The Democratic Leader in the Iowa House is launching a campaign for Iowa’s third district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Jennifer Konfrst of Windsor Heights said Trump’s second term as president is the motivating factor. “Thinking about how are you going to fight and how are we going to come back and bring balance back to this country,” Konfrst told Radio Iowa, “and on Inauguration Day it hit me that I think it’s time that I worked to try to represent more people.”
Konfrst is the second Democrat this week to launch a campaign in Iowa’s third congressional district, which is currently represented by Republican Zach Nunn of Bondurant.
“My biggest critique of Congressman Nunn is just that he’s M.I.A.,” Konfrst said. “People don’t feel heard…They feel like they deserve better and I agree with them.”
Konfrst said Iowans see chaos when they look at congress right now. “Just because congress can’t figure out how to get along doesn’t mean Iowans don’t deserve good representation and too often we treat politics and congress and legislating like a game and the decisions that are made there affect people’s daily lives,” Konfrst said. “…It’s time to stop treating it like a game and actually go there and try to get something done because that’s what people expect and what they deserve.”
Konfrst, who is 51, is a Drake University journalism professor. She was first elected to the Iowa House in 2018 and has been House Minority Leader since June of 2021. Konfrst said the current Republican-led congress in Washington is not fulfilling its constitutional role in policy-making and budgeting.
“Currently, Congressman Nunn and his colleagues have just given that over to the president,” Konfrst said. “That’s unacceptable and our job would be not just to be a check on the president, but to ensure that the things he’s proposing are stopped if they’re bad for Iowans.”
Konfrst will step down from her leadership role in the Iowa House at the end of the 2025 legislative session. It appears she’ll face at least one other Democrat in a 2026 primary in the third district. State Senator Sarah Trone Garriott of West Des Moines announced her campaign on Monday.
A spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee says Konfrst and Trone Garriott will have a “messy” primary fight “to be the most extreme Democrat.”