Iowa Democrats fill events to the rafters with 13 months left before the 2020 caucuses

SIOUX CITY, Iowa — People stood in parking lots, jostled into front yards and packed into the rafters to witness Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s inaugural appearances here in the first presidential caucus state.

It was part of a trend: In December, the liberal group Progress Iowa doubled the size of its annual meeting from four years ago, with 300 activists eager to participate. In October, Iowa Democrats sold out their 1,500-seat dinner in Des Moines, which featured another potential contender, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey.

The Iowa caucuses remain 13 months away, but a pent-up demand for change in the White House is tangible among Democrats eager for the 2020 campaign to start in earnest. The throngs of voters bombarding events in Iowa are testament to something fearful for Republicans: The huge tide of Democratic voters who powered the party’s 2018 gains have not lost interest as attention turns to the 2020 presidential race.

“I’ve never been to a rally, but I wanted to for a long time,” said Dan Elliott, as he waited in the ornate Orpheum Theatre lobby in Sioux City for Warren to speak Saturday morning. “I’m surprised by the energy here. The lines are longer than people expected.”

Iowans cited a slew of reasons for their eagerness to begin the lengthy nomination process to settle on a leader to go up against President Trump. There were the tax cuts that one voter called “a waste of time and money;” the trade war with China depressing demand for exports and hurting farmers; the hostility toward immigrants, a labor pool heavily used on Iowa farms; the rolling back of environmental regulations that impact Iowa’s rivers; a foreign-policy approach changing the country’s status in the world; and the general chaos and lack of civility in the White House.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/iowa-democrats-fill-events-to-the-rafters-with-13-months-left-before-the-2020-caucuses/2019/01/05/18b5a63a-1128-11e9-84fc-d58c33d6c8c7_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.e7559fc183fa