Iowa is not the most diverse, biggest or wealthiest state. But the engaged political culture of Iowa and low campaigning cost make it the best vetting ground for presidential candidates.
After the 2020 Iowa caucus debacle, activists such as Stacey Abrams have argued that Democrats should reconsider having Iowa be the first caucus state. I like Abrams, but she’s dead wrong about this.
Iowa must remain the first state in presidential primaries.
But before discussing why the Iowa caucuses must remain first in the nation’s primaries, we need to understand how a caucus works.
I went to a caucus that worked just like a community meeting in February 2020. After everyone decided on their preferred candidate, those supporting a candidate who failed to meet a minimum threshold of voters were asked to support someone else.
This allowed people who supported different candidates to have an open discussion and persuade those who were asked to join new groups. I remember hearing one woman at the caucus say, “there’s so much democracy happening right now.”
That being said, Iowa’s strength is not in being the all-knowing oracle that always picks the right nominee — they picked Pete Buttigieg in 2020, and he lost. Iowa’s strength is in spotting the people who would be the wrong nominee.
Vice President Kamala Harris, for all her charisma and social media jabs, showed she was unable to run an effective, organized campaign in Iowa, so she dropped out early.
Iowa is essentially a training ground to weed out candidates for what will soon become a tougher, more expensive national battle.
Iowa’s affordability is also a strong reason why the state is the right choice for the first primary state.
Wealthier, more diverse places such as California and Texas are tantalizing for Democrats as a primary starting ground, but they would favor the candidate with the deepest pocket, not who has the best campaign.
More people to reach means more money spent on advertising. There are fewer people to reach and less money to spend in Iowa, a state populated by about 3.15 million people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Texas, on the other hand, has about ten times Iowa’s population with nearly 29 million residents.
I understand why picking a state such as Texas would be appealing at first — the state is incredibly diverse and more representative of the United States than the overwhelmingly white Iowa.
However, when considering affordability, making Texas or some other big state first would make it nearly impossible for campaigns with less money to have a fighting chance.
If we had a national primary on a single day, candidates who could raise the most money could bombard the airwaves and dominate the vote, which could end up favoring so-called “establishment candidates.” Doesn’t sound very grassroots-friendly to me.
But I’m a Hawkeye, so maybe I’m biased. I doubt Michelle Obama is biased, however, and she praised the Iowan shrewdness.
“They didn’t suffer fools. They didn’t trust people who put on airs. They could sniff out a phony a mile away,” Obama wrote in her 2018 memoir, “Becoming.”
What Obama is referring to is the intense engagement of Iowa voters, another critical reason why Iowa must remain the first state in presidential primaries.
Candidates will plan events in small towns such as Monticello, and Iowans will show up.
These are the people you want vetting candidates, so you don’t end up with a lightweight who can own people on Twitter and rack up soundbites but cannot run an effective nationwide campaign.
Though the defense of Iowa staying the first state in primary season does not lie in demographics or popular talking points, the reasons for keeping Iowa first remain strong.
The first state should be a cheap place so that campaigns with less money have a chance to get started. Furthermore, an engaged electorate is necessary for thoroughly vetting candidates and their campaigns. Iowa undoubtedly meets both requirements.
My proposal is simple, there’s no action necessary — all you have to do is preserve the status quo, fight any changes to the current primary order and keep Iowa first.
