This Is Where Your Convention Went

The date is set for the special Republican nominating convention in This Is Where Your District Went, otherwise known as House District 37 in north Ankeny. My pal Chairman A.J. will take a break from bragging about voter registration stats to give you the details:

Republican Party of Iowa Chairman A.J. Spiker today issued the call for a special nominating convention for House District 37 in Ankeny. During the primary election no Republican candidate received the required 35 percent necessary to win the primary.

The details of the convention are as follows:

7:00 p.m.
Wednesday, July 18
Special Nominating Convention House District-37
Kirkendall Public Library- ICN Meeting Room
1210 NW Prairie Ridge Dr.
Ankeny, IA 50023

The convention will be called to order by Temporary Chair, State Central Committee member Gopal Krishna, of Polk County. Twenty-two Polk County Central Committee members, who represent precincts in House District 37, are eligible to be voting delegates at the convention. 

How this happened was, as anyone reading a site like this no doubt knows, House 37 was such an enticing target, a solid Republican district in a high-growth area with no incumbent, that six candidates got into the race. The frontrunner last month, teacher Jim Robidoux, came agonizingly close to the magic 35%, at 34.2.

But my money for the convention is on the Paulite in the race, second-place (29.8) candidate Matt DeVries. The nomination gets decided by the central committee members elected on January 3... which means the people who stuck around till the end of the night... which, you remember how the district and state conventions went?

Robidoux and DeVries were clearly in a tier above the other contenders on election day. John Landon and Jeff Wright were a second tier, and Jacob Mason and Stacy Rogers were waaaay back. Rogers got in almost a year before the primary and got just 30 votes, earning the Kevin Phillips-Bong award.

Watch for lots of intrigue and Polk County GOP infighting in the next couple weeks. Whoever gets this has a free ride at the moment; Democrat Neal Tracy filed at the last minute, then dropped out days later and got off the ballot.