Senate District 2
Registration: D 5072, R 22953, N 9674, total 37716, R +17881
Incumbent: Randy Feenstra, R-Hull, unopposed
Feenstra
goes into his second term having never seen an opponent in either a
primary or general election. Not a surprise, as this is by far the most
Republican seat in the Senate. I'm still trying to find a term for Sioux
County that would be the Republican equivalent of People's Republic of
Johnson County.
House District 3
Registration: D 3655, R 9991, N 6624, total 20282, R +6336
Incumbent: Dan Huseman, R-Aurelia, unopposed
Redistricting
is a greater threat to a GOP incumbent up here than any mere Democrat.
This race was settled when fellow incumbent Royd Chambers retired after
getting paired up with Huseman, who gets a second straight unopposed
general election.
July 19 Campaign Finance Report: The Daniel A. Huseman Election Committee
House District 4
Registration: D 1417, R 12962, N 3050, total 17434, R +11545, R +11534
Incumbent: Dwayne Alons, R-Hull, unopposed
The
number one Republican House seat is entirely in Sioux County. Alons'
God, gays and guns focus is a bit much even for his own party
leadership, as he was the only senior Republican skipped over for a
committee chair. But they like it back home: Alons won with 82% over a
Some Dude Democrat in 2008, and he was unopposed in 2010.
July 19 Campaign Finance Report: Alons for Representative Committee
Senate District 2, House District 3 & 4: District of the Day 1 - 4/26/2011 | District of the Day 2 - 3/16/2012
The worst.
Showing posts with label Randy Feenstra. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Randy Feenstra. Show all posts
Friday, August 17, 2012
Friday, March 16, 2012
District Of The Day Reboot: Iowa Senate District 2, Iowa House District 3 & 4
Senate District 2
Registration: D 5581, R 23961, N 10958, total 40516, R +18380
Incumbent: Randy Feenstra, R-Hull
This is where Republicans run up the score, and no Democrats filed for any of these seats. Take Sioux County out of the state, and John Kerry wins a 98-county Iowa in 2004. Sioux County dominates new District 2, the most Republican seat in the state, much as it dominated the old seat.
Unbelievably, Feenstra's old district was even MORE Republican. He loses Lyon and northern Plymouth, and instead gets O'Brien and Cherokee, plus the eastern part of Plymouth (which he didn't have before).
This area was the scene of an epic, general election level turnout primary in 2004 as relative moderate Dave Mulder knocked off the state's leading queer-baiter of the era, Ken Veenstra. Mulder stepped down after one term, semi-voluntarily (another epic primary was likely), and Feenstra moved from the county courthouse to the Senate in 2008 with no opponent in the primary OR the general. Don't be surprised if it happens again. There's something to be said for a 99 county strategy... but there's also something to be said for not stirring up a safe local incumbent and boosting turnout.
Randy Feenstra Iowa Senate Committee finance reports
House District 3
Registration: D 4037, R 10467, N 7633, total 22146, R +6430
Incumbent: Dan Huseman, R-Aurelia (Royd Chambers, R-Sheldon, retiring)
Redistricting is a greater threat to a GOP incumbent up here than any mere Democrat, and Chambers' retirement is the most excitement this race will see. My initial bet was that it would be Huseman, who suffered a heart attack and missed the end of the 2011 session, who could step down, but I'm apparently not the world's expert on internal GOP politics in northwest Iowa.
New House 3 is basically Chambers' O'Brien County (population 14,398) and Huseman's Cherokee (12,072), with a few townships in eastern Sioux and Plymouth thrown in. Huseman's old district 53 went south and east to the Sioux City limits and included southern and eastern Plymouth. He was held to 58% by a Democrat in 2008, but went unopposed last cycle.
Daniel A. Huseman Election Committee finance reports
House District 4
Registration: D 1544, R 13494, N 3325, total 18370, R +11950; the number one GOP House seat
Incumbent: Dwayne Alons, R-Hull
Alons is one of the only senior House Republicans who was passed over for a committee chair in 2011. His God, gays and guns focus is a bit much even for his own party leadership. But they like it back home: Alons won with 82% over a Some Dude Democrat in 2008, probably the state's biggest Democrat vs. Republican margin, and that earned him a walkover in 2010.
Old District 4 covered the northern two-thirds of Sioux and went north into Lyon County. The new seat is entirely in Sioux and adds Orange City, which used to be in Chuck Soderberg's old district 3. The exclusion of Lyon makes this seat a teeny bit less red. Yes, it used to be even MORE Republican.
Dwayne Alons for Representative Committee finance reports
Original post 4/26/2011 Statewide Map: Front | Back (with City Insets) | Old Senate, House
Registration: D 5581, R 23961, N 10958, total 40516, R +18380
Incumbent: Randy Feenstra, R-Hull
This is where Republicans run up the score, and no Democrats filed for any of these seats. Take Sioux County out of the state, and John Kerry wins a 98-county Iowa in 2004. Sioux County dominates new District 2, the most Republican seat in the state, much as it dominated the old seat.
