Rita Hart has been re-elected to serve as chair of the Iowa Democratic Party for the next four years.
Hart said when she took over as chair two years ago, the party was in $100,000 in debt and there were just two full-time employees, but she’s beefed up the staff and has raised enough resources to start prepping for the 2026 election.
“We know what needs to be done and I’m excited about getting off and running here in ’25,” Hart told reporters after her election on Saturday. “I think it’s going to make a huge difference.”
Hart had the support of 38 of the 49 Democrats on the party’s state central committee who voted during Saturday’s leadership election.
“It sends a good message, I think, to all Democrats that we are on the same page,” Hart said. “You know, not to say that we don’t have a lot of work to do and that there is still a lot of fence mending to do, but it really gives us a chance to use that continuity to our advantage.”
Hart had acknowledged the 2024 election in Iowa was another “gut-punch” for Democrats after Republicans expanded their majorities in the state legislature and won all four of Iowa’s seats in the U.S. House. “We’ve known for these last two years that we have a long ways to go, right? We were really down in ’22, so it’s not going to get fixed in one cycle,” Hart said, snapping her fingers to emphasize the point. “It’s not a quick turnaround. It times time. it takes a lot of work.”
Three Democrats challenged Hart for the role of party chair. Tim Winter of Kelley, who got support from 10 state central committee members, has been chair of Boone County Democrats and argued the party has to focus on getting Democrats to run for school boards, city councils and county offices.
“When you have that kind of excitement in a local county for a candidate people will show up and vote,” he said, “and that helps statewide candidates like the U.S. Senate, the governor, and all the other statewide races.”
The other two challengers emphasized rebuilding trust with voters and reaching out to younger voters.
Hart, in answer to reporters’ questions, said she has had discussions with some Iowa Democrats about whether to try to regain the lead-off spot for the 2028 Iowa Caucuses. “It’s clear we’re not in agreement, you know,” Hart said, “and so that’s a process we need to through to talk about what makes sense for us, what’s in Iowa’s best interest.”
National party leaders decided Iowa Democrats would NOT host the lead-off event in the 2024 election. Hart said previous Caucus campaigns helped identify volunteers and create excitement about the state party and its message.
“Iowa deserves a place,” Hart told reporters. “We have the history…and Iowa presents a very unique position where any candidate can come in here and not have to spend so much money and have the ability to be vetted by a group of people who really know how to get the job done.”
Hart said the Democratic National Committee “made a mistake” by not having a state in the middle of the country be an early contest in the 2024 presidential nominating process. On Friday, Iowa Republican Party chairman Jeff Kaufmann said he hasn’t decided yet whether to seek another term as leader of his party, but one motivating factor would be his ability to secure first-in-the-nation status for the Iowa Republican Party’s Caucuses in 2028.