Iowa Democratic Party Progressive Caucus

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Iowa Democratic Party Progressive Caucus

Beginnings

Iowa Democratic Party’s State Central Committee voted to recommend the creation of a new Progressive Caucus at the state convention on June 18, 2016.

The idea for such a committee isn’t new – it’s been debated within the party over the years, but disagreements over what it would stand for kept it from becoming a reality. And at this weekend’s meeting the discussion reportedly didn’t fall solely along Clinton/Sanders lines, with several central committee members who backed Hillary Clinton bringing the motion forward and speaking in favor of it. The main argument in its favor was that it would provide a welcoming home for new, left-leaning Democrats to enter the party structure.

This progressive group already exists in a way online, in the form of a Facebook group started by Jason Frerichs, the chair of the Montgomery County Democrats. There members discuss progressive policies they’d like to see enacted in the state party’s platform and debate which candidates to support in the upcoming primaries. The conversations are considerably more productive than what you see on other Facebook sites.

“The idea is to push more of those progressive ideas forward,” explained Holly Herbert, a newly-elected central committee member from the 3rd District who supported Sanders. “The group is open to everybody. There’s folks who support Sanders, there’s folks who support Clinton, and there’s some who don’t necessarily like either.”

“Part of the reason I joined the group was I was interested to see what people were talking about locally,” she added. “I feel like so much of this has been focused on the presidential race, and I think it’s more important to focus on local politics.”

Others had reservations over what the organization would stand for. John McCormally, who was re-elected to another term on the central committee, was unsure going into the meeting, but ended up voting in favor of the caucus’ creation.

These would add to the caucus committees the party already has: the Asian/Pacific Islander Caucus, Black Caucus, Disability Caucus, Latino Caucus, Native American Caucus, Stonewall Democrats Caucus and Veterans’ Caucus. Each caucus receives a vote on the state central committee.

Bill Brauch said Chair – IDP Third District Central Committee

The motion at SCC to recommend the formation of a Progressive Caucus was mine, and I supported all the new caucuses. The idea, indeed, is to give folks a “home” within the Party. Senator Sanders has energized a lot of new folks, as has Secretary Clinton. I’m a Clinton backer, and love having all our new folks! Iowa Democrats would join other great state Democratic parties by forming a Progressive Caucus, including our neighbors to the north – the Minnesota DFL Party. There is no down side to being more welcoming.[1]

New officers

New Officers of the Iowa Democratic Party Progressive Caucus elected May 2017;[2]

  1. ↑ [1]
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