Second GOP Student Candidate in Ames

Starting to look like a trend: 20-something Iowa House GOP candidates.

Iowa State's College Republican chair Stephen Quist announced last night in House District 46, now held by Ames Democrat Lisa Heddens. The announcement came at a party co-hosted with Dane Nealson, whose name surfaced yesterday in the other Ames seat, Beth Wessel-Kroeschell's House 45.

House 46 is the northern part of Ames and includes most of the campus area. It's also the slightly less Democratic of the two seats. Heddens had a fairly easy 2000 vote win over Republican Chad Steenhoek last cycle; a Libertarian was in the race too. The district shrinks into the city proper (which meant a move for Heddens in a My District Just Not My House situation).

Quist and Nealson join at least three other young Republican candidates. Two are primary challengers: Maison Bleam against Tom Shaw in House 10 and Jake Highfill against Erik Helland in House 39. There's also Megan Hess in open House District 2, where she's likely to face Democrat Steve Bomgaars. As I've said before, Republicans are much much more likely to track their young talent to candidate status than Democrats.