Iowa's first-in-the-nation Democratic Party caucuses have launched presidential campaigns for decades. Now the future of this tradition is uncertain.
Iowa Democrats lost the first-in-the-nation caucuses in 2023, after a 2020 technology failure caused errors and delays in reporting results. In June, it was announced that Iowa would not have a seat on the Democratic National Committee’s Rules & Bylaws Committee, which oversees the presidential nominating calendar.
We hear from Republican Party of Iowa Chair Jeff Kaufmann and Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart about their perspectives on this change. We also talk with Drake University political scientist and caucus scholar Rachel Caufield about how Iowa went from critical to sidelined —and whether the caucuses can reclaim their national prominence.
Guests:
- Jeff Kaufmann, chair, Republican Party of Iowa
- Rita Hart, chair, Iowa Democratic Party
- Rachel Caufield, professor, co-chair, Drake University Department of Political Science
