There are two parts to turning the country around and both run through the ballot box.

The first is voting: making sure we take care of ourselves by checking our registration and then voting in person, either early or on election day. Encourage everyone we know to do likewise.

The second is changing the public narrative about life in Iowa and in the United States. We should not accept narratives being fed to us by media outlets, churches, interest groups, and political parties. Instead, we must develop new narratives that properly reflect how we live despite our differences. I predict this will change how we vote.

If we can do those things, there is a chance to make society a better place to live. I believe this is possible during the 2024 election cycle.

Political Canvassing

In Iowa, the political strategies and tactics Democrats used during the 2006-2008 election cycles have become obsolete. Not because talking to people lost importance to winning votes, but because we, as a society, have grown ever more suspicious of people we don’t know. Have to ask, what happened to Democrats after Obama won his first presidential election? We may feel we have to ask, but that’s the wrong question. What was an ability to win elections in 2006 and 2008, was an all in, once or nothing endeavor the usefulness of which waned by 2010 when Republicans began re-taking control of state government.

I door knocked for Democrats during the 2022 election cycle and can attest the game changed since 2008. In the Johnson County part of House District 91, Democratic voter registrations outnumbered Republican and Democrats still couldn’t win that part of the district. At the doors, I heard people have complicated lives where voting was not among the highest priorities. I did the best I could, yet my efforts, and those of fellow Democratic canvassers, couldn’t get the job done. It wasn’t from a lack of effort. The centralized, targeted canvassing of the past no longer works.

Changing the narrative

How do we change the narrative about how we live? There are no easy answers. Recognizing how important answering this question is to the process of taking back our government is a necessary first step. Our media, in many ways, is the public narrative. It is messed up when one can say, “…the best way to reach the maximum audience is to give Republicans what they want and drive liberals to hate reading, hate sharing, and even hate subscribing. Because even by rebutting them, you spread and strengthen them,” as Jason Sattler wrote on FrameLab. There has to be a better way.

From ten cycles of door knocking for Democratic candidates, I found the narrative voters told me at the door was one of two kinds. The first was a simple statement about the moment in which we found ourselves. Those conversations were pleasant and whether we agreed or disagreed about our politics, we each took something away from the door. The second was less pleasant, as if someone just left a television set where FOX News was spreading misinformation and running down the Democrats. What I heard in both cases was the raw energy of an electorate in motion. It was clear the narratives Iowans lived by were sourced from places other than the issue list I carried at the door. Minds had already been made up.

The coronavirus pandemic had a substantial impact on our politics. Where I live it cemented the Republican majority. When Governor Kim Reynolds normalized the pandemic on Feb. 15, 2022, more than a year before Federal COVID-19 public health emergency declarations ended, she had developed a narrative about her role, which she repeated in an Aug. 30, 2023 news release, “Since news broke of COVID-19 restrictions being re-instated at some colleges and businesses across the U.S., concerned Iowans have been calling my office asking whether the same could happen here. My answer—not on my watch. In Iowa, government respects the people it serves and fights to protect their rights. I rejected the mandates and lock downs of 2020, and my position has not changed.” This narrative won her some votes. Set aside the science of a pandemic, or what actually happened, and it might sound pretty good. It is disconnected from reality.

Iowa legislative Democrats have a good idea. “People over Politics” is the right narrative for this campaign because it hits on the need to address the majority of Iowans’ needs and wants, rather than a small minority. After all, 3.2 million people live in Iowa. That’s a lot more than the 15 percent of registered Republican voters who attended their 2024 precinct caucuses. What we Democrats understand is it is not enough to repeat the slogan, check off the box, and return to politics as usual. Our narrative needs development and has to change. I’m confident our legislative leaders are doing that.

There is an easy and a hard part of the 2024 election. I’ll make sure my personal network votes in November. Every other political energy I expend will be devoted to changing the narrative. I believe it can and will make a difference.