Pat Rynard founded Iowa Starting Line in 2015. He still keeps a close eye on Iowa politics, his dog’s name is Frank, and football season is his favorite time of year.
Pat Rynard
Latest from Pat Rynard
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Rob Sand Regains Lead, May Yet Hold On Amid Iowa’s Red Wave
Late on Tuesday night, it appeared that State Auditor Rob Sand would suffer the same fate as all the other statewide Democratic candidates. Sand had fallen behind by over 10,000 votes to Republican Todd Halbur, while fellow Democratic incumbents Tom Miller and Mike Fitzgerald lost even more ground in their races. As the night wore…
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Don’t Sleep On Iowa
If there’s one constant in Iowa politics, it’s this: We’re always in the middle of everything. Despite many analysts and operatives’ attempts to write Iowa off of the competitive 2022 battleground map, there’s late momentum and intrigue growing on the ground in the Hawkeye state. Chief among them is the US Senate race, where Sen.…
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Reynolds At Debate: Pregnant 3rd Grader Must Give Birth
All throughout the country and here in Iowa, Republican politicians this year have attempted to turn the debate around abortion access away from the fact that they will implement (or already have) abortion bans with very little to no exceptions. They have read from the same playbook, trying to instead frame Democrats’ position as the…
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Read The Ankeny ‘Mama Bears’ Criminal Complaint Details
For well over a year, Ankeny’s Kimberly Reicks and Emily Peterson were—and still are—the face of Iowa’s far-right movement against masks in schools and later opposition to the general acceptance of LGBTQ students. The former “Mama Bears” duo accused the school district overall of abusing children and educators of preying on students, without evidence. They…
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Iowa Nazis Upset That Mike Franken Called Them ‘Repugnant’
The group of Nazis who spread anti-semitic messages around Des Moines on 9/11 got their feelings hurt by Democratic Senate candidate Mike Franken yesterday. After Starting Line reported on how a member of the “319 Crew,” a Northeast Iowa Nazi organization, drove around Des Moines in a U-Haul truck adorned with a swastika flag and…
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Do Iowans Call It Bags Or Cornhole? We Polled Them To Find Out
The eternal Midwest question: Do you call it “Bags” or “Cornhole?” An essential part of any tailgate or backyard BBQ, the game we all know and love that includes bean bags and two boards with holes in them is also a topic of dispute over its name. While there is an official American Cornhole League…
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“I’m For $35 [Insulin] Caps” Grassley Tells Iowans After Voting Against Them
Sen. Chuck Grassley told a crowd of his constituents that he is “for $35 caps” on insulin prices, just a week and a half after he voted against them twice. His comments came at his town hall in Cordyon on Wednesday, to a crowd of about 40 people in Wayne County. “The price of it…
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GOP State Auditor Candidate: Republicans Have “Owned” The Office
Iowa Republicans really seem to feel like they “own” the State Auditor’s office. At an event earlier this month in Eldora, GOP nominee Todd Halbur told a crowd at the local Republican Sweet Corn Feed that their party has traditionally “owned” the auditor role and needs to take it back. “We’ve owned this office from…
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Grassley To Finally Hold Another Open Town Hall Meeting
The last time Sen. Chuck Grassley held an open town hall meeting, he got an earful from Iowans upset over unaddressed gun violence. The tense exchanges and Grassley’s explanations drew national attention. That was two and a half months ago, on June 1. Grassley hasn’t held another public town hall since, an unusually long amount…
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Parents, 6-Year-Old Girl Killed At Maquoketa Caves, Son Escaped
A young family from Cedar Falls were the victims killed in a morning shooting at the Maquoketa Caves State Park campground, officials announced Friday evening. The Division of Criminal Investigation released the names of the victims that were murdered in their tent: Tyler Schmidt, 42, Cedar Falls Sarah Schmidt, 42, Cedar Falls Lulu Schmidt, 6,…
