Showing posts with label Iowa Senate District 25. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Iowa Senate District 25. Show all posts

Saturday, August 18, 2012

District Of The Day 3: Iowa Senate District 25, Iowa House District 49 & 50

Senate District 25
Registration: D 8580, R 16159, N 14131, total 38904, R +7579
Incumbent: Bill Dix, R-Shell Rock; holdover seat

More of this turf was Bacon's than Dix's, yet it was the ambitious Dix who got to stay while Bacon went Senate to House. Half the district is Hardin and Grundy counties, which neither had before.

Dix defeated Bill Heckroth in 2010 to make a comeback after a four year hiatus caused by a congressional primary loss.

House District 49
Registration: D 4554, R 7014, N 7388, total 18974, R +2460
Incumbent: Dave Deyoe, R-Nevada

This remains a Nevada and rural Story based district, with a couple townships shifting and Story City staying. Deyoe sheds southeast Hamilton County and gets the southern half of Hardin, with little impact on the party balance.

Deyoe was a late starting candidate in 2006, and the only Republican winner in the game of musical chairs that started with Stu Iverson dropping out of his race after being deposed as Senate leader. He won a solid 62% in 2010 against 2006 congressional candidate Selden Spencer.

In a battle of Some Dudes, Democrat Kevin Ericson of Maxwell was a 78-22% primary winner over Garland Bridges of Eldora.

July 19 Campaign Finance Report: Deyoe for House, Ericson for progress Deyoe has a healthy $21,524.68 on hand and raised $5570 in the post-primary report. Ericson has $1,259.83 and raised just $495, indicating this one's on nobody's to-watch list.

House District 50
Registration: D 4026, R 9145, N 6743, total 19930, R +5119
Incumbent: Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford, unopposed

The clash of the titans and surrogate war between Grandpa Grassley and rainmaker Bruce Rastetter wasn't as close as we expected. Grassley won with a relatively big margin, 61-39%, disappointing us Democrats who would like to have seen the future US Senate successor derailed. Look for Sweeney to show up somewhere in the Branstad administration soon.

This is the ninth most Republican seat in the state, so expect another spirited primary and maybe a Sweeney comeback when it opens up in 2016. I keep saying this stuff and no one ever denies it.

July 19 Campaign Finance Report: Citizens for Pat Grassley Pat raised $48,716.18 in the June-July period. Grandpa helped some. Look for Pat to share some and travel a bit to help other folks out and collect some chits for later.

Senate District 25, House District 49 & 50: District of the Day 1 - 5/27/2011 | District of the Day 2 - 3/16/2012

Friday, March 16, 2012

District Of The Day Reboot: Iowa Senate District 25, Iowa House District 49 & 50

Senate District 25
Registration: D 9633, R 16456, N 16536, total 42659, R +6823
Incumbent: Bill Dix, R-Shell Rock; holdover seat (Rob Bacon, R-Maxwell, moving and running in House 48)

Bill Dix, an 800 pound gorilla with higher ambitions, is the one who stays, even though more of this turf was Bacon's. Half the district is Hardin and Grundy counties, which neither had before.

Dix and Bacon both knocked off Democratic incumbents in 2010, when their districts didn't even border each other. Dix, who defeated Bill Heckroth, keeps only part of Butler County: Aplington, Parkersburg, New Hartford and his Shell Rock home. He used to go east to Bremer, most of Fayette, and north rural Black Hawk. A lot of that turf to the east is in new Senate 32, now a swingy district held by Democrat Brian Schoenjahn.

Dix gave up his House seat to run Congress in 2006 when Jim Nussle retired, but lost in the primary. Unfortunately for Dix, this area is NOT in Bruce Braley's district; it's in that little easternmost extension of Steve King's.

Campaign finance reports: Friends for Dix

House District 49
Registration: D 5104, R 7495, N 8541, total 21159, R +2391
Incumbent: Dave Deyoe, R-Nevada; contested Democratic primary

Deyoe was a late starting candidate in 2006, and the only Republican winner in the game of musical chairs that started with Stu Iverson dropping out of his race after being deposed as Senate leader. He won a solid 62% in 2010 against 2006 congressional candidate Selden Spencer (the one the entire Iowa lefty blogosphere kept talking up while ignoring Dave Loebsack).

This year two Democrats are running: Kevin Ericson of Maxwell and Garland Bridges of Eldora.

Deyoe is the only legislator in the neighborhood who got lucky in redistricting. This remains a Nevada and rural Story based district, with a couple townships shifting and Story City staying. He sheds southeast Hamilton County and gets the southern half of Hardin, with little impact on the party balance.

