Iowa GOP candidates love state fair, shun DM Register Soapbox
Politicians love spending time at the Iowa State Fair, and many candidates for state and federal offices made multiple visits this year. But in a break with a long-running practice, Republicans seeking statewide and federal offices mostly shunned the Des Moines Register's Political Soapbox.
Just three of the eleven GOP candidates invited to the Soapbox were willing to devote 20 minutes of their state fair visit to a public speech outlining their agenda. Every elected Republican official steered clear.
Avoiding the Register's platform is another sign of growing Republican hostility toward traditional Iowa media. Other recent examples: some GOP candidates refused to meet with high-profile editorial boards in 2018 and 2020, and Iowa Senate leaders abandoned more than a century of tradition to kick reporters off the chamber's press bench this year.
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All eleven Democrats said yes, as did Libertarian candidate for governor Rick Stewart, and "Liberty Caucus" candidate Bryan Jack Holder of the fourth Congressional district.
Nixing the Soapbox were U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley, U.S. Representatives Ashley Hinson, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, and Randy Feenstra, Governor Kim Reynolds, Secretary of State Paul Pate, Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig, and state treasurer candidate Roby Smith. In response to Bleeding Heartland's inquiry, staff at the Register declined to specify which of those candidates "did not respond to repeated invitations" and which expressly "declined to participate."
https://www.bleedingheartland.com/2022/08/21/iowa-gop-candidates-love-state-fair-shun-dm-register-soapbox/