Yesterday The Des Moines Register, Iowa’s largest newspaper, announced that it was endorsing only Democrats in this year’s congressional races.
The respected newspaper’s editorial board said that this year the stakes are too high to do anything else.
The Register has won 16 Pulitzer Prizes and its readership covers the entire state of Iowa, the state where the first presidential contests will be held in 2020.
“Some have argued that this election should be a referendum on President Trump,” the Register’s editors wrote. “We disagree. This is about Congress, which has abdicated much of its constitutional duty and has failed to provide a check and balance to the executive branch.”
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In a highly unusual move the Register opened its editorial with its endorsements with a very simple message: Vote Democrat.
“The Register’s editorial board normally considers each congressional race individually before making endorsements. We interview the candidates, if possible, and review their backgrounds and public positions. We consider character and the candidate’s depth of understanding of issues. We have been known, at times, to endorse a candidate we disagree with on issues rather than one we doubt could follow through on promised change,” the editorial reads.
“But the stakes are too high this year to worry about whether some candidates have sufficiently detailed agendas or know enough about how some parts of the government work. Nothing short of a change in party leadership in Congress will move this country forward.”
The paper then proceeded to analyze every congressional race, ending in each case with an endorsement of the Democrat. The editors also had some choice words for the state’s infamous right-wing congressman, Rep. Steve King.
“This one’s a no-brainer for any Iowan who has cringed at eight-term incumbent King’s increasing obsession with being a cultural provocateur,” the editors wrote.
“In his almost 16 years in Congress, King has passed exactly one bill as primary sponsor, redesignating a post office. He won’t debate his opponent and rarely holds public town halls. Instead, he spends his time meeting with fascist leaders in Europe and retweeting neo-Nazis.”
The editors of The Des Moines Register have it right. Republicans in Washington have completely abdicated their responsibilities to hold the president accountable for his actions. The only reasonable course of action in November is to vote only for Democrats, and to send all Republicans in Congress to the ignominious retirements that they so richly deserve.
I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.