Campaign finance reports: Deyoe for House

House District 50
Registration: D 4529, R 8961, N 7995, total 21500, R +4432
Incumbents: Annette Sweeney, R-Alden and Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford.

Every redistricting election cycle has one pairup that just doesn't get worked out. In 1992 it was Bill Brand and Jane Svoboda; ten years ago it was Rick Larkin and Phil Wise. This time, it's Annette Sweeney and Pat Grassley.

Since the day Pat Grassley announced for the legislature in 2006, when Bill Dix left to run for Congress, I've been saying The Masterplan is for him to take over for Grandpa in 2016. No one ever denies this. If he comes out of this map alive, he turns the magic Senator age of 30 during the next term, in 2013. He shared the ballot with Grandpa for the first time in 2010, and no Democrat was up for that challenge.

Sweeney was first elected in 2008. Democrat Tim Hoy had given Polly Granzow a scare in 2006, and Granzow retired. Hoy tried again but Sweeney won by 1000 votes, then scored a two to one win in 2010.

The old Sweeney and Grassley districts met at a corner. Grassley had all of Butler, then went east into Bremer to pick up Waverly. Sweeney's old 44th district had all of Hardin (this map has just the north half), then went south to pick up rural Marshall. Grundy County is new to both.

This is also playing out as a proxy war. Grandpa is all in for grandson, bringing Rick Perry in for a fund raiser right when the Texan was at the peak of his ill-fated run. GOP heavy hitter Bruce Rastetter is a longtime friend of Sweeney's.

Sweeney for State House had $30,392 cash on hand January 19, to Citizens for Pat Grassley's $39,798.

Whoever wins gets a more Republican district than they had before, and no Democrats are anywhere on the radar.


Original post 5/27/2011 Statewide Map: Front | Back (with City Insets) | Old Senate, House

Friday, September 09, 2011

Bacon Makes Senate to House Move

Bacon Makes Senate to House Move

Musical chairs in north central Iowa as freshman Senator Rob Bacon gets out of a pair-up with fellow Republican Bill Dix by running for the House -- and facing the same former senator he knocked off in 2010.

The matchup between Bacon and Democrat Rich Olive will take place in House District 48, which on Map Day was home to Democrat Lisa Heddens in a My District Not My House situation. Heddens has decamped to House 46 in the city of Ames proper.

UPDATE October 7: Olive is out.

This happens at least once every redistricting cycle: a sitting senator gets paired up and runs for the House instead. Three Republicans did it in 2002: Mary Lou Freeman, Gene Maddox, and Sandy Greiner. Whether that's a step up or a step down depends on whether you ask a senator or a representative. Let's put it this way: Greiner jumped at a chance to move back to the Senate in 2010.

Bacon will have to move into House 48, though he had some of the same turf in 2010. He also has to give up the last two years of the Senate term. If neither Bacon or Dix had quit or moved, their terms would have been cut short and the two would have faced off in a primary.

But as a consolation prize, his rollout Thursday was impressive. Check this rogue's gallery:
Also in attendance were Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey; Iowa Senate Majority Leader Linda Upmeyer; Rep. Stewart Iverson Jr., R-Dows; Sen. Jerry Behn, R-Boone, and Rep. Dave Deyoe, R-Nevada.
(Hey, Stew: when are you finally gonna make that Senate announcement?)

In retrospect it's clear Bill Dix was the 800 pound gorilla here. Dix, also elected to the Senate in 2010, now gets to hold over in Senate District 25 until 2014. At that time he may have higher ambitions. So I hear.

So how about the Olive-Bacon rematch itself? The old Senate district had a GOP registration edge of 3290. Olive won by 61 votes in the Democratic wave of 2006; Bacon won handily last year. But the new turf only has a Republican edge (as of April) of 454, which Olive could overcome.

Hamilton County makes up about half of this district. That was home base for two-term Democrat McKinley Bailey, who lost to Iverson in 2010. The new seat also includes parts of rural Boone County, southeast Webster County and a little corner of Story, going all the way up to the Ames city limits.

Also noted: Democrat Sara Sedlacek's announcement in House 88 seems to have spurred the GOP incumbent, Tom Sands, into announcing his own re-election bid. And TheIowaRepublican talks to Annette Sweeney about her überprimary against Pat Grassley.

Friday, May 27, 2011

District of the Day: Senate District 25, House Districts 49 and 50

District of the Day: Senate District 25, House Districts 49 and 50



Two pair makes for a full House, and Senate, in the worst redistricting headache for Republicans.

