Democrats Might Actually Win Iowa

"You might also picture Iowa as flat, like a pancake. But you would be wrong. Iowa is not even in the top five flattest U.S. states, which is a fact I was considering last month as I watched Josh Turek size up a daunting set of stairs in a hilly Cedar Rapids neighborhood. After a moment's consideration, the 47-year-old Democrat, who uses a wheelchair, shook his head, deciding against it. It would be the only house that Turek would skip that afternoon as he knocked on doors in the warm spring sunlight."

"At all the other homes, he followed the same elaborate routine without appearing to break a sweat: lowering his body out of his chair and onto the ground; hoisting himself backwards up a step using just his arms; yanking the wheelchair up after him; and repeating that until he reached the doorbell, which is when he would announce, "Hi! I'm Josh Turek, and I'm running for the U.S. Senate!""

"In his bid to replace Republican Senator Joni Ernst, Turek is hoping to correct what he believes is another popular misconception about Iowa: that it is a red state. For the past decade, if not longer, many Americans have thought of Iowa this way-and for good reason. Although voters here famously helped propel Barack Obama to the presidency by choosing him in the 2008 Democratic caucuses, they later chose Donald Trump in three consecutive elections. Every member of Iowa's congressional delegation is, at present, a Republican. Terrace Hill, the governor's mansion in Des Moines, has housed a member of the GOP for the past 15 years."

"But lately, a sense of deep frustration-with rising costs, with Trump, with Republican leadership in general-is rippling across Iowa."

Iowa is often imagined as corn and pigs, as well as flat like a pancake, but it is not among the flattest U.S. states. A campaign in Cedar Rapids centers on correcting misconceptions about Iowa’s political identity. Josh Turek, a wheelchair-using Democrat running for the U.S. Senate, describes a routine of navigating stairs while knocking on doors. Iowa’s voting history includes supporting Barack Obama in 2008 and later choosing Donald Trump in three consecutive elections, with all members of its congressional delegation currently Republican. Despite that record, rising costs and dissatisfaction with Trump and Republican leadership are creating frustration across the state.

Read at The Atlantic