District Of The Day 3: Iowa Senate District 20, Iowa House District 39 & 40

Senate District 20
Registration: D 11664, R 16185, N 11692, total 39579, R +4521
Incumbent: Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale, unopposed

Map Day had bad news and good news for Brad Zaun. The bad news was that Tom Latham moved in, scuttling any congressional ambitions Zaun may have still had after losing a hard-fought 2010 race to Leonard Boswell.

Boz beat Zaun up pretty bad on past personal stuff, and he might have been vulnerable this year in his old district lines. But the good news for Zaun is that he gets a better Senate seat. He loses a Democratic corner of Des Moines and instead adds Johnston and Grimes to his Urbandale base. It's a combination that makes more intuitive sense than the old hybrid urban-suburban seat. On Map Day, the registration numbers were -2,568 Republicans on the old turf, +3368 Republicans in the new district. Good enough that no Democrat bothered to file.

Zaun got some bonus points for loyalty at the end of the caucus cycle, stepping up as state chair of the sinking Bachmann campaign after Kent Sorenson jumped ship for Ron Paul.

July 19 Campaign Finance Report: Zaun for Iowa Senate

House District 39
Registration: D 5400, R 8491, N 6248, total 20162, R +3091
Open seat: Incumbent Erik Helland, R-Johnston, defeated in primary

Be careful what you wish for, primary voters, you might get it...

I never, never, NEVER would have pegged this as the ONE race where an incumbent knocked off. Young student Jake Highfill jsut seemed too Some Dude to knock off a sitting legislator.

But apparently, so the story goes, Helland was concerned enough that he tried to lure Highfill out of the race with a job. Instead of taking the bait, Highfill went to the press and the ethics committee, and the publicity was probably the key to his 52-48% win.

So Highfill was nominated as The Other Guy, and soon voters found out what they'd gotten:

A lawsuit filed against Iowa House District 39 Republican nominee Jake Highfill claims that he brought a shotgun to a college party, argued with his roommate during the event and smashed a glass bottle across the man's face, permanently disfiguring him...

When you're 22, you can't pass that off as "youthful indiscretion." Note that he was one of the few Republicans in solid districts left off the Business and Industry PAC endorsement list. He might win it anyway on straight tickets, but no one's gonna help much.

This is seat number 85 on the Democratic depth chart. But not only is this seat now in play, Team Blue is running a law student, and she has the maturity edge. Kelsey Clark of Grimes is at Drake, and as near as we know has no skeletons in the closet. It might be hard to win a second term in this seat, but an extra vote on the floor for even two years would be nice.

July 19 Campaign Finance Report: Kelsey Clark for State Representative, Friends for Jake Highfill Clark has $3,794.46 on hand but had only raised $700 in the post-primary weeks. Highfill is in the hole for $6100 in loans, spent on the primary, and has $1,923.57 on hand.

House District 40
Registration: D 6264, R 7694, N 5444, total 19417, R +1430
Open seat; Scott Raecker, R-Urbandale, retiring

An open GOP-leaning seat in Polk County, as House Appropriations chair Raecker steps down after 14 years. The district shrinks all the way into the Polk County part of Urbandale, which is now so big it has to be split between districts.

Each party attracted one candidate here. Democrat John Forbes of the Urbandale city council will face Republican fitness club owner Mike Brown.

July 19 Campaign Finance Report: Forbes for Iowa House, Brown for Iowa It's a financially competitive race. Forbes raised $7,414.99 in June and July and spent $6,398.79, with $6,935.34 on hand. Brown raised $8,575.00 in the post-primary weeks and spent $9,396.10, leaving $8,289.12 in the bank.

Senate District 20, House District 39 & 40: District of the Day 1 - 5/20/2011 | District of the Day 2 - 3/16/2012

District Of The Day Reboot: Iowa Senate District 20, Iowa House District 39 & 40

Senate District 20
Registration: D 12421, R 16948, N 12175, total 41592, R +4527
Incumbent: Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale

Map Day had bad news and good news for Brad Zaun. The bad news was that Tom Latham moved in, scuttling any congressional ambitions Zaun may have still had after losing a hard-fought 2010 race to Leonard Boswell.

