Iowa primary elections for county, state and federal offices are set for Tuesday June 7, 2022. The primaries whittle voter choice from a slate of party candidates to a single candidate per party per office. Early primary voting in Iowa began May 18, 2022.
Governor Kim Reynolds began endorsing republican candidates for state offices running against a republican incumbant expressing opposition to her taxpayer funded scholarships for private schools. She endorsed Zach Deichen of Granville for House District 5 over incumbant Dennis Bush. Deiken built his campaign around education issues.
Reynolds introduced a $55 million scholarship program for 10,000 Iowa students to apply for private school attendance as opposed to public school. Backers of the proposal term the scholarships as school choice. A more recent branding effort calls the measure pro-parent. Currently, a parent can choose to send their children to a private school at their own expense or find private funding, home-school their children or send their children to a neighboring public school.
The senate passed the measure in March. Using tax dollars for private k-12 schools failed in the House. Dennis Bush, House District 3 incumbant and candidate for the redrawn House District 5, estimated twenty eight out of sixty republican House Representatives opposed the measure as passed by the Senate. Bush also said the House offered a number of proposals addressing what they believed to be short-comings of the proposed legislation. Bush further explained that House Republicans offered legislation addressing the teaching of CRT in Iowa K-12 classrooms, addressing library content and curriculum transparency. He described mixed results of the proposed bills.
When asked specifically about the endorsement Bush replied, “The votes of HD3 (current district) who contacted me overwhelmingly were against the governernor’s voucher proposal. I am extremely disappointed that I have voted for all of her priorities these past 2 years except her voucher proposal and has chosen to inject herself into a local race in such an unprecendented manner.”
Deichen provided an email response, saying, “I’ve never run for any office before so it comes as a surprise that this would actually happen. It’s humbling to receive that kind of support. We will still be who we have been since the beginning regardless of who supports us or doesn’t. So for us nothing changes ultimately.”