Unbelievably, Feenstra's old district was even MORE Republican. He loses Lyon and northern Plymouth, and instead gets O'Brien and Cherokee, plus the eastern part of Plymouth (which he didn't have before).
This area was the scene of an epic, general election level turnout primary in 2004 as relative moderate Dave Mulder knocked off the state's leading queer-baiter of the era, Ken Veenstra. Mulder stepped down after one term, semi-voluntarily (another epic primary was likely), and Feenstra moved from the county courthouse to the Senate in 2008 with no opponent in the primary OR the general. Don't be surprised if it happens again. There's something to be said for a 99 county strategy... but there's also something to be said for not stirring up a safe local incumbent and boosting turnout.
Randy Feenstra Iowa Senate Committee finance reports
House District 3
Registration: D 4037, R 10467, N 7633, total 22146, R +6430
Incumbent: Dan Huseman, R-Aurelia (Royd Chambers, R-Sheldon, retiring)
Redistricting is a greater threat to a GOP incumbent up here than any mere Democrat, and Chambers' retirement is the most excitement this race will see. My initial bet was that it would be Huseman, who suffered a heart attack and missed the end of the 2011 session, who could step down, but I'm apparently not the world's expert on internal GOP politics in northwest Iowa.
New House 3 is basically Chambers' O'Brien County (population 14,398) and Huseman's Cherokee (12,072), with a few townships in eastern Sioux and Plymouth thrown in. Huseman's old district 53 went south and east to the Sioux City limits and included southern and eastern Plymouth. He was held to 58% by a Democrat in 2008, but went unopposed last cycle.
Daniel A. Huseman Election Committee finance reports
House District 4
Registration: D 1544, R 13494, N 3325, total 18370, R +11950; the number one GOP House seat
Incumbent: Dwayne Alons, R-Hull
Alons is one of the only senior House Republicans who was passed over for a committee chair in 2011. His God, gays and guns focus is a bit much even for his own party leadership. But they like it back home: Alons won with 82% over a Some Dude Democrat in 2008, probably the state's biggest Democrat vs. Republican margin, and that earned him a walkover in 2010.
Old District 4 covered the northern two-thirds of Sioux and went north into Lyon County. The new seat is entirely in Sioux and adds Orange City, which used to be in Chuck Soderberg's old district 3. The exclusion of Lyon makes this seat a teeny bit less red. Yes, it used to be even MORE Republican.
Dwayne Alons for Representative Committee finance reports
Original post 4/26/2011 Statewide Map: Front | Back (with City Insets) | Old Senate, House
Thursday, January 05, 2012
Back to the District of the Day Routine
We turned into a pumpkin at midnight -- well, 1:20 AM to be exact -- Tuesday/Wednesday, so with the national press off to New Hampshire it's time for us locals to get back to the routine local stuff of non-presidential politics. And for me that's legislative races.
The big, though not entirely shocking, news is that Kim Pearson is bailing on the legislature after just one term. The rumor mill had long been saying she was considering it. There had even been reports that's she'd recruited her own primary challenger, tea partyish Jim Carley.
Pearson upset conservaDem Geri Huser in 2010 with under 50 percent of the vote in a three way race, and that was as an unknown with an R after her name in a really good GOP year. She won few friends among her leadership to put it mildly, and derailed an anti-choice bill because it wasn't a pure total abortion ban.
Pearson's retirement may actually improve GOP chances in the new version of Altoona-based House District 30, even though the margin gets slightly more Republican. I'd expect other Republican(s) to jump in. Joe Riding, a moderate-ish Altoona city council member, is already in on the Democratic side.
Bleeding Heartland speculates Pearson may be forming a new anti-choice group; my bet is, now that she has even less to lose, she focuses on recruiting primary opponents for impure House Republicans and further monkeywrenching the whole legislative process.
In Ottumwa, Republican Blake Smith announced for House District 81 against Democrat Mary Gaskill.
Republican Galen Davis took advantage of a local Democratic in-fight in this District Draws Itself turf (Ottumwa is 82% of a House district) for a fluke 1998 win. He got knocked off by Democrat Mark Tremmel, who left after one term to run for county attorney.
In 2002 Gaskill, the former county auditor, won a close primary and settled in. Republicans looked like they were making a serious 2010 effort with Jane Holody; even Mike Huckabee took an interest. But Gaskill earned a 57% win. Ottumwa trended Republican the last two cycles with Mariannette Miller-Meeks on the ballot, Republican enough for the fluke 2010 election of Senator Mark "Chickenman" Chelgren. But with MMM not running, I expect Wapello County to trend blue.
