Primary battles will begin fight for control of the state legislature

Next Tuesday’s gubernatorial and congressional primaries will get the lion’s share of the media’s attention, but the long battle for majorities in the Iowa House and Senate will also begin, with 23 contested primary campaigns.

Here are 10 of the most competitive and compelling legislative primaries from around the state.

Senate District 41: District 41 is one of the most crowded local races with active competition in both the Republican and Democratic primaries.

Incumbent GOP state Sen. David Hartsuch of Bettendorf faces a tough road to re-election. The senator is considered by some to be too conservative for the eastern Iowa district which includes all of Bettendorf and part of Davenport. Hartsuch faces a primary challenge from Davenport businessman Roby Smith. In the first five months of 2010, Smith outraised the first-term senator 2-1. From Jan. 1 – May 14, Smith raised $11,100 to Hartsuch’s $5,036.

Although the seat has been held by Republicans for more than two decades, the voter make-up in District 41 could make the General Election particularly competitive. In May, the parties were even with 14,000 voters. However, registered Independents out pace both parties by about 4,000 voters.

In the Democratic primary, Rich Clewell, a Davenport school board member, will face off with Dave Thede, a teacher from Bettendorf whose wife, state Rep. Phyllis Thede, lost to Hartsuch in the 2006 race. Thede, originally a Republican, switched parties prior to registering for the Senate race, saying the Republican party left him.

Hartsuch took office in 2006 after knocking off 18-year Republican Maggie Tinsman in hard fought primary and then defeating Democrat Phyllis Thede in November. In 2008, Hartsuch ran unsuccessfully against U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Waterloo.

Senate District 45: State Sen. Becky Schmitz, D-Fairfield, could face formidable competition from a Statehouse veteran, Sandy Greiner of Washington. But first Greiner must defeat two other candidates in the GOP primary, Keosauqua businessman Randy Besick and Rick Marlar, a trucker from Wayland.

Greiner has already served 16 years in the state legislature, as both a state Representative and a state Senator, before retiring from in 2008. She returned to the scene late last year to organize the Draft Branstad PAC, a group aimed at convincing former Gov. Terry Branstad to run for office in 2010.

Neither Besick nor Marlar have name recognition comparable to that of Greiner, which could be a huge detriment, said Tim Hagle, a professor of political science at the University of Iowa and a former member of the Johnson County Republican Central Committee.

“Sandy Greiner is certainly somone who the Republican Central Committee likes, because they’ve supported her in the past,” Hagle said. “She enjoys a lot of support in Johnson County.”

The district includes southern Johnson county, part of Wapello county, and Washington, Jefferson and Van Buren counties.

Greiner’s name recognition and strong ties to Branstad could work against her, however. If tea party activists and evangelical voters come out strongly in the primary, they could skew results toward Marlar, a more activist candidate. Greiner has already come under fire from Bill Salier, a leading voice in Iowa’s social conservative movement, and her work as president of the American Future Fund put her at odds with Kentucky GOP Senate candidate Rand Paul, a darling of the tea party movement.

House District 89: The race for House District 89 could be a repeat of what voters saw in 2008. Larry Marek. D-Riverside, narrowly defeated Jarad Klein, R-Keota, two years ago to take the open seat after Republican Sandy Greiner decided not to seek re-election.

Klein is running again, but first has to face Republican Chris Canney of Wellman. Klein has the advantage of name recognition after the previous campaign. Canney, who is touting himself as a constitutional conservative, has not done a lot to distinguish himself from his competitor, according to Hagle.

“It could be a very close race between Marek and Klein,” Hagle said. “He has a good shot of besting Marek this time around.”

Senate District 21: Three Republicans are vying for a chance to take on four-term incumbent Democrat Dennis Black of Grinnell.

Wes Enos of Bondurant is the most notable candidate, having served as director of Mike Huckabee’s Iowa campaign during his 2008 bid for President. Huckabee officially endorsed Enos in April.

Enos faces competiton from former Altoona City Councilman Joe Pirillo, and Michael Adams Jr. of Bondurant, president of the Bondurant-Farrar school board.

Pirillo challenged Black in the Democratic primary in 2002, but switched paries this year. In a press release announcing his 2010 candidacy, Pirillo said he joined the GOP to try “to restore fiscal sanity and common sense to the legislature.”

Black has a long political history in the district. Prior to joining the Iowa Senate in 1995, he served four years in the House.

District 21, which includes most of Jasper County and southeast Polk County, has 17,500 registered Democrats compared to 12,300 Republicans and 14,200 Independents.

