure with the Cyclones, and thankfully so. He has excelled in finding high school players and anyone in the transfer portal who fit into the game plan they are looking to execute with a focus on defensive intensity.
Iowa State can proceed as they have been, knowing they won’t be losing any players to eligibility concerns because of international professional experience.
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