Boz beat Zaun up pretty bad on past personal stuff, and he might have been vulnerable this year in his old district lines. But the good news for Zaun is that he gets a better Senate seat. He loses a Democratic corner of Des Moines and instead adds Johnston and Grimes to his Urbandale base. It's a combination that makes more intuitive sense than the old hybrid urban-suburban seat. On Map Day, the registration numbers were -2,568 Republicans on the old turf, +3368 Republicans in the new district. Good enough that no Democrat bothered to file.


Zaun got some bonus points for loyalty at the end of the caucus cycle, stepping up as state chair of the sinking Bachmann campaign after Kent Sorenson jumped ship for Ron Paul.

Campaign finance reports: Zaun for Iowa Senate

House District 39
Registration: D 5689, R 8760, N 6395, total 20868, R +3071
Incumbent: Erik Helland, R-Johnston; primary challenge

Every cycle gets a WTF primary, and this time it seems to have happened to Helland as UI senior Jake Highfill announced, undeterred by Friends of Helland's $37,594 in the bank. The funny part is that at age 31 Helland is already one of the youngest legislators. The primary got even more WTF this week when Highfill charged that Helland offered him a job if he would drop out of the race.

If you want a young candidate, Drake law student Kelsey Clark of Grimes is running for the Democrats.

Republican Walt Tomenga got squeezed out of this seat in 2008 for being insufficiently conservative. Helland, seen as the conservative choice, stomped Tomenga's choice, Al Lorenzen, in the hot open seat primary. Helland won 61% in the general, which scared off any 2010 rivals.

As Johnston doubles in population and becomes bigger than half a district, the turf shrinks radically. Helland used to have the whole northern half of the county except Ankeny. He loses everything east of the river and the Saylorville Reservoir - Alleman, Elkhart, Polk City - as the district becomes basically Johnston and Grimes. It also has Jefferson Township to the north and a small bit of Urbandale. the Republican registration edge drops by 1000 but the district is still strongly Republican.

House District 40
Registration: D 6732, R 8188, N 5780, total 20724, R +1456
Open seat; Scott Raecker, R-Urbandale, retiring


An open GOP-leaning seat in Polk County, as House Appropriations chair Raecker steps down after 14 years. The line changes cost Raecker about 200 registered Republicans but with the advantage of long incumbency he was winning safely: 61% in bad year 2008 and 65% in good year 2010.

The district shrinks all the way into the Polk County part of Urbandale, which is now so big it has to be split between districts.

Each party attracted one candidate here. Democrat John Forbes of the Urbandale city council will face Republican fitness club owner Mike Brown. Raecker announced his retirement late, so neither had filed January 19 finance reports.

Original post 5/20/2011 Statewide Map: Front | Back (with City Insets) | Old Senate, House

Names Emerge at Weekend Conventions

Normal people have March Madness and a 68 slot bracket. I have Filing Deadline Week and there's 252 lines to fill.

Notes from the weekend political party conventions are still trickling in. I do get word from the Johnson County GOP convention that one of Jeff Kaufmann's sons is running in the House 73 seat where Dad announced his retirement Friday night, but my source didn't catch the first name. There's three sons: Robert, Jacob, and John. John Kaufmann co-chaired the Muscatine County Pawlenty campaign (Jeff is a Newt guy).

A few Democratic convention notes in the Bleeding Heartland comments:

Former state representative Donovan Olson, D-Boone, is making a comeback attempt against the man who beat him, Republican Chip Baltimore, in House 47. Also out of the Boone County Democratic convention, teacher Shelly Stotts is challenging Senate Minority Leader Jerry Behn in Senate District 24.

