Democrat Julie Stauch is applying for her biggest job yet as she treats the road to the Iowa State Capitol like a job interview.
With Gov. Kim Reynolds not seeking reelection next year, several gubernatorial hopefuls have thrown their hats in the ring, one of those being Stauch. Saying Iowans are the employers of the governor, Stauch believes it is important to treat the process to get there as such.
“The reason I’m taking that approach is because a lot of people have lost heart about, can they make change,” Staunch said. “I like to remind them of the power they have in this decision, and that we should answer questions and be accessible to voters.”
As part of her research for the job, Stauch held nearly three dozen hour-long “interview sessions” around the state this summer in each of the community college districts. There, she asked open-ended questions of constituents to find out their worries and what they wanted their next governor to accomplish. The first 30 minutes were spent learning what Iowans thought, the final 30 minutes asking Stauch questions. She said that while she didn’t always have an answer, she learned a lot through the discussions.
“I think that’s something that’s important, to learn about where people are and what they want so that the governor is actually working on what the people want,” she said, noting those helped her to inform her focus moving forward.
Across the state, Stauch found there three topics that people of all political parties care about - clean water, fully-funded public school to include no school vouchers and access to healthcare, particularly cancer rates, the loss of OB-GYN care and nursing home care abuses**. A fourth topic that some areas of the state had stronger opinions on than others concerned abuse of eminent domain laws.
Looking ahead
Thinking post-election, Stauch is already formulating solutions to the problems she heard from Iowans, solutions that a governor could implement. Having worked as a political operative in many campaigns, Stauch has years of experience tackling issues head-on.
“Problem solving is what I do, and we’ve got a lot of problems in the state of Iowa that need to be solved,” she said. “I’m actually pretty excited about going to work on [them].”
Noting that passion is needed to go into politics, Stauch first became involved in the early 80s. She recalled yelling at her TV set over something President Reagan had done and realized she needed to channel that fire into something. She went out and bought a bunch of magazines to learn about the presidential candidates and attended her first caucus. She has been involved in politics ever since because, she says, it matters.
“Our voices as everyday Iowans matter. And we need to be heard.”
Two other Democrats are seeking the nomination for governor - current Auditor of State Rob Sand and Hamilton County transit driver Paul Dahl. There are four Republican contenders - U.S. Representative Randy Feenstra of Hull, State Representative Brad Sherman, a pastor from Williamsburg, State Representative Eddie Andrews, a pastor and small business owner from Des Moines, and Adam Steen, former director of the Iowa Department of Administrative Services.
Stauch’s cover letter to Iowans and resume are available on her website, juliestauchforalliowans.com.