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Outgoing Gronstal on Future of Iowa Democratic Party

John Pemble
Outgoing Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal in 2015 appearing on IPR's River to River.

The long-time leader of Democrats in the Iowa Senate was voted out of office after 34 years in the legislature. Mike Gronstal, of Council Bluffs, was one of six Democrats ousted in November. Now, Republicans have a majority in the Iowa Senate. It gives the GOP control of both chambers and the governor’s office.

“If you test the issues that Democrats stand for – things like standing up for the middle-class, working for a good public schools system...and access to higher education,” Gronstal says. “I think (Democrats) do well with the citizens.”

Gronstal has announced his bid for chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party. He says the election post-mortem is not complete and Democrats need to do a better job of communicating their message.

Clay Masters is the senior politics reporter for MPR News.