WASHINGTON (Grey DC) – Thursday marked the annual Congressional Baseball Sport, the place Republicans and Democrats confronted off at Nationals Park to boost cash for charity.
Based on Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), it’s a superb reminder that these two groups — and the 2 events — aren’t so completely different in spite of everything.
“We’re coming collectively. And I believe the general public thinks we’re extra divided than we truly are,” mentioned Ernst. “There may be, as Randy [Feenstra] mentioned, nice camaraderie. We come collectively. We’re right here to to have fun america of America. And that is what the American folks ought to see.”
“It’s all about camaraderie,” added Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa). “All of us coming collectively to take pleasure in America’s sport.”
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The entire ticket income for Thursday evening’s sport goes to the Boys and Women golf equipment of Washington and the Washington Literacy Middle, amongst different charities. To date, the sport has raised over $1 million.
A national Democratic group is boosting seven candidates for the Iowa House and Senate as the party aims to flip Republican-held seats this November and begin to climb out of the minority.
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, an arm of the national Democratic Party dedicated to electing Democrats to statehouses around the country, named the seven Iowa “spotlight” candidates Tuesday. They are:
Rep. Josh Turek, D-Council Bluffs, who is running for a second term in House District 20.
Heather Sievers, who is challenging Rep. Bill Gustoff, R-Des Moines, in House District 40.
Tiara Mays-Sims, who is challenging Rep. Eddie Andrews, R-Johnston, in House District 43.
Aime Wichtendahl, who is running for House District 80, an open seat in Cedar Rapids, Hiawatha and Robins.
Matt Blake, who is challenging Sen. Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale, in Senate District 22.
Sen. Eric Giddens, D-Cedar Falls, who is running for reelection in Senate District 38.
Nannette Griffin, who is challenging Sen. Jeff Reichman, R-Montrose, in Senate District 50.
The news comes one day after the DLCC announced a plan to spend $10 million nationwide as part of its “Summer of the States” campaign. It’s not clear how much money the group could spend in Iowa.
Democrats are in the minority in the Iowa House, holding 36 seats to Republicans’ 64. And Republicans enjoy a supermajority in the Iowa Senate, with 34 seats to Democrats’ 16.
More: Iowa Democrats urge focus on education, abortion as they seek wins in November elections
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House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst, D-Windsor Heights, is the top Democrat in the Iowa House and a member of the DLCC board.
She said the national party’s decision to highlight candidates in Iowa “shows that what we’ve been saying for a while is true, which is that Iowa is a purple state.”
She pointed to the fact that Iowa’s 1st and 3rd congressional districts, which are held by Republican U.S. Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Zach Nunn, are on national Democrats’ list of top congressional seats to flip this year.
“It just goes to show you that the message that we’ve been giving for a long time, which is don’t give up on Iowa, has broken through,” she said. “And that some national folks are looking at Iowa and saying, ‘OK, this place can come back to purple. This place can come back into balance. Let’s get engaged and see what we can do.’”
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Konfrst said it will take time for Democrats to win back majorities in the Iowa House and Senate, but argued the national party can see “we’re doing really good work to rebuild.”
“The DLCC knows that we’re not going to flip the Iowa House this year or the Senate,” she said. “But they also know that you don’t get there unless you start investing now. And so that’s why it really means a lot that they’re here and they’ve picked some great candidates.”
In a news release the DLCC said Republican majorities in the Iowa House and Senate “has posed grave threats to Iowans’ fundamental freedoms.”
The group highlighted Iowa Republican policies to restrict abortion, including a bill that passed the Iowa House to raise penalties for ending someone’s pregnancy without their consent.
Democrats and Senate Republicans said the legislation could endanger access to in vitro fertilization because it would have defined an “unborn person” as beginning at fertilization. The bill did not become law.
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More: IVF fears scuttle Iowa bill raising penalty for ending pregnancy without consent
“Iowa Republicans made national headlines this year for their egregious threats to reproductive rights, and Democrats have the candidates this year to fight back and win targeted races,” DLCC President Heather Williams said in a statement. “The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee is proud to announce our Spotlight candidates in Iowa, whose fierce support of fundamental freedoms and democracy will be instrumental for combatting the GOP agenda.”
Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.
A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked Iowa from enforcing a state law that would allow local authorities to arrest, charge and deport migrants who were previously denied entry or deported from the US.
The Biden administration sued Iowa over the new law last month, arguing that the federal government has “exclusive authority under federal law to regulate the entry and removal of noncitizens,” and US District Court Judge Stephen Locher said the Justice Department was likely to prevail in its case when he issued the preliminary injunction.
“As a matter of politics, the new legislation might be defensible,” Locher wrote in his ruling. “As a matter of constitutional law, it is not.”
Locher was appointed to the US District Court for the Southern District of Iowa by President Biden in 2022. Senate Judiciary Committee
Republican Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, who signed Senate File 2340 into law in April, blasted the judge’s ruling.
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“Iowa’s legislation to deter illegal immigration has been BLOCKED – leaving us defenseless to the consequences of Biden’s Open Border,” Reynolds wrote on X.
“More crime, overdose deaths, and human trafficking. All because Biden won’t do his job!” she added.
The law, which was slated to go into effect on July 1, makes it an aggravated misdemeanor offense — punishable by up to two years in prison — for migrants to be in the Hawkeye State if they have outstanding deportation orders, were previously deported or were at one point barred from entering the US.
The crime is elevated to a felony offense if the person’s previous removal orders were related to misdemeanor convictions for drug crimes, crimes against people or any type of felony conviction.
The Biden administration filed a lawsuit against Iowa last month over the migrant law. APIowa’s attorney general plans to appeal the court ruling. AP
Under the legislation, police are barred from arresting suspected migrants in violation of the law at places of worship, schools or medical facilities.
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Arrested individuals may be allowed by a judge to leave the country and not face charges, according to the law’s text.
Biden’s Justice Department has sued Texas and Oklahoma over similar measures.
Texas’ more expansive law, which authorizes state authorities to arrest, jail, prosecute and deport migrants who enter the country between ports of entry, was put on hold by a federal appeals court’s three-judge panel in March.
The DOJ is seeking to block Oklahoma’s law, which makes it a crime to enter Oklahoma without legal authorization to be in the US, as well.
The law was slated to go into effect on July 1. AP
Iowa’s Republican top prosecutor said the state would appeal the preliminary injunction.
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“Since Biden refuses to secure our border, he has left states with no choice but to do the job for him,” Attorney General Brenna Bird wrote on X.
“I will be appealing the court’s decision today that blocks IA from stopping illegal reentry and keeping our communities safe,” she added.
A former Northern Iowa basketball and football Insider for Townsquare Media, Eliot joins the team as Go Iowa Awesome’s new recruiting analyst. He brings experience and know-how for recruit evaluation.
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Iowa targeted yet another high-level pass-catcher in the class of 2027 last week, extending an offer to Landon Blum, a wide receiver out of Woodbine, Iowa.
Blum caught up with GIA to discuss how his small hometown community in southwest Iowa has responded to his growing recruitment, getting to know his position coach Jon Budmayr, why the Hawkeyes look to be a force in his recruitment and more.
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