Iowa students pick incumbents in straw poll

American Authorities instructor Michael McCune talks Tuesday with scholar Maddox Kalous, 17, about her ideas on the Paris Local weather Settlement whereas taking a political occasion desire quiz in the course of the Youth Straw Ballot exercise at Prairie Excessive Faculty in Cedar Rapids. (Savannah Blake/The Gazette)

CEDAR RAPIDS — With 14 days to go earlier than the true midterm elections, greater than 13,000 Okay-12 college students in Iowa spoke in Tuesday’s Youth Straw Ballot: They picked Republicans Gov. Kim Reynolds and U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley for re-election.

Earlier than they made their selections, college students in Michael McCune’s American Authorities class at Prairie Excessive Faculty took a quiz that helped calculate their political profiles. The quiz let college students know what share of their private politics align with totally different political events.

McCune’s class will study how Iowa college students vote within the Youth Straw Ballot compared with their dad and mom and different Iowas by having a look on the precise midterm outcomes.

Olyvea Mann, 18, who’s registered to vote within the Nov. 8 election, stated she plans to vote for Democrat Diedre DeJear for governor, notably due to her views on well being care and abortion.

Mann stated she is favors abortion rights as a result of she believes ladies ought to have the suitable to make selections about their our bodies. She additionally believes well being care needs to be made extra inexpensive.

Lexy Schares, 18, deliberate to vote for Reynolds for governor. She agrees with a few of Reynolds’ selections made in the course of the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, together with ending masks mandates and never requiring vaccinations. Nevertheless, she is conflicted over Reynolds’ stance towards abortion rights. Schares believes a lady ought to be capable of make selections about her physique, however her non secular beliefs say life begins at conception.

Whereas researching candidates, Schares is also studying the significance of voting. She stated she used to suppose her vote didn’t matter, however in McCune’s class she is studying that each vote counts.

“It’s a very cool alternative to have a say in our authorities,” Schares stated.

Autumn Spicer, 17, was shocked by the outcomes of her political identification quiz. Spicer thought she would extra intently align along with her conservative dad and mom, however her outcomes confirmed she is 43 % Democratic in her beliefs, she stated.

After taking the quiz, Spicer realized she must do extra of her personal analysis on every candidate as a substitute of voting the way in which her dad and mom do. It’s laborious for folks to be taught to vote for themselves and “step away from their dad and mom,” she stated.

Spicer stated he grew up in a non secular family that opposed abortion rights. Nevertheless, she believes that ladies ought to be capable of make their very own selections about their our bodies, and never all ladies have “ help system to have a child,” she stated.

Rena Niek, 18, plans to vote to “make the change I wish to see,” she stated. Niek voted for Democrat Mike Franken — who’s working towards incumbent Grassley for Senate — due to his stances on abortion, local weather change and well being care, she stated.

Brianna Panosh, 17, stated she needs to vote for candidates whose priorities embody compassion for immigrants, folks of shade and traditionally marginalized folks. She needs to see Iowa decriminalize using marijuana, so fewer individuals are incarcerated for the low-level drug offense, she stated.

Panosh plans to vote for DeJear — “primarily as a result of I don’t like Reynolds,” she stated, notably over her signing a regulation that bans transgender women and girls within the state from competing at school sports activities in line with their gender identification.

Vote totals

Historically, the Iowa Youth Straw Ballot has served as indicator of how the precise elections will form up, in line with Republican Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, the state’s high elections official who is also up for election this fall.

As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, Reynolds had essentially the most votes within the governor’s race, 8,068, or nearly 61 %. Democrat Deidre DeJear had 4,016 votes and Libertarian Wealthy Stewart had 1,183.

Incumbent Grassley garnered 8,226 votes, or 62 %, to Franken, who had 5,055 votes.

Iowa’s 4 congressional races have been additionally polled, with incumbents favored in all.

Within the 2nd Congressional District representing Northeast Iowa together with Cedar Rapids, incumbent Republican Ashley Hinson outpolled Democrat Liz Mathis, 1,894 to 961.

Within the 1st Congressional District representing Southeast Iowa together with Iowa Metropolis, incumbent Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks led Democrat Christina Bohannan, 2,642 to 1,757 votes.

In Western Iowa’s 4th Congressional District, incumbent Republican Randy Feenstra obtained 1,646 votes; Democrat Ryan Melton obtained 619 votes and Liberty Occasion Caucus candidate Bryan Jack Holder obtained 316 votes.

Solely within the third Congressional District did a Democrat win amongst college students. Incumbent Cindy Axne pulled forward of Republican candidate Zach Nunn by lower than 350 votes.

Feedback: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com

Varied candidates with their political occasion are displayed within the background Tuesday as scholar Bradley Henecke, 17, takes a quiz to determine his political desire earlier than casting his votes in the course of the Youth Straw Ballot at Prairie Excessive Faculty in Cedar Rapids. (Savannah Blake/The Gazette)

College students take a quiz Tuesday to search out out what political occasion they facet with by asking a sequence of questions on numerous political matters throughout authorities class at Prairie Excessive Faculty in Cedar Rapids. (Savannah Blake/The Gazette)

Scholar Olyvea Mann, 18, solutions a sequence of questions Tuesday to search out out her political occasion desire in the course of the Youth Straw Ballot in authorities class at Prairie Excessive Faculty in Cedar Rapids. (Savannah Blake/The Gazette)