Oh yes, there were other races yesterday beyond the Gubernatorial race and Third Congressional District race. I went 3 out of 5 in the Iowa Republican Primary with my endorsements.
First Matt Schultz won the GOP nomination to run against Michael Mauro our current Iowa Secretary of State. He won 47% of the vote (77,120). George Eichhorn had 27% (44,106), and Chris Sanger came in with 26% (42,847).
Matt campaigned hard, and I believe he is recognized as the future of our party. We 
need young, conservative blood and Matt fits the bill.
Second, Dave Jamison handily won the GOP nomination to run against current State Treasurer, Michael Fitzgerald. He won 67% of the vote (105,276) with James Heavens came in with 33% (51,600). Dave has great experience as Story County Treasurer.
Congratulations to Matt and Dave!
Further down the ballot yet, but not on my ballot however. I had the privilege to endorse Kim Pearson in House District 42. Kim Pearson won 76% (1,878) to Aaron Warner’s 23% (576). Great job Kim! I’ll look forward to seeing you take down Representative Geri Huser.
I’m sure my endorsements put them over the top 🙂
Looking at some other House and Senate District primary races of interest, well of interest to me anyway.
It is good to see that the good people of House District 21 had the good sense to send Representative Kerry Burt packing in their Democratic Primary (ok, not a Republican primary, but it is noteworthy). Anesa Kajtazovic beat Burt – 92% to 8%. I can’t believe Burt ran for reelection after two DUIs and school tuition scandal. Update: I was informed by a reader that Burt dropped out (back in April and endorsed Kajatozovic). I still can’t believe he even considered reelection and filed to be on the ballot. Kajatozovic will run against John Rooff who beat Lyn Tackett in the Republican primary 59% to 41%. I think if I were in that district I would have gone for Tackett, but I really don’t know much about that race.
One of my Facebook friends lost his race in House District 73, Roger Billings fell short in the Republican primary coming in second with 31% with Julian Garrett winning with 44%. A third candidate, Joan Acela, came in third with 25%. Sorry it turned out this way for you Roger. You would have been good.
Tea Party favorite Tom Shaw won the House District 8 primary with 55% of the vote. Stephen Richard was second with 39%, and Alissa Wagner was third with 6%. In Senate District 21, Joe Prillo won with 44% beating former Huckabee and Vander Plaats staffer, Wes Enos – 34% and Michael Adams – 22%.
Then a surprise (for me) in Senate District 41, incumbent State Senator David Hartsuch was beat by Roby Smith 48% to 52%. Seems that his career is definitely in decline since losing to Bruce Braley in the 2008 1st Congressional District race. Not so surprising, Sandy Greiner won Senate District 45 handily with 66% of the vote.
While we tend to focus on the top of the ballot. But conservatives can not afford to ignore down ballot races. A marriage amendment for instance, has to come through the Iowa General Assembly – which will be impossible with the current make-up. Want to see Iowa’s Right to Work status protected? Then we need change in the Legislature. Would you like to see the Iowa Core Curriculum repealed, you guessed it, we need a change in the Statehouse. Winning Terrace Hill is not enough.
So whether you live in Iowa or elsewhere don’t forget those down ballot races – including county and municipal races. I noticed where I live that we don’t have any challengers to Democratic incumbents in county offices, what’s up with that? I hope that isn’t the case where you live.
