“The Iowa Supreme Court on Friday blocked a law requiring a 72-hour waiting period before a woman can get an abortion,” the AP reports.
“The court ruled that the law violates the Iowa Constitution, siding with a lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood of Iowa and the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa. The organizations sued the state over the law approved by lawmakers last year.”
“Donald Trump’s trade war with China could cost Iowa farmers hundreds of millions of dollars and do untold damage to the state economy,” Politico reports.
“But you’d never know it from talking to Republicans at the recent state GOP convention here. When Iowa Republican Party Chairman Jeff Kaufmann asked more than 1,100 delegates a defining question — who was still behind President Donald Trump? — there was no hesitation. In an exuberant display of unity, more than 1,100 delegates sprang to their feet, whistling, cheering and offering prolonged applause.”
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’ (R) office said “she will sign legislation prohibiting nearly all abortions in Iowa after a fetal heartbeat is detected, making it the most restrictive abortion ban in the nation,” the Des Moines Register reports.
“The law, which goes into effect on July 1 if not stopped by courts, will require physicians to conduct an abdominal ultrasound to test for a fetal heartbeat on any woman seeking an abortion. If a heartbeat is detected, a physician cannot perform an abortion. Experts said a fetal heartbeat can be detected about six weeks into a pregnancy and often before a woman realizes she’s pregnant.”
Associated Press: “Similar legislation passed in other states didn’t go into effect after they were challenged in court over their constitutionality.”
“With a middle-of-the-night vote that followed hours of heated debate, Iowa Republicans have approved a measure that would ban most abortions in the state and all but guarantee a protracted legal battle,” the Des Moines Register reports.
“The move comes in the final days of the legislative session and amid mounting pressure from the Legislature’s most ardently anti-abortion corners to pass the so-called ‘heartbeat’ bill before adjournment.”
If signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds (R), the bill “would ban nearly all abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected. That can occur about six weeks into a pregnancy and often before a woman realizes she’s pregnant.”
A Reynolds spokesperson told the Associated Press that the governor would likely sign the bill.
Iowa Senate Majority Leader Bill Dix (R) resigned both from his leadership position and from the Iowa Senate following publication of an article and video that showed him in what appeared to be a romantic relationship with a lobbyist, the Iowa Starting Line reports.
Dix had weathered previous controversies surrounding a sexual harassment case, “but today’s new controversies proved to be too much.”
A new Des Moines Register poll in Iowa finds that just 26% of voters say they’ll definitely vote for President Trump if he runs for re-election in 2020, while 48% say they definitely will not vote for him.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) “faced relentless questioning about President Trump’s fitness for office and his own handling of the investigation into Russian election meddling at a rural town meeting here Friday morning,” the Des Moines Register reports.
“It was a striking scene, not least because of where it was playing out: in a rural western Iowa county where Republicans outnumber Democrats nearly two-to-one and where Trump carried 65 percent of the vote in 2016. And in contrast to the crowds that packed into lawmakers’ town meetings last year, the anti-Trump contingent was not obviously organized.”
Washington Post: “Iowa has seemingly soured on the president and his party. The end-of-year Iowa Poll, an industry standard conducted by Des Moines-based Selzer and Co., found Trump with just 35 percent approval in the state. Only 34 percent of Iowans said they would back Republicans for Congress in 2018, and 61 percent said they were turned off by politics altogether.”
One more number to highlight in the new Des Moines Register poll: Iowans favor electing Democrats to Congress over Republicans by 40% to 34%.
“The finding is notable because Republicans hold three of Iowa’s four congressional seats, including two seen as among the most competitive in the country in 2018. The results are starkest in Iowa’s 1st congressional district, which encompasses 20 northeast Iowa counties and is currently held by two-term Republican U.S. Rep. Rod Blum. Despite the GOP incumbent, 47% of poll respondents in the district say they would vote for a Democrat, while just 29% say they’ll vote Republican.”
Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R) “will resign as Iowa and the nation’s longest-serving governor and Kim Reynolds will be sworn in as his successor in back-to-back morning ceremonies at the Iowa Capitol,” the Des Moines Register reports.
“The long-awaited gubernatorial transition occurs two days after Branstad’s confirmation as ambassador to China by the U.S. Senate. In addition to the transfer of gubernatorial power, Branstad will be officially sworn into his diplomatic post.”
“The leadership PAC of former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley commissioned a Public Policy Polling survey of the first-in-the-nation caucus state earlier this month,” according to a copy of the results obtained by Politico.
“The poll, which shows O’Malley at 18 percent of Democratic caucus-goers in a field of nine potential candidates if the contest were held today, also asked the Iowans about New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, former Housing Sec. Julian Castro, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, California Sen. Kamala Harris, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, and Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz.”
Des Moines Register: “A bill in the Iowa Senate seeks to achieve greater political diversity among professors at the state’s Board of Regents universities. Senate File 288 would institute a hiring freeze until the number of registered Republicans and Democrats on the university faculty fall within 10 percent of each other.”
A new Des Moines Register poll finds 42% of Iowans approve of the job President Trump is doing, while 49% disapprove.
“Trump won Iowa on his way to the White House by 9 percentage points in November, his widest victory among states believed by many to be swing states.”
A new Des Moines Register poll finds that 51% of Iowans disagree with President Trump’s executive order pausing refugee resettlement and barring travel to the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries.
“Seven weeks before Election Day, the earliest numbers from advance voting for president show initial strength for Hillary Clinton in swing state North Carolina, good news for Donald Trump in battleground Iowa and a record number of requests for ballots in Ohio,” the AP reports.
“The first early voting figures Tuesday are too preliminary to serve as clear indicators about how the election will go. Still, they are of interest because, unlike polls, they deal with actual voters either casting ballots or taking their first steps to do so. Campaigns are scrutinizing these figures to help guide their strategies.”
The Guardian: “Trump’s strong position is in part due to the fact that unlike in other swing states, the Iowan Republican establishment has rallied conclusively behind him.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Wonk Wire, Political Job Hunt 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.
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