Sunday, August 19, 2012

District Of The Day 3: Iowa Senate District 39, Iowa House District 77 & 78

Senate District 39
Registration: D 11922, R 12525, N 13523, total 37991, R +603
Incumbent: Sandy Greiner, R-Keota; holdover seat

Greiner was the only Senator to vote against The Map, but at least she gets two extra years to get to know a new district that's half in the People's Republic of Johnson County.

After a two year hiatus, Greiner knocked off Democrat Becky Schmitz in 2010 in a district that included the southwest corner of Johnson, but went south to the Missouri border: Washington, Jefferson, Van Buren, and eastern Wapello.

Now the district shifts north. She keeps almost all of Washington, and in a bit of good news gets back her original base in Keokuk County. but the expanded turf in Johnson County more than negates that.

House District 77
Registration: D 6865, R 4986, N 7105, total 18966, D +1879
No incumbent

High growth North Liberty and Tiffin anchor a new, all Johnson County seat. It starts with Swisher and Shueyville, picks up Tiffin and Oxford, and ends up in Lone Tree, wrapping around and not including the city of Hills.

Democrats have a top tier candidate in Sally Stutsman, who's won five county-wide elections for supervisor. Her lone career loss was for the House in 2000, but that was in a solid GOP seat based in Louisa and Muscatine, and she did far better than the Some Dude who lost four years earlier.

Steve Sherman of North Liberty is a Christian author. He also hosted a house party for Rick Santorum back before the caucuses, and GOP base hero Matt Schultz is coming in for an event this month.. He's the first Republican to file for an all-Johnson seat since the 2003 Dave Jacoby special election.

The biggest excitement in this race could be the aftermath. Stutsman was re-elected in 2010 and a win would mean a mid-term vacancy on the Board of Supervisors.

July 19 Campaign Finance Report: Sherman In The House, Stutsman for State House Stutsman has $8,302.62 cash on hand;  Sherman has $1,250.66.

House District 78
Registration: D 5057, R 7539, N 6418, total 19025, R +2482
Incumbents: Jarad Klein, R-Keota, unopposed

Just two years ago, Democrats held this seat; now they don't even have a candidate.

When Greiner left the House seat in 2008, her chosen successor was Klein. But the 2008 wave crested high enough to elect Democrat Larry Marek by 157 votes. Marek had a good biographical fit for the district, but was a little less of a fit for the House Democrats, and he aligned with the Six Pack of conservaDems. He was largely left to fend for himself at re-election time, even as the party was going all out for his senator, Becky Schmitz, on the same turf. The rematch coincided with the 2010 counter-wave and Klein won handily.

The new lines help Klein, even though the party balance doesn't change much. This is still the Washington County seat, though a bit gets carved out.  Klein also drops eastern Jefferson County and the whole part of Johnson, and gets he gets all of strong Republican Keokuk County. With that he got a fellow Republican House member, Betty DeBoef, who waited till early November to announce retirement.

Klein easily dismissed primary challenger Priscilla Marlar, 82-18%.

July 19 Campaign Finance Report: Klein for Statehouse

Senate District 39, House District 77 & 78: District of the Day 1 - 6/16/2011 | District of the Day 2 - 3/17/2012

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