Agripulse and many other Washington political watchers are keeping their eye on Democrats’ talk about changing the nomination process for their candidates. Former Iowa Lt. Gov. Patty Judge says losing the Iowa caucuses would hurt agriculture and also harm the Democratic Party. The caucuses have long forced Democratic candidates to focus on ag policy. In the run-up to the Democratic caucuses in 2020, Judge took Democratic candidates on tours of ethanol plants to stress the importance of biofuel policy to the state.
The party’s rules committee is considering a new process that could cost Iowa its first-in-the-nation status. Judge says that would be bad for the party.
“Our size allows a candidate with not much money to get in the car and travel the state, listening and talking to voters,” Judge said in an email to Agri-Pulse. “I fear that eliminating the need for retail politics will result in new energetic candidates being unable to compete without the big bucks for paid media, resulting in further isolation from the voters.”