Democrat gubernatorial candidate Mike Blouin named Des Moines insurance executive Andy McGuire as his running mate today (Thursday) in her hometown of Waterloo. McGuire’s been subject of debate this week as she voted in several Republican primaries over the past decade. McGuire explains it this way.
McGuire says “I’m an independent woman and I’m like a lot of Iowans. I look at the candidates. I look at the issues that are important to me and then I make my decision and those decisions have many times not been on one side or the other.” She says that’s the way most Iowans vote, with their minds, not down a party line.
McGuire says “I can tell you that my values, the issues that are very important to me, the issues I’ve worked on, are really the Democratic issues. The Democratic party has really come to those issues.” The irony is, state G-O-P officials say McGuire also donated money to Jim Nussle’s congressional campaigns. Nussle is the Republican candidate for governor who could be facing off against McGuire’s running mate, Blouin, in November.
Blouin says he knew before he picked McGuire that she had voted in previous G-O-P primary races. Blouin says “This is a joke. Who cares whether someone reached into another party and voted in a primary? What difference does it make? It’s philosophy. It’s qualifications. It’s values. She hits all the bells.” Blouin explains some of the reasons why he chose McGuire as his running mate.
Blouin says she has much expertise in the health care area and has done extensive research in the area of early childhood brain development. McGuire is 49 and a mother of seven children. She has a medical degree and an M-B-A. She’s the chief medical officer at American Republic Insurance Company in Des Moines.