Iowa’s June 2 Primary is a week away, with a key race among five Republicans vying to succeed fellow Republican Kim Reynolds as governor and they have struck a common theme on the campaign trail: Iowa’s population has to start growing.
Congressman Randy Feenstra has been promising to take Iowa to new heights. “We have to make sure that our communities are thriving,” Feenstra said in November when he launched his campaign, “that when our kids graduate from high school that there is a skill and a job waiting for them right away.”
The four candidates who participated in last week’s TV debate made similar points. Businessman Zach Lahn said population growth is “the ultimate answer” to the systemic issues Iowa faces. “I’m all for low taxes, low regulation,” Lahn said, “but if our kids are leaving and our people are getting cancer. That’s not a winning scenario in our state.” Lahn suggested businesses in urban Iowa shouldn’t be eligible for state grants and tax breaks and those incentives should all go to businesses in rural areas.
State Representative Eddie Andrews agrees. “We have so many communities that there’s nothing but an elevator there,” Andrews said.
Pastor Brad Sherman boils Iowa’s economic dilemmas down to this: “It’s the big picture. We have to grow our population.” He suggested one solution is a farming shift, to grow more of the food Iowans eat.
Former state agency director Adam Steen suggested population loss can be reversed in rural areas. “We’ve got to be recruiting new business into the state of Iowa to capitalize on the infrastructure that we have,” Steen said. Steen has said promoting skilled trades like welding and plumbing would make the state “cool again” for young people looking for a place to live and raise a family.