In Polk County, Drake law student Kelsey Clark of Grimes is challenging Republican Erik Helland in House 39.

And on the Republican side, Crawford County Supervisor Mark Segebart announced in open Senate District 6, where the GOP's Steve Kettering is retiring. Democrats have a strong candidate in Mary Bruner, and there were reports that the GOP had been having candidate recruitment trouble here.

That's all I got; you heard any other good ones?

Helland Draws Primary Challenge

From the Did Not See That Coming Department, the DI reports UI senior Jake Highfill running in House District 39, now held by Erik Helland (R-Grimes).

As you all know I'm a big fan of student candidates, but to me, this looks like one of those "Hey, I want to get involved and this is where I happen to live" campaigns. The funny part is that at age 31 Helland, first elected after a hot `08 primary and unopposed in 2010, is already one of the youngest legislators.

Either way, the high-growth district shrinks a lot in redistricting and is basically just Johnston and Grimes, with Jefferson Township to the north and a small bit of Urbandale.

District of the Day: Senate District 20, House District 39 and 40

District of the Day: Senate District 20, House District 39 and 40

Senate District 20

Registration: D 12,185, R 15,553, N 11,554, total 39,344, R+ 3368
Incumbent: Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale

Poor Brad Zaun. He could be sitting in Congress right now: a top tier Republican candidate, who won a tough primary, against a vulnerable, aging Democrat in a great GOP year. But he had to go and drunk-dial his old girlfriend years ago. There were other personal issues, too, but that was the one that was easy to understand, and Leonard Boswell is never shy about letting voters know about his opponent's shortcomings.

So Zaun is back in Des Moines while Tom Latham swoops in from the north to block his Congressional ambitions. The only good news for Zaun is that at least he gets a better Senate seat. He loses a Democratic corner of Des Moines and instead adds Johnston and Grimes to his Urbandale base. It's a combination that makes more sense than the old hybrid urban-suburban seat, and it turns his 2,568 Republican registration deficit into a 3368 voter GOP edge, making this area a much, much better district for Zaun or whatever Republican may follow.

House District 39

Registration: D 5520, R 7903, N 6001, total 19451, R+ 2383
Incumbent: Erik Helland, R-Grimes

Republican Walt Tomenga got squeezed out of this seat in 2008 for being insufficiently conservative. Helland, seen as the conservative choice, stomped Tomenga's choice, Al Lorenzen, in the hot open seat primary. Helland won 61% in the general, which scared off 2010 rivals. He's had an interesting couple of years: off-mike comments that were in fact on mike, and a fellow Tim Pawlenty staffer roommate who got caught in some highly embarrassing drunken antics.

As Johnston doubles in population and becomes bigger than half a district, the turf shrinks radically. Helland used to have the whole northern half of the county except Ankeny. He loses everything east of the river and the Saylorville Reservoir - Alleman, Elkhart, Polk City - as the district becomes basically Johnston and Grimes. It also has Jefferson Township to the north and a small bit of Urbandale. The Republican registration edge drops by 1000 but the district is still strongly Republican.

House District 40

Registration: D 6665, R 7650, N 5553, total 19893, R+ 985
Incumbent: Scott Raecker, R-Urbandale January 20: Retiring.

Raecker, 49, was first elected in 1998. In 2000 Urbandale got put into one district rather than being split. Raecker got paired with fellow Republican Janet Metcalf, but she retired. Raecker won with 61% in 2008 and 65% in 2010. He's seen as a relative social moderate by Iowa Republican standards, but that tends to mean just voting for the right-wing bills and not co-sponsoring them.

The district loses a weird panhandle of Webster Township north of the Des Moines city limits, which my friend Jerry Mandering loved. It shrinks all the way into the Polk County part of Urbandale, which is now so big it has to be split between districts. The line changes cost Raecker about 200 registered Republicans but he still has an edge of nearly 1000.

New Map | New Map (Insets) | Old Map