As the new chair of the Iowa Democratic party, Rita Hart plans to help candidates win elections even though the former state senator recently lost her own bid for a Congressional seat in 2020.
“My focus is squarely on helping our party begin winning elections again,” she said. “To be very honest with you, serving as IDP Chair has never been an ambition of mine, but I care deeply about the success of Iowa Democrats.”
Hart was hoping to represent the Hawkeye state’s 2nd Congressional District but she lost to Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks.
The loss was just one of many that the Iowan Democratic Party has suffered in recent years, resulting in it having no party representation in either the U.S. House or U.S. Senate.
When Hart was state senator, she represented District 49 for six years until January 2019.
She was elected on Jan. 28 by the Democratic Party’s state central committee as the next party chair over Brittany Ruland and Bob Krause.
An estimated $100,000 is allocated to Hart’s salary, according to her proposed staff structure budget.
“The Chair sets the direction of the organization and then tasks senior leadership with implementing that direction,” Hart wrote in the proposal. “The Chair has two primary tasks on a day-in-day-out basis: raising money and engaging with party stakeholders (donors, allies, SCC, county parties) to increase buy-in of the party’s program. That entails a lot of 1-on-1 meetings and a lot of call time every week.”
In a letter to party members, Hart outlined her vision for the party that she has called “Mandate for Change,” and vowed to establish a finance committee.
“Nothing else matters in structure if we do not have the correct model for fundraising because we will not have the money to do it,” Hart stated. “Most of the Chair’s time will be spent fundraising so staff can execute the program. This includes call time to individual donors, but also building a Finance Committee to help raise across the state.”
She also pledged to prioritize “counties that voted for Barack Obama twice and Donald Trump twice” in party-building efforts.
“It is better for organizers to do ‘deep’ organizing work in smaller turfs than assign ‘broad’ organizing of 20-county turfs but less ability to focus on specific projects,” she wrote. “Each organizer should also have an individualized plan, not just a top-down cookie cutter approach as long as the number of organizers remains manageable.”
