Iowa influence on selecting presidential nominees questioned

Questions persist about Iowa’s first-in-the-nation tradition and the state’s outsize influence in framing the presidential race, given that just 41 pledged delegates are up for grabs in a national contest where it will take close to 2,000 delegates to clinch the party’s nomination.

This time around, even presidential candidates such as Julian Castro and Michael Bloomberg have jumped into the fray, arguing that Iowa and New Hampshire shouldn’t go first on the calendar because their overwhelmingly white populations aren’t reflective of the Democratic Party or the nation as a whole.

The Democratic National Committee also has tried to nudge more states toward holding primary elections instead of caucuses.

But New Hampshire has a state law that its primary must go first in the country — a law it rabidly defends — one of many factors that give Iowa officials pause at the prospect of junking the caucuses entirely.

“We’re always under the threat that somebody will take away first in the nation from us. So we pay attention to that,” said JoAnn Hardy, chairwoman of the Democratic Party in Cerro Gordo County, Iowa. “But if we give it up, then we need to have more conversation with New Hampshire about how we could be different and yet not do this.”

Despite the attention this election season, the simmering tension didn’t suddenly pop up out of nowhere.

New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner has defended his state’s first-in-the-nation status. The debate goes back decades.

At a 1999 meeting between officials from the two states, for example, former Iowa Gov. Chet Culver, then secretary of state, almost had to be restrained after the haggling got heated, according to “Stranglehold,” a New Hampshire Public Radio podcast about the state’s first-in-the-nation status.

Deb Nelson, chairwoman of the Hanover/Old Lyme Town Democrats in New Hampshire, said there is value in her state’s early involvement while also acknowledging the concerns.

“I would not for a minute pretend that we are anything other than a very white state — ditto Iowa,” she said. “And I hope Iowans don’t pretend that they are not influenced by ethanol and issues related to farming, and corn, and the insurance business.”