And in really dull news, Republican Randy Feenstra announces for a second term in Sioux County dominated Senate District 2. The lines shuffle a bit but it's still the most Republican seat in the state.
Old Senate District 2 was the scene of an epic primary in 2004 as relative moderate Dave Mulder knocked off the state's leading queer-baiter of the era, Ken Veenstra. Mulder stepped down after one term, semi-voluntarily (another epic primary was likely), and Feenstra moved from the county courthouse to the Senate with no opponent in either the primary OR the general. That's likely again this time, which I guess is good; one less race to boost Republican turnout.
Pearson upset conservaDem Geri Huser in 2010 with under 50 percent of the vote in a three way race, and that was as an unknown with an R after her name in a really good GOP year. She won few friends among her leadership to put it mildly, and derailed an anti-choice bill because it wasn't a pure total abortion ban.
Pearson's retirement may actually improve GOP chances in the new version of Altoona-based House District 30, even though the margin gets slightly more Republican. I'd expect other Republican(s) to jump in. Joe Riding, a moderate-ish Altoona city council member, is already in on the Democratic side.
Bleeding Heartland speculates Pearson may be forming a new anti-choice group; my bet is, now that she has even less to lose, she focuses on recruiting primary opponents for impure House Republicans and further monkeywrenching the whole legislative process.
Republican Galen Davis took advantage of a local Democratic in-fight in this District Draws Itself turf (Ottumwa is 82% of a House district) for a fluke 1998 win. He got knocked off by Democrat Mark Tremmel, who left after one term to run for county attorney.
In 2002 Gaskill, the former county auditor, won a close primary and settled in. Republicans looked like they were making a serious 2010 effort with Jane Holody; even Mike Huckabee took an interest. But Gaskill earned a 57% win. Ottumwa trended Republican the last two cycles with Mariannette Miller-Meeks on the ballot, Republican enough for the fluke 2010 election of Senator Mark "Chickenman" Chelgren. But with MMM not running, I expect Wapello County to trend blue.
Old Senate District 2 was the scene of an epic primary in 2004 as relative moderate Dave Mulder knocked off the state's leading queer-baiter of the era, Ken Veenstra. Mulder stepped down after one term, semi-voluntarily (another epic primary was likely), and Feenstra moved from the county courthouse to the Senate with no opponent in either the primary OR the general. That's likely again this time, which I guess is good; one less race to boost Republican turnout.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
District of the Day: Senate District 2, House District 3 and 4
District of the Day: Senate District 2, House District 3 and 4
Sioux County is so Republican that, had it been annexed to South Dakota in 2004, John Kerry would have won a 98 county Iowa. The only threat to Republicans up here is a primary or redistricting, and indeed the GOP has a problem with a pair in this neighborhood.
Senate District 2
Registration: D 5419, R 23,119, N 9904, total 38,450, R+ 17,700 (!)
Incumbent: Randy Feenstra, R-Hull
Sioux County dominates new District 2, the most Republican seat in the state, much as it dominated old 2. Unbelievably, old 2 was even MORE Republican. The district loses Lyon to the north and most of Plymouth (the LeMars part) to the south, and instead gets O'Brien and Cherokee to the east, plus the eastern part of Plymouth (which it didn't have before).
Old Senate District 2 was the scene of an epic primary in 2004 as relative moderate Dave Mulder knocked off the state's leading queer-baiter of the era, Ken Veenstra. Mulder stepped down after one term, semi-voluntarily (another epic primary was likely), and Feenstra moved from the county courthouse to the Senate in 2008 with no opponent in the primary OR the general.
House District 3
Registration: D 3890, R 10,102, N 6837, total 20,833, R+ 6212
Incumbents: Royd Chambers, R-Sheldon and Dan Huseman, R-Aurelia
New House 3 is basically Chambers' O'Brien County (population 14,398) and Huseman's Cherokee (12,072), with a few townships in eastern Sioux and Plymouth thrown in.
Chambers' old district 5 went north to Osceola County, picked up western Sioux, and included most of the land of Clay County (wrapping around to exclude the city of Spencer). He went unopposed the last two cycles and was one of the seven no votes on the map.
Huseman's old district 53 went south and east to the Sioux City limits and included southern and eastern Plymouth. He was held to 58% by a Democrat in 2008, but went unopposed last cycle.
This reminds me a lot of the Rick Larkin-Phil Wise pair of 2002: Two incumbents with relatively equal geographic bases, in a corner of the state which leaves little room to move, and on safe turf for the party. Both members are relatively young (Chambers 49, Huseman 58) but Huseman had a heart attack April 9 and has been away from the Capitol since.
Chambers discussed the pairing with KTIV-TV:
House District 4
Registration: D 1529, R 13017, N 3067, total 17617, R+ 11488, which makes this the number one Republican House seat in the state.
