Iowa Secretary of State Michael Mauro says this may be a difficult election year for incumbents.
“Because we have an unstable economy right now people are asking a lot of questions and, I think, you know, the incumbency might not be as good as it’s been in the past,” Mauro says.
According to research from the Pew Center, only one-third of Americans who were polled this fall said they wanted to see incumbents reelected to congress in 2010. That is the lowet level of support for congressional incumbents in two decades.
Mauro, a Democrat, became Iowa’s secretary of state in 2007 and plans to seek a second, four-year term to that state-level office this November.
“We look forward to the opportunity to participate in this election and let people know what we’re doing in our office,” Mauro says.
Mauro, as secretary of state, is the commissioner of elections in Iowa and he works with county auditors to run both the primary election in June and the general election in November.
“I think you’re going to see lots of interest,” Mauro says. “I think the economy’s going to be a big part of how people make decisions in this election and jobs — those are the two main issues I see as I travel the state.”
In other election-related news, former Governor Terry Branstad’s staff revealed Branstad has raised over one-and-a-half million dollars for his attempt to win a fifth term as governor. None of Branstad’s other Republican rivals for the G-O-P’s 2010 nomination have publicly revealed how much money they raised by December 31st. Next Tuesday is the deadline for each campaign to file fundraising reports with the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board.
(Ric Hanson from KJAN Radio reporting in Atlantic; additional reporting from Radio Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson in Des Moines)