Political Note #226 Cynthia Axne IA CD 03
2020 General Election
Lucky Thirteen
Cynthia Axne’s https://cindyaxneforcongress.com win in 2018 was the thirteenth closest Democratic Congressional victory of the year. She won by 7,709 votes. Not much.
Cyntha Axne’s nomination required her 2018 opponent Theresa Greenfield’s bad luck and integrity. Greenfield’s 27 year old campaign manager, Noah Wasserman, apologized for what he did. In a full page newspaper advertisement. He expressed regret for falsifying signatures for her nomination. Greenfield discovered the falsification days before the filing deadline. She was advised to just let it go. Iowa does not have a tradition of challenging signatures. Greenfield withdrew all the signatures. Scrambled to get legitimate signatures. Didn’t get enough. Officials went to court to attempt to keep her on the ballot, but failed.
It hasn’t worked out badly for Greenfield. She is the favorite for the Democratic nomination for the US Senate. If she wins the primary, she will take on Iowa’s vulnerable Republican Senator, Joni Ernst.
It didn’t work out badly for Cynthia Axne. She won the primary. Defeated the Republican incumbent. Became the Democratic Representative from Iowa’s Third District – the southwestern corner of the state, including the capitol, Des Moines.
In Congress, Cynthia Axne was the beneficiary of Steve King’s downfall. The Representative of Iowa’s Fourth Congressional District is a racist, a white supremacist. For years, his extreme views were not a problem. He denied his racism, insisted he was a nationalist, not a white nationalist. But his connections with extremist European groups gained national attention as did an interview with the New York Times. He wondered why terms like white nationalist or white supremacist are offensive. Republicans and Democrats condemned his comments. Republicans removed him from all Congressional roles, including his position on the House Agriculture Committee.
Freshman Representative Cynthia Axne was left as Iowa’s sole representative on the House Agriculture Committee. Iowa is America’s quintessential farm state. Representation on the Agriculture Committee is important.
How did she get on that committee in the first place? Dave Loebsack, prior to 2018 the only Democratic Representative from Iowa was not on Agriculture. Abby Finkenauer, the other Democratic Freshman from Iowa is on the Transportation Committee. Surely, Cynthia Axne made a case to the leadership that about the value of a Democratic Representative from Iowa on the House Agriculture Committee and that she should be the one.
Her other committee assignment is impressive, too. Cynthia Axne is on the Financial Services Committee. Is there any other freshman Member of Congress with a seat on two committees that can affect the life her of constituents? From her position on these committee, she can report to her constituents, for instance about unanimous Financial Services Committee passage of her co-sponsored legislation to strengthen Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) programs that expand affordable housing options in rural communities. She can tell Iowans that she has made rental housing easier to find.
How did she get on those committee in the first place? In the 2018 campaign she described herself as having “pretty sharp elbows when it comes to doing what’s right.” At the time Cynthia Axne was talking about her reaction to her son not getting into the full day kindergarten program in West Des Moines. She had taken steps to see to it that, in the future, any family seeking full day kindergarten for their child would have it.
What did sharp elbows mean in her work before Congress? Cynthia Axne’s political experience was in the state agencies. She worked for nine years behind the scenes in state government in both Democratic and Republican administrations. For Democrats, she worked in the Department of Administrative Services and later the Department of Management. For Republicans, she was administrator of management services in the Department of Natural Resources under a Republican administration.
She was fired by the Republicans. We don’t know the details. She has kept her mouth shut, which is probably an indication of integrity. Maybe “sharp elbows” had something to do with it?
What do her sharp elbows mean in Congress? “Getting along to go along” used to describe a kind of corruption. Not here. Several freshman from rural areas had promised in their campaigns to vote against Nancy Pelosi for speaker. Cynthia Axne made no such promise. She has been getting along. Working with the leadership. Getting, as a result, the committees she needed most to serve her constituents. Making her own luck.
Cynthia Axne https://cindyaxneforcongress.com/ will need your help to win again in 2020. Chip in. Help keep the House of Representatives Democratic.
New Members of the House elected in 2018 who need our support to stay there
- Ben McAdams UT 04 Elected by 694 votes
- T. J. Cox CA 21 Elected by 862 votes
- Kendra Horn OK 05 Elected by 3,338 votes
- Jaren Golden ME 02 Elected by 3,509 votes
- Lucy McBath GA 06 Elected by 3,634 votes
- Xochitil Torres Small NM 03 Elected by 3,722 votes
- Andy Kim NJ 03 Elected by 3,973 votes
- Joe Cunningham SC 01 Elected by 4,082 votes
- Debbie Mucarsel-Powell FL 26 Elected by 4,119 votes
- Anthony Brindisi NY 22 Elected by 4,373 votes
- Gil Cisneros CA 39 Elected by 6,711 votes
- Abigail Spanberger VA 07 Elected by 6,784 votes
- Cynthia Axne IA 03 Elected by 7,709 votes
Three from the Northeast.
Four from the Southeast.
One from the Midwest.
Five from the West.
