Other names are in the rumor mill, but the first Democratic candidate has officially announced in House District 73.
The West Branch Times reports that West Branch city council member David Johnson is seeking the Democratic nomination to face Rep. Jeff Kaufmann, R-Wilton.
Johnson said he plans to run on “a conglomeration of issues ranging from the lack of funding for our institutions of higher education as well as K-12 and preschool, the need for tax increment finance reform, reform in the regulation of our utilities, corporate income tax reform as well as eliminating corporate welfare at all levels.”
The Cedar County based House District 73 (numbered 79 in the old map) changes significantly. It loses most of northern Muscatine County, except for the city of Wilton. It also takes in a much larger part of eastern Johnson County, including the city of Solon.
The changes give the new district a Democratic voter registration edge of 800. Kaufmann's old district was almost exactly evenly split between the parties. Johnson toldthe West Branch paper:
“Jeff will be a formidable candidate, even with the redistricting,” Johnson said. “But I believe that by starting my ground campaign this summer, I will be able to have sufficient one-on-one contact with my constituents to give the voters a sense of who I am, and what I intend to do. Constituents need to have a real connection and accessibility to their representatives. I intend to give them that. There is no doubt that a lot of voters see Jeff as having a pleasant personality, so the task for me will be to run against his record.”If he's elected it could be confusing: there's already a David Johnson in the Legislature, Senator David Johnson of Ocheyedan (who was featured in our first District Of The Day).
Update: Blog for Iowa's Paul Deaton (who lives in the district) notes: "Two others are mulling a run in HD73. Informal Meetup of HD 73 Dems Thursday April 28 7PM Agave Restaurant West Branch all Democrats welcome."
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