(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Democratic Party candidates and leaders are urging party activists and campaign volunteers to focus on winning over independent and Republican voters in this year’s General Election. A crowd of over a thousand at last (Sunday) night’s Iowa Democratic Party fundraiser cheered as candidates like Josh Turek, the Democrat running for the U-S Senate, talked about flipping seats currently held by Republicans.

“We are going to go to talk to everyone across this state, no matter where they live, no matter what party they belong to. We’re going to change this state together,” Turek said, to applause. Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart kicked off the event by saying her party has a chance to show the rest of the country how to listen to voters and get past political divisions.”We are all hungry for a politics where we don’t judge people by their political labels,” Hart said, “but instead are capable of recognizing the good in each other any time and anywhere.”

Rob Sand, the Democratic Party’s nominee for governor, stressed that theme, too. “I do not want to raise my children in a place where they are told that they can believe that they can hate someone based on who they vote for,” Sand said. Sand talked about political parity, like the 30 years Iowans sent Democrat Tom Harkin and Republican Chuck Grassley to the U-S Senate.

“We do our best work when we have to work together,” Sand said, to applause. “This doesn’t sound confusing to me and I’m glad that you all clapped for that because it seems pretty reasonable, doesn’t it?” Sand asked. Former U-S Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the winner of the Iowa Democratic Party’s presidential caucuses in 2020, was the event’s closer. He says Democratic victories in Iowa this fall will defy assumptions.

“We’ve got to get busy welcoming others into our coalition, reaching out to those who might have believed what they were told about ‘government for the forgotten man’ or ‘no new wars,'” Buttigieg said, “reaching out and saying: ‘He doesn’t deserve you.'”

The latest data shows Democrats gained about 27-thousand registered voters in Iowa last month, but there are still more independent voters than Democrats and Democrats trail the number of registered Republicans by about 184-thousand.

KJAN

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