WE DID IT!
Thank you to everyone who helped make this election victory a possibility.
“I pledge to the voters of this district: I will go to the Capitol and fight for you every day. I will be your voice in the state Senate,” said Senator-Elect Liz Mathis last night.
Congratulations Senator Mathis!
Polls are open!
Hey SD 18, it’s time to get out the vote and elect Liz Mathis as the next Senator from Linn County! Polls are open today from 7:00 am to 9:00 pm. That’s plenty of time to cast your vote in favor of the fair-minded candidate!
Need to find your polling location? Click here for the Linn County Election Services for all the information you need to Get Out the Vote today!
And be sure to check back for the latest returns and information! We will be keeping you updated as the day progresses.
Thanks to all of our supporters and volunteers who have been working so hard to make sure pro-equality voices are heard in this election.
Senate District 18: Liz Mathis
The Cedar Rapids Gazette Editorial Board
The voters of Iowa Senate District 18 face a difficult, high-stakes decision Tuesday.
They will decide who fills a seat vacated by former Sen. Swati Dandekar, D-Marion, who accepted an offer from Gov. Terry Branstad to join the Iowa Utilities Board. With Democrats currently holding a slim one-seat majority in the Senate, the special election will decide whether that majority holds or if the Senate will be tied 25-25.
The campaign has been a six-week whirlwind for Republican hopeful Cindy Golding, a rural Cedar Rapids businesswoman, and Liz Mathis of Robins, communications director for Four Oaks, a child welfare, juvenile justice and behavioral health agency…
We’re also troubled by Golding’s call for holding a vote on a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages in Iowa. This editorial page has stood strongly for the right of gay and lesbian Iowans to enjoy civil marriage rights. The fact that Golding would risk those constitutional rights in a divisive public vote to, as she said, take the “spotlight” off Iowa, gave us pause.
In the end, it was a close call. But we think Mathis is the right choice.
Iowa Senate election could alter party control
Never mind the presidential candidates: The epicenter of Iowa politics for the next five days is here, a suburb of Cedar Rapids where the results of a special race for an open Iowa Senate seat could alter party control of the chamber.
Republicans view the 26-24 Democratic control of the Senate as a last barrier holding them back from marching ahead on issues from tax cuts to a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
Small-business owner Cindy Golding, a Republican, and former television news anchor Liz Mathis, a Democrat, say they’re focusing their campaigns on issues important to the district they seek to represent. But the possibility of a 25-25 Senate split has attracted hundreds of activists from around the state to the district and hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign spending in an attempt to sway the outcome.
One week from today…
Hello from Linn County!
This is it. One week from today, voters will head to the polls in SD 18 and decide who will control the Iowa Senate.
As Field Director at One Iowa, I have spent the last three and half years helping elect pro-equality candidates because I know what’s at stake for our community—and the stakes could not be higher with this special election.
The slim 26 – 24 pro-equality majority stood firm last year against efforts to enshrine discrimination in our state Constitution. But, if Democratic candidate Liz Mathis loses, and we lose the majority, we could see the far-reaching anti-marriage amendment start moving through the Senate, and begin a process that would end the freedom to marry for loving, committed gay and lesbian couples— in as little as 19 months.
We cannot let this happen. We need your help now to protect the fair-minded majority.
I have been incredibly impressed with the campaign. It’s great to see our allies in labor and the Democratic Party working together to get Liz elected. One Iowa has been doing its part to make sure the voice of equality is heard in this special election. Since the special election was announced, we have mobilized more than 200 local volunteers to make more than 11,000 phone calls to voters in the district. As a result, we have identified more than 900 marriage supporters in the district, and signed up 240 pro-equality voters to vote early.
Now, through our political action committee, the Fairness Fund, I have arrived here in Cedar Rapids to coordinate the final push to get Liz elected. Our volunteers and I are working night and day, knocking on doors, talking to supporters, and urging folks to vote early. And next Tuesday we will be launching a large scale Get Out the Vote strategy to get voters to the polls to make sure pro-equality voices are heard in this election.
I don’t want to be fighting to win a statewide ballot measure and look back on this moment and think, “Could I have done more to prevent this?” Nobody should sit this one out.
To victory,
Matthew Skuya
One Iowa Field Director
Unions, marriage groups drive absentee voting in special election
By Hannah Hess
IowaPolitics.com
Democrats lead Republicans by about 2 to 1 in early voting for the high-profile Iowa Senate District 18 special election, according to the Linn County auditor’s office.
On Friday, 3,987 absentee ballots had been returned for the race between Democrat Liz Mathis, of Robins, and Republican Cindy Golding, of rural Cedar Rapids. Of that total, 56 percent came from registered Democrats, compared to 24 percent from registered Republicans and 20 percent from no-party voters…
Sterzenbach said Planned Parenthood, statewide gay rights organization One Iowa, labor unions and education groups are among those helping the Mathis campaign on a day-to-day basis.
Republican efforts also are being bolstered by outside influences who hope that a win for Golding could help a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage gain traction in the Legislature. Gay marriage has been legal since a 2009 Iowa Supreme Court ruling.
Mathis has said she supports the judges’ decision to legalize same-sex marriage, while Golding would like to put a referendum on gay marriage before voters.
“We’re doing everything within the legal limits of the law to get the voter turnout for Cindy Golding, whether it be absentee or turning them out at the polls,” said Bob Vander Plaats, chief executive officer of The Family Leader, an Iowa nonprofit advocating for traditional marriage and against abortion.
Golding says don’t fear the gridlock
by Todd Dorman
The Cedar Rapids Gazette
So I casually asked Cindy Golding about her plan to shut down our state government.
OK, seriously. You’re a swell candidate, and all, but wouldn’t sending you to the state Senate mean that Iowa’s now merely dysfunctional legislative branch would become completely non-functional?
All molecular legislative motion ceases. Political absolute zero.
A Golding victory turns a 26-24 Democratic Senate into a 25-25 tie. At this daggers-drawn point in our politics, I’d be surprised if they could forge agreement on lunch. I half expect dueling morning prayers. Gridlock, meet Master Lock.
Click here to read the full opinion piece from The Gazette
NOM Is Coming to Iowa
This summer, the National Organization for Marriage and the Family Research Council teamed up with conservative mouthpiece Bob Vander Plaats to launch a “Values Voters Bus Tour” aimed at courting social conservatives during the Straw Poll. The bus was met with tepid enthusiasm. Nevertheless, the groups have re-launched the tour and are they are taking this tour national. The first and the only stop in Iowa will take place in Linn County on November 6th, just two days before the special election.
As usual, national groups like the National Organization for Marriage are meddling in Iowa’s affairs to promote their message of intolerance and influence the outcome of this election.
Additionally, Bob Vander Plaats, chief executive officer of The Family Leader, an anti-gay organization advocating for a public vote on a marriage ban has made it clear that they plan to be active in this special election.
National Organization for Marriage Supporting Cindy Golding in Iowa Senate Election
October 20, 2011
The Des Moines Register blog
The National Organization for Marriage is getting involved in Iowa’s special Senate election.
The group, which opposes same-sex marriage and was active in the effort last year to remove three state Supreme Court judges who ruled in favor of same-sex marriage in the state, will distribute mailers supporting Republican candidate Cindy Golding.
