Another Democrat may throw his hat into the ring in the race for governor in two years. Council Bluffs State Senator Mike Gronstal, the democratic leader in the Senate, says he may run. He says it’s something he hasn’t ruled out at this point. Gronstal helped elect enough democrats in November to give his party a 25-25 split in the upcoming legislative session. Gronstal says if he can produce some meaningful legislation with the split, it would give him some momentum to run. He says if he can pull that off and actually move the legislature to bipartisian compormise and cooperation, that might pave the way for him to consider running for governor. Gronstal says his first priority is to have a productive legislative session. He says you’ll never get all the partisan heat out, “but we live in a political cauldron that’s been on a rapid boil for at least a dozen years, maybe we can get it down to a gentle simmer and deal with some of the thorniest issues that Iowa has to deal with.” He says that might happen because it won’t be a republican or democrat senate, it’ll be equally divided. If he does run, Gronstal would likely join fellow democrats Secretary of State Chet Culver, Representative Ed Fallon and Department of Economic Development Director Mike Blouin. As for the democratic party as a whole, Gronstal is joining other party members in backing Lieutenant Governor Sally Pederson as the replacement for outgoing party chair Gordon Fisher.He says there was no stronger advocate for the party in terms of winning back Senate seats and he says he’d like to see Pederson take it on. Gronstal made his comments during the taping of the Iowa Public T-V program Iowa Press.
