Editorial: Vote for Melton

This presidential campaign cycle has been relatively quiet in Storm Lake. Iowa was judged not to be in play long ago, left for Donald Trump and the Republicans. Recently, the Iowa Poll showed Kamala Harris within striking distance of winning the Tall Corn State, down by just four percentage points.

Here, there are no courthouse campaigns or races for the legislature. The Fourth Congressional District is a one-party province: Republican. Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Hull, isn’t much of a congressman but he is bought and paid for. His challenger, Ryan Melton, D-Nevada, deserves your vote. But he has a day job and campaigns mainly on weekends. He has pocket change. He is fighting the good fight. God bless him. With God, all things are possible but the Divine Mediator has chosen not to intervene in Northwest Iowa. There are divisions in the Republican Party that could be exploited by a well-funded, full-time challenger. That would require Republicans to vote for a Democrat and for Hell to go Methodist.

Feenstra recently voted against funding that avoided a government shutdown. Then he voted against funding for FEMA just as hurricanes were wiping out the South. This is just routine business for the man who uprooted Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron.

Vote for Melton. He is working it hard. He is an honest man not in the pocket of corporate integrators stealing our sweat and resources. He would support FEMA when Spencer, Cherokee and Sioux Rapids need the help from flooding. That alone should earn your vote.

MAYBE MELTON SHOULD HAVE run as an independent. It’s not as if the Democrats will fund a campaign here. The brand is not exactly an asset in rural areas. It appears to be working for Dan Osborn, an independent union man who is running neck-and-neck for the Nebraska US Senate seat with incumbent Republican Sen. Deb Fischer.

Osborn is running on a populist platform with a tinge of libertarian. He is pro-choice but defends gun rights. He is a strong advocate for labor, having gained national recognition for striking the Kellogg plant in Omaha while leading the grain miller’s union (which got him fired after the union won). He refuses the Democratic Party nomination and swears he will caucus with neither party. Osborn said Donald Trump is “incompetent” and thought the same of President Biden.

Polls indicate he may be running ahead of Fischer. He has drawn millions in small-amount donations. Turns out people like a truth-teller who is not an ideologue.

Efforts are underway in Iowa to identify independent candidates for the 2026 cycle who will run on working-class issues where Democrats cannot win, organized primarily by the Teamsters union. Similar strategies are being developed in Appalachian Ohio. If the Democrats can’t figure out how to appeal to voters in states that they have written off, independents who organize themselves around issues instead of partisan politics can do the job with help from organized labor. If Osborn can win Nebraska, corporate toadies like Feenstra would be nervous.

PROMINENT REPUBLICAN ENDORSEMENTS of Kamala Harris — the Earth shook when Liz and Dick Cheney endorsed the Democrat — appear to be making a difference. Polls show that Harris is slightly increasing her lead in key swing states like Pennsylvania thanks to shifts among independents and a lack of enthusiasm among Republicans.

Iowa’s leading Republicans are all in the Trump tank, led by Sen. Chuck Grassley, who seems to have lost his sense of shame. They defend Trump. They will do anything for him to win Iowa. Gov. Kim Reynolds was humiliated by Trump but showed up in MAGA glitter red for the national convention. Feenstra is right there with the rest of these political cowards. They are supporting a liar, a crook, a sexual abuser, a traitor with their embrace of Trump.

History will not remember them well, if at all, for standing with such a contemptible loser. Trump staged an assault on the democratic process and they shrug it off as kids being kids. Grassley sucked his gums while Trump tried to shred the Constitution. It’s that sort of behavior that puts Sen. Fischer of Nebraska in such a tenuous position.