Women for a Stronger America

08/30/2026

Did you make it to the Polk County Steak Fry today? The rain stopped and a lovely breeze riffled the oak trees above about 800 Democrats as we heard from our candidates for federal office and the entire statewide slate.
It was exciting to have Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Representative Jamie Raskin and Democracy Defender Skye Perryman speak about the important role Iowa has ‘this year.

08/25/2026

Heather Cox Richardson has been leading a commemoration of our 250th anniversary.
A couple of Iowans have been featured in the videos. Here’s another one.

Joshua Turek is an Iowa House Representative, 4x Paralympian, 2x Go...

08/19/2026

It was a full agenda at WFSA, with updates from the wonderful Iowa Forward crew who are blanketing the state and the latest news about the Polk County Steak Fry: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse is coming! (It’s August 29—get your tickets!!!!)
House candidate for District 28, Tom Walton was here and had this to say “I can’t outspend him, but I’m going to outwork him!
Our keynote for today was Nate Willems, Democratic candidate for Attorney General. He introduced himself as a labor lawyer, an attorney whose life has been representing the working Iowans who sell their lives by the hour. Think on that.
Nate recounted both the ways and means by which these people have been taken advantage of, or stolen from by employers for years, and his firm has recovered millions for them. This is work that the state attorney general could be doing but doesn’t. Think on that.
Everyone in our crowded room (see photo) has been thinking about the state’s cancer statistics. Is there a connection to the attorney general’s race? Yes!
A plant near Shell Rock had been emitting a carcinogenic material for 3 years and the state knew this. When the AG finally acted, the polluter received a minimal fine and no penalties. The polluter sent a large contribution to Brenna Birds political account, though.
Other businesses that had been releasing or spilling toxic materials in Postville and the Nishnabotna River received fines that were a fraction of the cost of the damage. Nothing occurred that would deter future violations. Instead corporate donors got a good deal.
This is not how law is supposed to work. The attorney general’s client is the people of Iowa. The duty of that office is to the people being poisoned, not the poisoners.

08/02/2026

Happening soon!

Common Sense Candidates for Our Statehouse

You’re inundated with requests for donations. And, if you’re like me, you try to help as many as you can. But the national races, the federal races, and even the statewide races can have limited impact on common sense statehouse representation that seems to be slipping away a little bit more every two years. While we all chip in to the big campaigns that generate tens of millions of dollars, it can be easy to forget about the more local ones where even a few hundred dollars for doorknocking materials can help decide whether a candidate wins or loses.

For the first time, I’m joining with my House Democratic colleagues, the Polk County Democrats and the Des Moines West Side Democrats to bring those candidates directly to you.

Please join us on Wednesday night (August 5) from 5:30 to 7:00 PM for our first Majority Meetup to Flip the Iowa House at the Willow on Grand (6011 Grand Avenue). We’ll be welcoming House candidates Molly Buck For Ankeny, Brett Mohler for Iowa (Albia, Bloomfield, Centerville), Matt Mohrfeld for Iowa's Future (Fort Madison, Keokuk), and Mandy for Iowa (Grimes and Urbandale) for brief remarks about themselves and their campaigns along with questions from the audience. Joining me to introduce them will be my friends State Representative Austin Baeth, Joe Judge, and Lieutenant Governor Patty Judge.

Suggested admission is $40 with $10 going directly to each of the four campaigns. You can donate more if you’d like. You can purchase your admission at the link in the comments or pay at the door. By popular demand, the program and refreshments will both be light to keep attention focused on the candidates and resources targeted to their campaigns. Even if you can’t make it, please consider sending along a donation in any amount at the link below.

If this event is successful, our hope is to replicate the event with candidates from around the state, additional House Democratic legislators, and neighborhood groups around Central Iowa.

We can’t wait to see you soon.

-Sean

07/24/2026

This group is crossing the state to hear from Iowans

07/24/2026

07/22/2026

Look at what’s coming to Marshalltown—-along with thousands of bicyclists!

What a night!

Another listening session complete!

If you missed us, please join us Wednesday night at the Marshalltown Library 5 pm to 6:30 pm.

07/15/2026

It was a full house this morning at Women for a Stronger America. Before the featured guest for today—Chris Jones, candidate for Secretary of Agriculture—legislative candidate Heather Sievers told us of a person she met on the doors, a person with multiple family members suffering from cancer. This is THE issue for Iowa in 2026.
Iowa’s existential problem is its current agricultural system. The system is not serving the farmers. It’s not enticing new farmers and it’s hollowing out the small towns where the economies are closely associated with small-scale livestock production.
The current system is destroying water quality in the state—both safe drinking water and usable beaches for recreation.
Jones informed us that we cannot improve water quality with only two plant species (corn and soybeans) covering the land. The inputs they require are the problem. Iowa needs a diversity of crops and Jones offered ideas.
Farmers are not getting the outcomes they want either. Markets are fractured; the cost of inputs is going up, and the industry increasingly relies upon public subsidies. The answer for the farmers, rural communities and improved health for every Iowan is a transition to the production of higher value crops. We can have more farmers, improved environmental outcomes and improved human nutrition.
We learned a great deal about what this transition will require, but policies which actually assist such a transition are the necessary first step.

06/17/2026

Women for a Stronger and Safer America had quite the meeting today! Our leader, Nancy Bobo was back from Chicago where her family were guests at an early opening of the Obama Presidential Library and the takeaway that she shared with us was the atmosphere of hope that permeates the place.
Hope. Feel it, share it, grow it! So we met the local representatives of Iowa Forward who will be coordinating the work across the state in order to elect Governor Sand and the entire ticket!
Then our guest, Tom Henderson, provided the numbers. Democrats, we have ground to make up! Their candidates are trying to run against their own record—believe it or not! The DC contingent has supported everything that has brought suffering to Iowans: tariffs, a war, and the consequent high inflation. Oh, and Medicaid cuts.
But they have funding and the party registration. It will be up to us—Iowans—to change the course of our beloved state.

04/15/2026

Women for a Stronger America gathered this morning and adjourned with a commitment to make every Iowan a water voter. Water is life, as the banner on this morning’s presentation announced. Our guest speaker, John Norris, has a lengthy record of service to Iowa and the nation, with an especial interest in the environment and agricultural practices.
We’ve long been aware of the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico—gulf hypoxia. Iowa contributes about 40% of the pollutants that drain into the gulf creating that environmental disaster. But how did we miss the fact that all of the same pollutants also exist in our own lakes and rivers?
The Nutrient Reduction strategy that iowa is currently using is projected to resolve our pollution problems in 90-30,000 years, depending on the different pollutants. Not satisfactory!!!! Iowa is # 2 in cancer rates, and the only state in which that rate is rising.
Meanwhile, the legislature voted to end funding for water quality sensors in 2023. Was the thinking that “if we don’t know what’s in the water, we can’t complain about it?”
Various foundations and go-fund-me efforts have maintained them to date, but that’s not satisfactory. The state needs to maintain these and every Iowan needs to push their legislators to get this done!
Demand funding of the water sensors!