The Iowa State Fair brings many of the best parts of Iowa together, Democrat Deidre DeJear said as she spoke Saturday at the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox.
“The community that we have right now, as we see it in full action throughout this Iowa State Fair experience, is something that I believe is worth fighting for,” the gubernatorial said from the Soapbox stage on the Fair’s Grand Concourse.
But that community also includes those who couldn’t be at the Fair, she said, or who couldn’t afford to come.
“This state has so much good that exists in it, but unfortunately right now we’re all enduring challenges that I believe that we can overcome,” she said.
DeJear, who is running to unseat Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds in November, said as she’s traveling the state and listening to Iowans talk about their struggles, she’s hearing from people who have visions for improving their communities but need more state investment. She said “Iowa is worth the work” and that she wants to represent those Iowans in part by boosting funding to areas like mental health care and public schools.
She said she’s heard: “‘We’re making due with what we have. We need the state to show up for us more.’ Well, the state’s going to show up for this entire state under my leadership.”
During her approximately 17-minute remarks at the Register’s Soapbox, she specifically pointed to the 2.5% increase in state aid that Republicans gave to schools this year, which she said isn’t enough in the face of record inflation and teacher and bus driver shortages. The state needs to boost education funding and could responsibly tap into its rainy day fund to support things like mental health care and addressing a shortage of mental health beds at treatment facilities, she said.
“On the outside looking in one might look at our mental health care system and think Iowa must be broke — Iowa must not have any solutions,” she said. “Well, as I’ve been traveling this state I know Iowans know what’s good for Iowa. I know we’re not short of solutions. And guess what, good people? We’re also not broke.”
DeJear also pointed to her opposition to Reynolds’ stance on abortion. Reynolds is pushing to reinstate Iowa’s 2018 law banning abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy.
“This election is about our freedom,” she said. “This election is about our voting rights. This election is about a woman being able to go into her doctor’s (office), make a decision that’s good for her and not have to consider the opinion of Kim Reynolds. That’s what this election is about.”
DeJear, an activist and small business owner, previously mounted an unsuccessful campaign for secretary of state in 2018. A July Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll showed Reynolds held a 17-point lead in the race. Reynolds also reported more than 10 times the amount of cash on hand as DeJear in July.
Libertarian Rick Stewart, who also is challenging Reynolds, spoke at the Register’s Soapbox earlier Saturday. Reynolds, who had attended the fair each of its first three days so far, was invited to speak but declined.
More: View candidate speeches, photos and read articles from the 2022 Soapbox
Ian Richardson covers the Iowa Statehouse for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at irichardson@registermedia.com, at 515-284-8254, or on Twitter at @DMRIanR.
