By Jack Corby
Posted: January 9th, 2020. Edited: January 14th, 2020.
When I first signed up to journey to Iowa for my January Term class, I expected to be walking through snow, knocking on doors talking about a democratic candidate, depending on who I got the opportunity to work for. So much to my surprise when I shook the hand of Joe, The President of the Young Republicans Club at Drake University. I was standing inside the student union on Drake’s campus talking to local students and picking their brain about the upcoming election, the feel of campus, and their own personal views. I also happened to be holding a large, very expensive camera that my journalism classmates were using, something I was not even supposed to be doing while in Des Moines.
I was supposed to be interning/working for (I was basically just a well-planned volunteer) Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar in her Des Moines field office. But, a simple webinar for all of the Senator’s senior field officers meant that volunteers would not be needed in the morning. So, my first day in Des Moines left me tagging along with the media team and interviewing local people, something I was told I was rather good at, but, more importantly, something I really loved doing. I got to meet and relate to kids my own age at Drake University. Pictured above is a wall in their student union. I got to meet a couple of peers from different backgrounds, including the youngest County Chair in the state of Iowa, Tanner.
Tanner is a simple kid who is from a small town in Iowa about two hours south west of Des Moines. He planned to come to Drake to enjoy college, get an education, and join a fraternity. He did everything he planned on, but, as junior in high school, something changed the course of Tanner’s life: Iowa turned red and helped Donald Trump win the electoral vote and win the presidency. After being blue in 2008 and 2012 under President Obama, Tanner has becoming Political Coordinator for the Young Democrats Club on campus, won a county chair, and became a volunteer for the Iowa Democratic Party.
When talking to Tanner, something interesting came up. He noted that on campus, there are pockets of followers, with each pocket being very gung-ho about one certain candidate. While that is an interesting fact on its own, he noted that one candidate had almost no support on campus: Amy Klobuchar (my personal favorite candidate). Tanner mentioned the Senator had very little presence on most college campuses statewide, a fact that will probably end up hurting her in the long run, as Gen Zs are the second largest proportion of voters in the country. When discussing the same with Joe, the president of Drake College Republicans, he said that his club is very split on Donald Trump, but all seem to be able to rally behind a republican President and would rather have him than a democrat.
After my time talking to students, I then was able to sneak a backstage look at the debate stage CNN was putting together on campus, which cannot be pictured below before the debate, but I promise you, its beautiful. It was super impressive to me that they built a stage in such a small space and even more crazy that I got to see it up close and in person! I then sat on our group’s bus on my 15-minute ride over to Klobuchar’s campaign office. I asked the driver, Tim, a Des Moines Native, how much more crowded the city gets during January of election years. He said that the Iowa-Iowa State Football game, which is played is Des Moines every three years, brings more people to the city than the Caucuses in his mind. One important point to note about that is Caucuses are statewide, where that football game brings everyone from the state to one place. Nonetheless, a very interesting perspective from a local Iowan.
While all of this was eye-opening, my most interesting conversation came on my way to a Weld-Williamson rally. After canvasing for three hours for Klobuchar and knocking on doors, I went to attend an event at a local school that featured a potential Iowa Senator and two Presidential Nominees, Bill Weld and Marrian Williamson. My Uber driver to the event, Ivan, was born and raised in Los Angeles and came to Iowa for college, receiving a full scholarship to get an Early Education Degree at Iowa State. He met his wife here, later had two kids, and moved to Des Moines to teach 3rd grade. But he never lost his Los Angeles Liberal view and thus is an avid Bernie Sanders supporter. Ivan loves the Senator’s constant verbiage of college and getting an education. But, not the making it free part, just the constant voice of college. Ivan loves that a candidate will not stop talking about the importance of an education. Especially for inner city kids in Des Moines, these students grow up with less supplies and support than other Iowans across the state and are students much like Ivan when he was growing up in Inglewood, CA, a poorer suburb of LA. Ivan went on to mention how much he dislikes Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren because he does not believe they can win this election over Trump, pointing to the fact that Sanders, in Ivan’s eyes, has a very real shot to beat Trump, a fact that is shared by many others nationwide.
Overall, January 9th, 2020 is a day I will never forget. Not because it was life changing, put me on a new path, or even made me want to move to Des Moines. But because I have too many memories to put onto this page, even going a little over the suggested word limit (sorry Professor Landsberg). It was filled with challenges, new experiences, and unexpected bright spots. It was a day I was very grateful for, as it not only helped me grow as a student of politics, but as a person learning from different cultures and embracing them.
Elon University - Iowa: The Trail Starts Here 