Sarah Trone Garriott
Who: Sarah Trone Garriott
Where: IA-03 (southwestern quadrant including Des Moines)
Why: Iowa State Senator Sarah Trone Garriott is crafting a promising template for Democratic candidates aspiring to flip U.S. House seats in November. There is scant mention of the 47th President on her website. Instead, she is advocating policies that reflect her values of fairness, compassion and service to others.
As a hospital chaplain and Lutheran pastor who currently works for a Des Moines area food pantry, this comes naturally to her. After serving as a VISTA volunteer supporting victims of domestic violence, she earned a degree from Harvard Divinity School. In recent years, she has become adept at winning close elections and has flipped tough Republican-held districts while representing a district won by “47”.
In the Iowa Senate, she has championed the provision of mental health services in schools, access to high-quality affordable childcare and paid family leave. She proposed legislation to prohibit sitting legislators from buying or selling individual stocks during their term, but it was not supported by the Republican majority.
Garriott is hoping to end Republican Rep. Zach Nunn’s House career after two terms. Nunn dependably falls in line with the MAGA agenda, and even decided against running for governor after President Trump asked him in a personal phone call to remain in Congress. Vice-President J.D. Vance recently visited the state to campaign for him.
This is the first in what will be numerous profiles between now and November of Democratic candidates who are running in close U.S. House elections as well as other downballot races. If you are a new subscriber to Democracy in the Balance, welcome! Here’s a pro tip: Before you make a donation through the Act Blue platform, create a separate email account so that the thousands of follow-up email appeals will go to a separate account that you can ignore forever. ActBlue does not require you to share your cell phone number so don’t volunteer it.
Updates
Chedrick Greene won his Michigan State Senate election for an open seat and maintains the one-seat Democratic majority in the upper chamber.
Five of the six school board candidates profiled recently in DITB prevailed in Texas. Darrell Brown, Lindsey Sheguit and Matthew White all won in the Grapevine-Colleyville school district, and Tiffany Bennett and Natalie Nugent were elected in Lake Travis. Bianca Cerqueira lost an uphill race in Alamo Heights. Overall, the statewide results show voters continuing to reject conservative extremists elected in 2022 and 2023 in favor of more progressive candidates.
Sources: Ballotpedia, Iowa Capital Dispatch