Incumbent: Dwayne Alons, R-Hull
Alons, 64, who once argued that global warming wasn't a problem because we have air conditioning, has been focused on guns and gays this session, joining last week's last-ditch attempt at impeaching the Supreme Court, an effort immediately shot down by House GOP leadership. Yesterday, Bleeding Heartland noted:
Old District 4 covered the northern two-thirds of Sioux and went north into Lyon County. The new seat is entirely in Sioux and adds Orange City, which used to be in Chuck Soderberg's old district 3. The exclusion of Lyon makes this seat a teeny bit less red.
New Map | New Map (Insets) | Old Map
Sioux County is so Republican that, had it been annexed to South Dakota in 2004, John Kerry would have won a 98 county Iowa. The only threat to Republicans up here is a primary or redistricting, and indeed the GOP has a problem with a pair in this neighborhood.
Senate District 2
Registration: D 5419, R 23,119, N 9904, total 38,450, R+ 17,700 (!)
Incumbent: Randy Feenstra, R-Hull
Sioux County dominates new District 2, the most Republican seat in the state, much as it dominated old 2. Unbelievably, old 2 was even MORE Republican. The district loses Lyon to the north and most of Plymouth (the LeMars part) to the south, and instead gets O'Brien and Cherokee to the east, plus the eastern part of Plymouth (which it didn't have before).
Old Senate District 2 was the scene of an epic primary in 2004 as relative moderate Dave Mulder knocked off the state's leading queer-baiter of the era, Ken Veenstra. Mulder stepped down after one term, semi-voluntarily (another epic primary was likely), and Feenstra moved from the county courthouse to the Senate in 2008 with no opponent in the primary OR the general.
House District 3
Registration: D 3890, R 10,102, N 6837, total 20,833, R+ 6212
Incumbents: Royd Chambers, R-Sheldon and Dan Huseman, R-Aurelia
New House 3 is basically Chambers' O'Brien County (population 14,398) and Huseman's Cherokee (12,072), with a few townships in eastern Sioux and Plymouth thrown in.
Chambers' old district 5 went north to Osceola County, picked up western Sioux, and included most of the land of Clay County (wrapping around to exclude the city of Spencer). He went unopposed the last two cycles and was one of the seven no votes on the map.
Huseman's old district 53 went south and east to the Sioux City limits and included southern and eastern Plymouth. He was held to 58% by a Democrat in 2008, but went unopposed last cycle.
This reminds me a lot of the Rick Larkin-Phil Wise pair of 2002: Two incumbents with relatively equal geographic bases, in a corner of the state which leaves little room to move, and on safe turf for the party. Both members are relatively young (Chambers 49, Huseman 58) but Huseman had a heart attack April 9 and has been away from the Capitol since.
Chambers discussed the pairing with KTIV-TV:
Representatives Royd Chambers and Dan Huseman, not only share a house in Des Moines, soon they'll also share the same district.This won't get figured out until Huseman has recovered his health. Here's hoping that recovery will be swift and full.
"It is kind of awkward being roommates and getting thrown in together, but again we wouldn't be roommate if we didn't get along with each other," said joked.
He says the topic's come up, and that neither's made a definite decision on their political future.
House District 4
Registration: D 1529, R 13017, N 3067, total 17617, R+ 11488, which makes this the number one Republican House seat in the state.
Incumbent: Dwayne Alons, R-Hull
Alons, 64, who once argued that global warming wasn't a problem because we have air conditioning, has been focused on guns and gays this session, joining last week's last-ditch attempt at impeaching the Supreme Court, an effort immediately shot down by House GOP leadership. Yesterday, Bleeding Heartland noted:
Two experienced House Republicans joined (three freshmen) in filing the articles of impeachment: Betty De Boef (district 76) and Dwayne Alons (district 4). To some extent they are outsiders in their own caucus, among very few veteran legislators passed over for committee chairmanships when Republicans took back the Iowa House majority...They like it back home: Alons won with 82% in 2008, probably the state’s biggest Democrat vs. Republican margin, and that earned him a walkover in 2010.
I don't see what unhappy party leaders can do to Alons. As I mentioned above, he doesn't hold a committee chairmanship leaders could take away. He isn't the brightest bulb, but he does have the guts to back hopeless causes. For example, he nominated Bob Vander Plaats for lieutenant governor at last summer's state GOP convention. Earlier this session, Alons proposed other legislation backed by only a small minority in his own caucus: he sought to reduce Iowa Supreme Court justices' pay and change the state's judicial selection process.
Old District 4 covered the northern two-thirds of Sioux and went north into Lyon County. The new seat is entirely in Sioux and adds Orange City, which used to be in Chuck Soderberg's old district 3. The exclusion of Lyon makes this seat a teeny bit less red.
New Map | New Map (Insets) | Old Map
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