Saturday, March 17, 2012

District Of The Day Reboot: Iowa Senate District 50, Iowa House District 99 & 100

Senate District 50
Registration: D 17961, R 9058, N 14461, total 41513, D +8903
Incumbent: Pam Jochum, D-Dubuque; contested Republican primary

Jochum moved smoothly over to the Senate in 2008 (a 70% win over Some Dude John Hulsizer Jr.) after 16 years in the House, when Mike Connolly retired. Her district Draws Itself, as Dubuque is 94.6% of ideal district size. To bring the population up, Sageville and the north chunk of the highly fragmented Dubuque Township are added. Redistricting consultant Jerry Mandering occasionally does work for the Dubuque city planning department; I count at least seven noncontiguous pieces of three different townships here.

None of this really matters much in a Democratic stronghold like this. Hulsizer is running again. He's joined on the GOP primary ballot by Will Johnson, who ran a tea party type campaign in the 1st CD primary in 2010.

Campaign finance reports: People for Pam Jochum

The House district line across Dubuque pivots a bit, moving north in the west and south on the riverfront. Chuck Isenhart has the Loras campus and most of downtown, everything from the Illinois bridge north; Murphy has University of Dubuque and most everything south of Asbury Road.

House District 99
Registration: D 9267, R 5180, N 7637, total 22098, D +4087
Incumbent: Pat Murphy, D-Dubuque; rematch of 2010 race

Then-Speaker Pat Murphy was almost a victim of the 2010 zeitgeist. He'd won with a typical 69% in 2008, but Republican insurance agent Paul Kern held Murphy to 52-48 last year. It was Murphy's closest race since squeaking in by 91 votes in a 1989 special. Murphy took himself out as Democratic leader soon after the statewide results took him out as speaker.

Kern is running again this year. 2010 may have been a wake-up call, but things should be better for Murphy now. Party leadership means a lot of campaigning for other people instead of yourself, and it also puts a special target on your back (ask Mike Gronstal).

Murphy for State Representative is sitting on a $17,221 bank account; Paul Kern for State Representative had $4628 on hand, mostly left over from 2010.

House District 100
Registration: D 8694, R 3878, N 6824, total 19415, D +4816
Incumbent: Chuck Isenhart, D-Dubuque
Isenhart won a three way primary with a clear majority in 2008 when Jochum moved over to the Senate. He had a second primary from a Some Dude in 2010, winning with 86% Both of his general election wins were in the 60something range. So far this year, it looks like it's in the 100 percent range, with no primary or general opposition.


Campaign finance reports: Isenhart Campaign for the Common Good

Original post 7/01/2011 Statewide Map: Front | Back (with City Insets) | Old Senate, House

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