I’m a little late posting this newsletter, but Ryan Melton is doing a great job and it deserves to be shared. He is out there in the fourth district fighting the good fight for Iowans to have better representation, which can’t be easy. He also takes the time to write a substantive newsletter. Not just a robo cookie-cutter money ask. Yes he gets around to asking for money because that is important to a campaign but it is last, after the information sharing part.
Please give his newsletter a read and you can sign up to receive it below. Even if you don’t have time to read it all through, it is still helpful to share it on your social media platforms. Election day is coming. All hands on deck.
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This is Ryan Melton, Democrat running for the U.S. House in Iowa’s 4th Congressional District. During my 2024 campaign, I’ll send you a weekly email to keep you in the loop while not overwhelming your inbox. Typically, the newsletter will be a review from the week prior: Where we went, what issues of note were on the minds of those I met with, where we’ll be in the next week, etc.
Where I went on the campaign trail last week:
Last week, I sat down for an hour-long interview with Julie Gammack (I’ll post the audio link below), sat in on Arnie Arnesen’s radio show and answered some questions about Iowa politics and Kevin Virgil’s endorsement I received, chatted with students at Northwest Iowa Community College and Dordt University, spoke with folks in Marshalltown at Iowa State House Rep. Sue Cahill’s fundraiser, and attended a Labor Day picnic in Fort Dodge.
The pressing issue on the campaign trail last week:
Last newsletter, I went into detail on the unprecedented endorsement I received from Kevin Virgil, the Republican who ran in the primary against my general election opponent, Randy Feenstra. The endorsement has certainly been the number 1 thing folks have wanted to chat with me about since. It’s given Democrats in our conservative district hope that progress can be made here too.
The Iowa GOP leadership wasn’t too excited about Virgil endorsing me. In fact, they spent all of last week on social media publicly panicking about it, begging people to vote for Feenstra regardless, calling Virgil names like “sore loser” (that was Gov. Reynolds), and calling me a “radical Democrat” who is a “Bernie Sanders Lover” (I certainly am a fan) as if that’s a bad thing (it’s not).
A number of folks, including journalists, were befuddled as to why the Iowa GOP sent out all its leaders, such as Gov. Reynolds, Reps. Miller Meeks, Nunn, Hinson, and Attorney General Brenna Bird among others, to amplify the story of Virgil’s endorsement of me when one could argue it would’ve been better for them to ignore it and hope it didn’t reach many Iowans. They amplified the story so much it landed in the New York Post.
I certainly was thinking the same thing, but came to the conclusion that the only logical explanation for all the free press and name recognition boost they gave was because they don’t like what their internal polling numbers are showing them, and felt they had no other choice. In fact, last week, a Main Street USA/Florida Atlantic U. poll found Democrats are up in three of the four congressional districts in Iowa, and that poll was conducted before I received Virgil’s endorsement. Also, despite Feenstra posting internal numbers at least twice regarding his primary race against Virgil on his campaign socials, he hasn’t done that once in our general election race. Makes you wonder why.
What also was notable is if you read all of the social media posts submitted on the issue at hand by Iowa’s GOP leaders, literally none of them addressed Virgil’s critiques of what has happened in Iowa under GOP leadership that led him to endorse me. None rebutted his concerns (and mine) on the hollowing out of our rural communities, the cancer crisis, the decline of our public education rankings, or the sell out by Iowa GOP leadership of their rank and file voters to do the bidding of their big money corporate donors. Personally, if I was a Republican, reading my party leaders lecture and browbeat me to vote for them without addressing Virgil’s concerns or acknowledging their role in the amplification of what ails this state that Virgil and I point out, I’d be even less likely to vote for them.
So, let’s keep this momentum going. Spread the word. Share my newsletter emails. Put out my yard signs. Help us with post card writing. Donate if able. Depending on how you look at it (as there’s redistricting of Congressional Districts every ten years), a Democrat hasn’t won this U.S. House seat in roughly 40 years. I turn 40 this month. We have a unique opportunity here, so let’s capitalize on it and create a better Iowa for all.
Our schedule for this week:
On Monday 9/2, I attended Labor Day picnics in Sioux City and Council Bluffs.
On Tuesday, 9/3, I attended the Pottawattamie County Democrats Women’s Lunch in Council Bluffs.
On Thursday, 9/5, I spoke with many college students at Northwestern College in Orange City and spoke at the Plain Conversations event up in Sioux Center.
On Saturday, 9/7, I’ll have a meet and greet at noon at the Lake City Library in Calhoun Co before heading up to Spencer to speak with folks at the Clay Co Dems Booth at the Clay Co Fair from 330-5.
Sunday, 9/8, I’ll be speaking at the Story Co Dems BBQ event in Ames in the evening.
Recent press/social media posts of note:
We again are rejecting all Corporate PAC money, so we really rely on, and are extremely grateful for your support. We’ll spend your donations on ways to expand our reach to as many voters as possible, including:
-Post cards and other mailers and postage
-Hand out cards for events
-Text messaging campaigns
-Transportation costs for events and door knocking
-Campaign website costs
-Radio ads, Social Media Ads, and (hopefully) TV ads
-Our campaign staffers
Finally, if you have anyone else in mind that would like to be added to our email list or who would be interested in volunteering, let us know at melton4iowa@gmail.com!
Let’s keep fighting the good fight together!
Ryan Melton
Blog For Iowa 