Democratic candidate for Iowa governor Deidre DeJear talks education and health care in Burlington
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About six dozen people gathered Saturday at the Heritage Gardens on Washington Street to hear Democratic candidate for Iowa governor Deidre DeJear speak.
The event, sponsored by the Des Moines County Democrats, was organized and coordinated by Richard E.M. Herron and Sherri Hutchcroft.
"I was disappointed in how Republicans are running the state," Hutchcroft said, so she and Herron decided to bring DeJear to town.
After an introduction by Herron, who was wearing a "Fund Public Schools" T-shirt, and a heartfelt rendition of the National Anthem by Emily Folker, founder of the mental health education advocacy Fingerprint Project, former Iowa Sen. Tom Courtney introduced DeJear and sketched her background.
Born in Jackson, Mississippi, DeJear and her family moved to Oklahoma before she came to Iowa. DeJear earned a bachelor's in journalism from Drake University in Des Moines, where she lives today with her husband.
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"She's a great candidate," Courtney said as "We're Not Going To Take It" by Twisted Sister rocked the room and DeJear entered to a standing ovation.
DeJear gave kudos to Courtney, Herron and Hutchcroft and pointed out Iowa Rep. Dennis Cohoon, who was in attendance as well.
DeJear made history last month when she officially became the first Black major party nominee for Iowa governor.
The 36-year-old businesswoman talked about multiple topics, ranging from voting rights to water quality to Iowa's Republican governor, Kim Reynolds, but education and health care were prominent.
DeJear: Iowa led the nation in education before and can do it again
DeJear told the crowd that Iowa was ranked No. 1 in education for years — the state is presently No. 18, according to U.S. News and World Report — because more than a century ago, long before the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision of Brown vs. Board of Education, Iowa had declared that each child should have quality public education regardless of race or gender.
"The Iowa Democrats are the party that lays the welcome mat out," DeJear said.
She said her belief that Iowa can lead in education again is "not based on a dream."
"This is not a figment of my imagination," she said.
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'The priority must be on Iowans': DeJear addresses health care, rural growth
DeJear covered health care at length, stressing the need for adequate mental health facilities and opportunities for young people.
She gave her personal example: When DeJear was 8, her mother died three days after giving birth to her younger sister. DeJear credited the availability of counseling for helping her to overcome that adversity.
"I would not be here today" if she and her family had not been able to tap into that resource, she said.
"People are going bankrupt for doctors' appointments," she said. "They're going bankrupt over health care."
DeJear said that as a small business owner, she was in business to make money, but not at the expense of the public.
"We're not putting people first," she said, "and that's the biggest problem."
DeJear reiterated her announcement speech that she wants to expand access to affordable health care for all Iowans and focus on supporting growth in rural communities.
"The priority must be put on Iowans,” she said.
DeJear criticizes Reynolds' efforts to limit abortion access amid childcare provider loss
The recent Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade prompted someone to ask DeJear for her position on that hot topic.
"Most Iowans believe the autonomy of a woman to manage her health care is incredibly important to women. And we have a governor right now who wants to take away that choice and take away that decision," DeJear said. "We live in a majority pro-choice state where folks believe that a woman should be able to walk into her doctor's appointment, make a decision between her and her doctor that's within her best interest, and that woman should not have to consider the thoughts of Kim Reynolds."
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DeJear continued by saying Iowa has lost nearly 40% of its childcare providers, disproportionately negatively impacting women.
"Now here is our governor saying, 'Hey, ladies, when you go and make a decision in your doctor's appointment, I need you to think about my opinion before you think about yours.' And that's not a situation that we should be putting any woman in, any day out of the week, especially in the state of Iowa," she said.
Following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling reversing the nationwide right to abortion, Reynolds on Tuesday called for a district court to lift an injunction on a so-called fetal heartbeat law she signed in 2018. That law, which would ban abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy, never took effect and was ruled unconstitutional in 2019.
Courtney said he believes the issue of abortion is going to weaken Republicans.
"I think she's got a good chance," he said after the event. "The abortion issue has really weakened Republicans; Republicans have used the abortion issue as a wedge issue for years, and all of a sudden, it's come to fruition — a lot of people are saying, 'Wait, wait a minute; I didn't know this was going to happen.' Women in Iowa, and in general people in Iowa, think it's a woman's right to choose, and I think the Republicans have bitten off more than they can chew here, and I think it's going to hurt them in the fall."
'Fight for the common ground': How DeJear hopes to come out ahead of Reynolds
DeJear has been trailing Reynolds on the campaign trail, according to fundraising reports and poll results.
A Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll conducted in March showed likely voters backed Reynolds 51% to 43% over DeJear, with a margin of error of 4%.
DeJear raised about $740,000 between January and May 14, the end of the first fundraising period for 2022. Since launching her campaign in August, DeJear had raised a little more than $1 million by mid-May. Reynolds, meanwhile, raised $1.28 million in that same time period.
DeJear said she believes her ability to meet people where they are and connect with them will help her to defeat her Republican opponent in November.
"We have shared struggles and shared challenges all over this state that cross territories related to gender, related to race, urban, rural — whatever they may be," DeJear said. "When we're talking about the issues of education, health care and strengthening our economy, that's something that all parties are aligned with. We want a strong education system. We believed in our once-No. 1 in education status and we want to fight to get that back."
The gubernatorial hopeful told the audience that the way to re-enchant people who are today disenchanted with America's political system is to "fight for the common ground" and said every election is a critical election.
"But you know this is a critical election," DeJear said with a smile.
"This election is not going to be about the 'D' behind our name or the 'R' behind our name, it's going to be about the 'I' behind our name, and that 'I' doesn't stand for Independents, it stands for Iowans," she concluded.
The candidate received many thunderous ovations as she spoke, but perhaps the longest and loudest was then she said, "My question is, are you willing? Are you willing to fight for the future of this state?"
The audience made it obvious that they are indeed ready.
This article originally appeared on The Hawk Eye: Deidre DeJear visits Burlington talks education, health care, abortion
