Pat Rynard

This past weekend saw what will likely be the largest caucus events for an individual candidate until the last several weeks before February 3. Bernie Sanders turned out crowds of over 2,000 at each of his events with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Council Bluffs, Des Moines and Iowa City. As Ocasio-Cortez noted at the Council Bluffs…

Sen. Cory Booker’s focus on helping down-ballot Democrats has certainly not gone unnoticed in Iowa, and a new round of endorsements out today for Booker come in part from newly-elected Iowans. Courtney Clarke, the mayor-elect of Waukee, and two city councilmember-elects from Urbandale and Ankeny top a new group of ten caucus-goers backing Booker. “Cory…

The commit-to-caucus cards starting piling up at Pete Buttigieg events across northern Iowa this past week, as caucus-goers saw the candidate at very well-attended events in rural counties. Now, a few days after his bus tour and performance at the Liberty and Justice Dinner, Buttigieg has a long list of new endorsements from across Iowa.…

We’re headed into another major Iowa Caucus moment as the Democratic field gets ready for Friday’s Liberty & Justice Dinner in Des Moines. With over 12,000 people attending, it’s expected to be the largest Democratic Party gathering in the country before next summer’s national convention. The Iowa Democratic Party’s annual fall dinner, once known as…

Sen. Bernie Sanders still commands the youth vote in Iowa, according to today’s Youth Caucus Straw Poll results as of late afternoon. Sanders nearly doubled the next-closest Democratic contender in the Iowa Secretary of State’s annual survey of high school students, garnering 24.7% to former Vice President Joe Biden’s 12.3%. Andrew Yang came in third…

The Midwest city mayor whose name no one could pronounce at the start of this year has come a long way in the Democratic primary. For a rising star in the party, vastly over-performing expectations in a crowded presidential field would easily be considered a victory in its own way. But there’s real reason to…

Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard’s bizarre week in American politics continued Thursday night, when she skipped an appearance at LULAC’s Latino town hall in Des Moines, appearing that evening instead on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show. There, she criticized House Democrats’ impeachment process, a reversal of her recent stance on the matter. Hours later, Gabbard would announce…

The fourth presidential debate seemed to mark yet another new chapter in the Democratic primary, with Elizabeth Warren taking all the attention of a front-runner, and Pete Buttigieg debuting a more aggressive approach. Those new dynamics at play got plenty of ink in relation to the national picture, but where the real consequences could play…