Senate District 25

Registration: D 9411, R 15497, N 15165, total 40105, R+ 6086
Incumbents: Bill Dix, R-Shell Rock and Rob Bacon, R-Maxwell

UPDATE September 9: Bacon moving to House 48, where he'll have a rematch with Olive.

Bill Dix and Rob Bacon both knocked off Democratic incumbents in 2010, when their districts didn't even border each other. Both live at the very edge of this district. If one backs down, the other holds over in a solidly Republican seat. Neither has a good option to move.

Bacon, who vanquished Landslide Rich Olive, looks like he keeps the larger home turf, the non-Ames part of Story County. The old Bacon district went north and west: Hamilton, Wright, and a little of Webster, all of which he loses. His Maxwell home is maybe a couple miles north of Democrat Dennis Black's swingy district, but that has no overlap with Bacon's old seat which had the same south line. A couple of his old townships overlap with Herman Quirmbach, but that's a good Democratic district.

Dix, who defeated Bill Heckroth, keeps only part of Butler County: Aplington, Parkersburg, New Hartford and his Shell Rock home. He used to go east to Bremer, most of Fayette, and north rural Black Hawk. A lot of that turf to the east is in new Senate 32, now a swingy district held by Democrat Brian Schoenjahn.

Dix gave up his House seat to run Congress in 2006 when Jim Nussle retired, but lost in the primary. Unfortunately for Dix, this area is NOT in Bruce Braley's district; it's in that little easternmost extension of Steve King's.

Bacon and Dix could just duke it out in a primary on relatively neutral ground. Half the district is Hardin and Grundy counties, which neither had before.

House District 49

Registration: D 4999, R 6948, N 7788, total 19755, R+ 1949
Incumbent: Dave Deyoe, R-Nevada

Deyoe was a late starting candidate in 2006, and the only Republican winner in the game of musical chairs that started with Stew Iverson dropping out of his race after being deposed as Senate leader. He won a solid 62% in 2010 against 2006 congressional candidate Selden Spencer (the one the entire Iowa lefty blogosphere kept talking up while ignoring Dave Loebsack).

Deyoe is also the only legislator in the neighborhood who gets lucky in redistricting. This remains a Nevada and rural Story based district, with a couple townships shifting and Story City staying. He sheds southeast Hamilton County and gets the southern half of Hardin, with little impact on the party balance.

House District 50

Registration: D 4412, R 8549, N 7377, total 20350, R+ 4137
Incumbents: Annette Sweeney, R-Alden and Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford.
UPDATE July 7: Both have now announced in this district.

In this corner, a rising star of the legislature. In that corner, a U.S. Senator in waiting. This is one of the two seats, along with the triple-up in House 8, that nearly put the whole Map at risk. And while we have some ideas what could happen in 8, there's no clue yet as to how this one gets worked out.

Since the day Pat Grassley announced for the legislature in 2006, when Bill Dix left to run for Congress, I've been saying The Masterplan is for him to take over for Grandpa in 2016. No one ever denies this. If he comes out of this map alive, he turns the magic Senator age of 30 during the next term, in 2013. He shared the ballot with Grandpa for the first time last year, and no Democrat was up for that challenge.

Sweeney was first elected in 2008. Democrat Tim Hoy had given Polly Granzow a scare in 2006, and Granzow retired. Hoy tried again but Sweeney won by 1000 votes, then scored a two to one win in 2010. Sweeney carried the ball on the no videotaping of farms bill (taking matters into her own hands on one occasion).

The old Sweeney and Grassley districts met at a corner. Grassley had all of Butler, then went east into Bremer to pick up Waverly. Sweeney's old 44th district had all of Hardin (this map has just the north half), then went south to pick up rural Marshall. The 2001 mappers also looped the Wright-Franklin county line around the city of Dows to keep it together. Since precincts can't be divided between legislative districts, and since it was the only part of Franklin in old district 44, the Franklin County part of Dows was the smallest precinct in the state at 40 voters. This cycle, it doesn't seem like there's anything that small.

Whoever stays, or wins, gets a more Republican district than they had before. Grundy County is new to both. Both representatives are farmers, making moving more difficult than, say, buying a house in a different part of West Des Moines or Iowa City.

Grassley has definitively said he's not moving, though that doesn't stop Tyler Mills at Des Moines Free Press from speculating about a move into Waverly-based House 63. It's empty, but Bill Heckroth is on the comeback trail and has already announced.

Sweeney was one of the seven no votes on the map, saying districts were not compact enough and citing the split of Hardin County.

My prediction? Look for Terry Branstad or Bill Northey to offer Sweeney a job sometime around the filing deadline.

New Map | New Map (Insets) | Old Map