Washington Post: “A combination of factors has made Iowa, where Trump expanded his winning margin to more than 13 percentage points in 2024, a tougher landscape for Republicans. The Iran war has pushed up diesel and gasoline prices, squeezing farmers and truckers, while the trade fight with China has hurt soybean growers. And despite the bright spot of low unemployment, Iowa’s economy shrank slightly in the first quarter of 2026, and ranked 48th among states for growth for that quarter.”
About Political Wire
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.