House District 8: Two Republicans and one Democrat are vying to replace longtime legislator Dolores Mertz, D-Otteson. Mertz, who served 11 terms in the Iowa House, announced her retirement in early March. At the time, two Republicans had already filed to run for her seat: Tom Shaw of Laurens and Stephen Richards of Algona.

Speech pathologist Susan Banger, D-Algona, joined right before the filing deadline. Alissa Wagner, R-Rutland, also joined late, but dropped out in April and endorsed Shaw instead.

Shaw, a former chair of the Pocahontas County Republican Party, originally planned to run as an Independent, saying the GOP had left its values behind. He later rejoined the party and filed as a Republican after aligning with other tea party conservatives including gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Platts and state Rep. Kent Sorenson, R-Indianola..

Richards is a doctor and Air Force veteran who has been called an “establishment” Republican by The Des Moines Register. He won the Republican nomination in 2008 but lost to Mertz by 43 votes.

House District 2: Sioux City will be sending a lot of new faces to the Capitol next year. State Reps. Wes Whitead, D-District 1, Roger Wendt, D-District 2, and Chris Rants, R-District 54, along with state Sens. Steve Warnstadt, D-District 1, and Ron Wieck, R-District 27, have all decided not to seek re-election.

House District 2 is the only one with primary competition, and all four candidates filed in the last week before the filing deadline. Wendt had intentions to run for a fifth term this year, but retired after being diagnosed with lung cancer in February. Three Republicans: Ryan Beardshear, Cate Bryan and Bobby Riordan are all running for the chance to face Democrat Chris Hall in November.

Beardshear is a technology consultant who was contemplating law school before entering the race. Bryan is a financial services professional, and Riordan serves as a pilot in the Air National Guard. Hall served as the deputy finance director for Gov. Chet Culver’s gubernatorial campaign before stepping down to run for office.

House District 93: Democratic incumbent Mary Gaskill faces competition from former Wapello County supervisor Mike Peterson for the Ottumwa seat. The winner of the Democratic primary will face Republican Jane Hodoly, a retired social worker.

Gaskill has served in the Iowa House since 2003, and won the 2008 election against an independent with 75 percent of the vote.

Senate District 13: Incumbent Roger Stewart, D-Preston, announced last November that he would not be seeking re-election after two terms in the state Senate. Four Democrats are seeking the nomination for the eastern Iowa district that includes the cities of Clinton, Maquoketa, Belleview and Preston.

The four-way race includes Ed O’Neill of the Clinton Regional Development Corporation and a former Clinton city council member; Tod Bowman, a teacher and coach from Maquoketa; Brian Moore, a Zwingle farmer and business owner; and Paul Feller of Clinton.

O’Neill received a lot of attention earliy in the race, but Bowman picked up the endorsements of two labor unions, AFSCME and the AFL-CIO.

The winner will face Republican Andrew Naeve, a 25-year-old from Clinton, in November.

House District 51: Incumbent Rod Roberts, R-Carroll, is seeking the GOP gubernatorial nomination, leaving an open seat. Three Republicans, Don Bernholtz and Joel Pawletzki of Carroll and Dan Dirkx of Auburn are all vying to replace Roberts.

The sole Democratic candidate, Larry Lesle of Manning, dropped out in May citing family and work commitments. The western Iowa district spans all of Carroll and parts of Sac and Crawford counties. Democrats plan to convene a special nominating convention to fill the void left by Lesle.

Registered Republicans (4,788) are outnumbered by both Democrats (6,354) and Independents (8,748), but those numbers could likely change as voters switch parties to support local candidate Roberts in the gubernatorial race.

House District 73: GOP Rep. Jodi Tymeson decided not to seek a sixth term in the House, leaving an open seat in the district that covers all of Madison, most of Warren and part of Dallas counties. Three Republicans are vying for the nomination, and with no Democratic challenger, the primary could be the deciding race.

Former assistant attorney general Julian Garrett, R-Indianola, is back after falling to state Sen. Staci
Appel, D-Ackworth, in race for the District 37 Senate seat in 2006. It was one of the most expensive, and most competitive, state races of the year. Garrett lost by 722 votes.

In this year’s house race, he will face Madison County supervisor Joan Acela, R-Winterset, and real estate professional Roger Billings, R-Indianola. Billings recently received an endorsement from the Iowa Family Policy Center. IFPC is supporting Billings because he “not only shares our Biblical worldview, but our passion for restoring political power to the people in accordance with the Iowa Constitution as well.”