Editorial: DeJear for governor

The state-owned marina was closed this year due to disrepair, and largely unusable the year before, and deteriorating before that, all as Gov. Kim Reynolds twiddled her thumbs and let one of our economic blocks be beaten into sand. Rural nursing homes keep closing because of miserly Medicaid reimbursement rates under the governor’s privatization scheme. We used to be No. 1 in education, now we’re at 15th or worse in test scores. College debt loads rise with tuition and our brain drain is going full spigot. Her management in secrecy of the Covid crisis was catastrophic for Storm Lake. Why would we vote for four more years of that?

Fortunately, we have an alternative: Deidre DeJear is a Des Moines businesswoman who previously ran for secretary of state. She is smart. She is engaging. She is open with the public. She is not driving social wedge issues like abortion or race. Her top issue is making Iowa the Education State again. Most of all, she is tremendously courageous to run as a Black woman in lily white Iowa. Isn’t it time?

Reynolds held a 17-point lead over DeJear in the latest Des Moines Register-Mediacom Iowa Poll conducted Oct. 9-12. That figures. The Iowa Democratic Party is about kaput. DeJear has a pittance in funding. She soldiers on. Tom Vilsack came back from a similar deficit just before his first gubernatorial election. He had a distinct advantage: Vilsack was not a Black woman, and the White men in Des Moines were willing to cough up some dough.

Reynolds is harsh and polarizing. She is positioning herself as a star of the MAGA movement. She used federal relief funds to deliver huge tax cuts that will find the budget wanting in coming years, but we are not sure Iowa beyond 2024 is of concern to her.

DeJear is able and honest, pleasant and hard-working, resolute and earnest. We believe she can help bring the state together to address a challenging future. We should reject the politics of division and gather around our common interests: great schools, moderate taxes, prosperous farms and businesses, and healthy communities where we care for the caregivers. That’s why you should support DeJear for governor. It’s time.