Night Out After the Election

I drove my 2019 Chevy Spark due west from North Liberty into gathering darkness between plot after plot of agricultural land. I paid close attention to the road as there was little traffic and light faded to darkness all around, making it difficult to see where the blacktop ended. A combine had its headlights on while harvesting corn.

The trip was an informal get-together of Iowa County Democrats and some friends from Johnson County. The big news of the evening was that extremist state legislator Brad Sherman, who represents us in House District 91, decided not to run for re-election. Republicans already recruited someone else to run for the seat. The only person who knew anything about them was a member of a farm family who saw him occasionally at the Farm Services Agency. The news surprised everyone.

(UPDATE: After this article was posted, Sherman made an announcement via email here).

I haven’t seen much of my Iowa County friends since the 2022 election. I felt I’d better attend to re-establish friendships begun during that campaign. Once we have candidates for the statehouse, I expect to be spending more time with them. It was announced no one decided to run for state senate or the house at this time.

A group from Johnson County was in attendance. My connection to many of them goes back to the 2004 campaign. I had fun chatting with them and getting caught up. We are all getting older. So many people came the restaurant had to call in extra staff to attend to us.

Iowa House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst attended. She represents the party well when communicating with media or the public in her leadership role. I told her as much. She said I should run for the House.

My spouse and I discussed me holding public office and it is not in our sweet spot. Who needs the public scrutiny that comes with it? In an Iowa House race, there will be scrutiny. I have been writing in public for so long I’ve taken more than a few extremely liberal positions in newspapers and on my blog. My support, with a small band of clergy, for Iowa City to become a Sanctuary City is sure to come up. I expect most of my controversial writing is easily accessible and would be used against me. Who needs that?

My friend Ed Flaherty, with whom ten of us started the Iowa Chapters of Veterans for Peace, was in attendance, as was his son. Ed and I discussed Saturday’s Armistice Recognition in Iowa City and I said I’d be there. His son Brian was chair of the Johnson County Democrats during the 2008 election cycle when Iowa voted for Barack Obama as president. I recently re-posted my story about closing down the offices here.

One of the people active in local demonstrations after Hamas bombed Israel last month was there. We reviewed the situation and planned actions. We also discussed Newman Abuissa’s Nov. 3 letter to the Cedar Rapids Gazette asking Iowa Democratic Party chair Rita Hart to issue an apology for statements about antisemitism she made regarding a group of university students. Abuissa is chair of the IDP Arab American caucus and friends with James Zogby, founder and president of the Arab-American Institute. In Eastern Iowa we have plenty of connections to what’s happening in the Middle East.

I made it a point to seek out everyone I knew and catch up. By the time I made the rounds of every table, it was past my normal bedtime.I was so busy talking I forgot to order a beverage, which usually is a locally made root beer. To avoid back roads, I took Highway 6 back to the metropolitan area and made it safely home. I am glad I went to the gathering.