The six Democratic candidates for governor will appear in three televised debates before the end of May. The candidates have mostly avoided directly criticizing one another. Instead, they’ve focused on touting their own resumes and criticizing the GOP for reducing union bargaining rights, defunding Planned Parenthood and privatizing Medicaid.
“Heartless and misguided Republican policies that have deeply hurt this state,” Fred Hubbell, a retired businessman from Des Moines, said during a speech in late 2017.
John Norris, an aide to former Democratic office-holders Tom Vilsack and Tom Harkin, has warned Democrats that anger alone won’t lead to 2018 victories.
“Democrats must answer the call,” Norris often says. “We must inspire and engage and we must contest for power.”
Cathy Glasson, a nurse from Coralville, has made government-paid health-care-for-all the central tenant of her campaign and she’s critical of corporate influence in both parties.
“Watered down centrist policies that settle for too little and leave too many out,” Glasson said recently.
Nate Boulton, a first-term state senator from Des Moines, has stressed his support for labor rights and his status as the youngest of the six candidates.
“Winning will take a new generation of Iowans, sharing our vision throughout the state,” Boulton says on the campaign trail.
Andy McGuire, a doctor from Des Moines, often blasts two high-profile cases of sexual harassment in the state government.
“A culture that says it’s o.k. to harass and abuse another and get away with it,” McGuire said recently.
Ross Wilburn, the former mayor of Iowa City, now lives in Ames where he works at Iowa State University Extension. Wilburn said last fall that it’s time to shift to a “healthy” economic agenda that “bring everyone along, so let’s increase our minimum wage to $15 an hour.”
The six candidates are scheduled to meet in a debate this Sunday, in Davenport, that will be broadcast on KWQC and co-sponsored by the Quad City Times. The second debate is next Wednesday, the 16th, and will be broadcast statewide by Iowa Public Television. The third and final televised candidate forum will be May 30th on KCCI in Des Moines and co-sponsored by The Des Moines Register.