LAURA BELIN Bleeding Heartland Archives

Elections BLEEDING HEARTLAND: Miller-Meeks touts praise from Trump in taxpayer-funded ads By LAURA BELIN Bleeding Heartland – 12/08/25

Originally published on Dec. 7 “Good job you did! Great job,” President Donald Trump says to U.S. Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks in a 30-second commercial that has reached thousands of ...

Elections BLEEDING HEARTLAND: Thoughts on Randy Feenstra’s weird, weak campaign rollout By LAURA BELIN Bleeding Heartland – 11/03/25

Originally published on Nov. 2 At long last, U.S. Representative Randy Feenstra confirmed on October 28 that he’s running for governor. For all of his talk about “taking Iowa to new ...

Elections BLEEDING HEARTLAND: Catelin Drey ‘perhaps unjustly optimistic’ about Iowa Senate work By LAURA BELIN Bleeding Heartland – 9/17/25

Originally published on Sept. 16 The Republican supermajority in the Iowa Senate is no more. Catelin Drey became the seventeenth Democrat in the 50-member chamber on September 15. About half of her ...

Elections BLEEDING HEARTLAND: Ashley Hinson’s Senate rollout: Short-term success, long-term risks By LAURA BELIN Bleeding Heartland – 9/09/25

Originally published on September 7 It’s been a wildly successful week for U.S. Representative Ashley Hinson. Three days after U.S. Senator Joni Ernst confirmed she won’t seek re-election, the ...

Elections BLEEDING HEARTLAND: Ten lessons Democrats can learn from Catelin Drey’s big win By LAURA BELIN Bleeding Heartland – 9/02/25

Originally posted on Aug. 30 In the end, it wasn’t even close. Democrat Catelin Drey defeated Republican Christopher Prosch by 4,208 votes to 3,411 (55.2 percent to 44.7 percent) in Iowa Senate ...

Democracy BLEEDING HEARTLAND: Brutally honest keynote lays out path for demoralized Democrats By LAURA BELIN Bleeding Heartland – 8/19/25

Originally published on Aug. 17 “A lot of you all know who I am because I experienced the worst day of my life on national TV,” former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn told around 350 Democrats ...

Iowa BLEEDING HEARTLAND: Former Iowa lawmaker gives master class on sucking up to Trump By LAURA BELIN Bleeding Heartland – 8/05/25

Originally published on August 4 When I saw former State Representative Joe Mitchell’s guest column in the Des Moines Register in late June, my first thought was, “What federal government job ...

Democracy BLEEDING HEARTLAND: Why the Iowa Senate finally approved enhanced First Amendment protections By LAURA BELIN Bleeding Heartland – 7/22/25

Originally published on July 20 When the Iowa House and Senate approve a bill unanimously, you might assume it was easy to get the measure to the governor’s desk. But appearances can be deceiving. ...

Elections BLEEDING HEARTLAND: Should Democrats hope to face Ernst or Hinson in 2026 Senate race? By LAURA BELIN Bleeding Heartland – 7/15/25

Originally published on July 13 Politico set off another round of speculation about U.S. Senator Joni Ernst’s future this week. Jordain Carney and Rachael Bade reported on July 10 that Ernst ...

Democracy BLEEDING HEARTLAND: Grassley using Judiciary Committee to avenge Donald Trump By LAURA BELIN Bleeding Heartland – 7/09/25

Originally posted on July 6 When President Donald Trump gave Senator Chuck Grassley his “complete and total endorsement” during an October 2021 rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, he said one ...

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