IA-01: The Democratic establishment wants Pat Murphy to stay out

Sources in northeast Iowa continue to report that former Iowa House Speaker Pat Murphy plans to announce a new campaign in the first Congressional district soon, despite signals that prominent Democrats in Iowa and Washington want Cedar Rapids City Council member Monica Vernon to be the 2016 nominee against first-term Republican Rod Blum.

Murphy was the 2014 nominee in IA-01, losing narrowly to Blum in a terrible year for Democrats. Vernon was the runner up to Murphy in the 2014 primary and ran for lieutenant governor during the general election campaign. The first Democratic challenger to announce her Congressional candidacy this year has the backing of many Iowa Democratic legislators and multiple members of Congress this time around. EMILY’s List, a political action committee supporting pro-choice Democratic women, got behind Vernon early and has named Blum as one of their top targets for the next election cycle.

The latest signal that the establishment wants Democrats to unite around Vernon came at a Cedar Rapids event on July 9, featuring Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, State Treasurer Mike Fitzgerald, and former Iowa House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

Kevin McCarthy, former Iowa House majority leader, said Vernon “brings a level of intensity to everything she does … always balanced with a level of civility that is desperately needed in Washington.”

“I think our party needs to start coalescing around her,” said McCarthy, who was majority leader when Murphy was speaker. He rarely endorses candidates and didn’t accept endorsements when he was on the ballot.

Miller also acknowledged that getting involved in primaries “is not the usual practice for me.”

“But sometimes I do,” he said, “when I think someone is an exceptionally strong candidate that would be a good public official. When there is someone who I think has a better chance to win than others … I will jump in.”

His endorsement wasn’t meant to tell anyone not to enter the race.

“But it should be a clear message that for whatever it’s worth to the Democrats in this district that I believe strongly that she’s our best candidate,” Miller said.

McCarthy and Murphy worked together closely for years, particularly when Democrats controlled the Iowa House from 2007 through 2010. For him to endorse a different candidate sends a very strong message.

Incidentally, McCarthy left the Iowa House in 2013 to accept a position in the Attorney General’s Office. I’m not clear on exactly what McCarthy does as “Special Assistant Attorney General” now, but local Democrats expect him to run for attorney general in 2018 if Miller retires, as is likely upon completing his ninth term.

I hope Democrats will have more progressive options in that attorney general primary and that Miller will stay out of it, rather than putting his political capital behind McCarthy to succeed him.  

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desmoinesdem

  • they follow orders

    If Pat Murphy is told to stay out, then Pat Murphy will stay out. Kevin McCarthy will be the next attorney general candidate because he was deemed by the incumbent, his pal, as the only person in Iowa qualified for his newly created position. McCarthy was plucked out of the legislature to become the anointed A.G. successor. No women or minorities needed bother applying for that 6-figure-salaried state job, even though it’s the law. Look it up if you don’t believe me. If recent history has proven anything it is that Democratic Party politicians do what they’re told. Otherwise there’s hell to pay. And they stay home and keep their mouths shut when ordered to do so. Pitiful.

  • Conspiratorial view

    Isn’t that a conspiratorial view!  Who tells them to “stay out”?  Why didn’t anyone listen in this same race in 2014?

    In the 2006 race for Governor, Mike Blouin was the anointed choice of many legislators, but neither Culver nor Fallon stayed out.  Culver won!

    The same year Vilsack anointed one candidate for Sec of Agriculture only to see him defeated by an upstart woman who then nearly won in November, too.

    You need to be more specific about your claims.

    • Stay out !

      When House minority leader Kevin McCarthy bailed on his south side Des Moines House seat for the AG’s gig, there were two Dem candidates in the mix to replace him in what’s a gimme seat for Dems. A short time later, Mark Smith took over as minority leader, and McCarthy’s advisor Brian Meyer suddenly needed a place to land. Fortunately for him, he lives in McCarthy’s old House district. For some strange reason, the two Dems looking to replace McCarthy dropped out of the primary and Mr. Meyer was elected in the special, thus landing back in the House, albeit in a different role.

      I’m sure both of the original candidates just decided on their own not to run. Yeah, that’s it.  

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