Ex-Grassley aide crushes competition

Iowa Republican David Young beat out five other candidates for the GOP nomination on Saturday in the race to replace Rep. Tom Latham (R-Iowa.) 

After nearly seven hours, delegates voted to elect Young 276 to 221 as the party’s nominee in the House race, according to The Des Moines Register. His victory was considered an upset. 

Young is a former top aide to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and was the first Republican to publicly announce his plans to run for Latham’s seat. 

{mosads}He will face former state Sen. Staci Appel, the Democratic Party’s nominee, in November’s general election. 

It took five ballots to declare the winner in the highly competitive six-person race for Iowa’s 3^rd Congressional District. Young beat state Sen. Brad Zaun on the final ballot Saturday even though Zaun had been leading previous ballots earlier.

“I am trusted, tried and true in my conservative thought,” Young told the delegates as the long process continued. “I am asking for your vote.”

Zaun came in first place in the June 3 primary, but he failed to secure enough votes for the nomination. Delegates for the congressional district were tasked Saturday with choosing the best candidate. Their convention was required under Iowa law since none of the candidates managed to win 35 percent of the vote in the primary.

Young won nearly 54 percent of the delegates’ votes on Saturday.

The other candidates included physical education teacher Joe Grandanette, Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultze, renewable fuels executive Monte Shaw and bridge constructive executive Robert Cramer.

The race toward November will likely be competitive since the 3^rd district is considered a swing district. Republicans represent 34 percent of registered voters, Democrats represent 33 percent and 33 percent are unaffiliated, the Register said.

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) said in a statement Saturday that Appel could be Iowa’s first woman elected to Congress. 

“Voters in Iowa now have a clear choice between Staci Appel, who will continue fighting for middle class priorities like equal pay for equal work and would be Iowa’s first woman elected to Congress, and David Young, who is so out of touch about retirement security that he would raise the retirement age for hardworking Iowans who depend on their hard-earned Social Security and Medicare.  

Last December, Latham, who has served in Congress since 1995, announced his plans to retire at the end of this year.