2 years before the caucuses, Democratic upstarts are trying to make a name in Iowa

CLEAR LAKE, Ia. — Who is Eric Swalwell? Who is Jason Kander? Who is Tim Ryan? And what the heck are they all doing in Iowa?

Those questions have been echoing through Democratic conversations in the state for the better part of a year now, and they rang out again here in northern Iowa on Friday night, when Swalwell and Kander headlined the Iowa Democratic Wing Ding fundraiser.

Despite a new president just seven months on the job and Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses still more than two years away, the state has seen a profusion of visits from would-be, could-be national Democratic leaders.

But for the most part, the visitors haven’t come from the senators-and-governors set one might expect to see trying out on a presidential proving ground. Rather, the Democrats showing up in Iowa these days skew younger, with less political experience and lower national profiles but plenty of ambition.

Swalwell is a 36-year-old third-term congressman from California. Kander, also 36, is an Army veteran and former Missouri secretary of state.

To Democratic activists and party officials in the state, their presence suggests a welcome evolution of the role Iowa has traditionally played in the national political process. Rather than strictly serving as an entrance exam for the presidency, Iowa is now a platform for building a national political profile.

"We have some fabulous people coming up through the system," Coralville Democratic activist Sue Dvorsky said Friday night. "I don’t know how many of them can run for president, but a national conversation happens here, and they should all come here and have it."

Swalwell, who was born in Sac City but raised in California, visited Iowa last fall and again in February on trips that took him through Iowa City, Des Moines and Davenport. He attended an event in Council Bluffs on Thursday night before Friday’s Wing Ding, and is sticking around for a Progress Iowa fundraiser on Saturday and the Iowa State Fair on Sunday.

In an interview Friday, he emphasized his efforts to engage Millennial voters and win back Democratic control of Congress as the rationale for all that Iowa travel – not personal political ambition.

“Of course, I know Iowa’s significance in the national calendar, and that’s a significance Iowans have earned — that’s something I respect,” Swalwell said. “But there’s a job to do right now. We don’t want to go into 2020 in the minority in the House.”

Iowa's Republican-held 1st and 3rd districts are seen as must-wins if Democrats are to retake the House.

Kander, who’s lately raised his profile with extensive national travel and regular media appearances but remains best known for assembling a rifle blindfolded in a TV ad for his failed 2016 U.S. Senate bid, was in Iowa for political events last December and again in June.

In his Wing Ding speech, Kander pointed to his experience as a red-state Democrat who won statewide office despite views on gun control and voter identification that a majority of voters disagreed with. 

“The truth is that voters will forgive you for believing something that they don’t believe if they know that you truly believe it, and believe it because you think it will help them in their lives," Kander said. "That’s politics right there."

The lesson, he said, is that voters will reward Democrats for taking bold stands on even controversial issues — including single-payer health care, which he endorsed.

"We believe that our policies are going to make everybody’s lives better, and so we need to take our arguments to absolutely everyone," he said.

Whatever the rhetoric, Kurt Meyer, the chairman of the Tri-County Democrats organization in northeast Iowa, saw unmistakable evidence on Friday night of presidential ambition.

"I don’t think that they’re here to check the corn crop," he said Friday. "But I also appreciate the fact that political cycles are such that even if you’re looking six or 10 years out ,you need to start building relationships now. That’s not lost on these good people."

Meyer, in fact, was engaged in some of that relationship-building himself over the weekend: between Swalwell's events Clear Lake and Des Moines, he stayed overnight at Meyer's home in Mitchell County.

The Wing Ding, a venerable fundraiser with a funny name, benefits 25 county parties across the northern Iowa. 2016 presidential rivals Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders topped the bill in 2015, and then-U.S. Sen. Barack Obama headlined during his first run for president in 2007.

It’s not just Kander and Swalwell raising their profiles in Iowa.

Tim Ryan is an eight-term congressman from Ohio who has become prominent in recent months as a leading critic of and potential challenger to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. In June, he met Des Moines Democrats at Cooney’s Tavern in Beaverdale, and he’s scheduled to return to the state in September as a headliner at the Polk County Steak Fry.

In an interview with The Des Moines Register earlier this month, Ryan said his aim is to become “a national leader in shaping the party” — an objective that doesn’t necessarily include running for president. Iowa is an ideal venue because of its receptivity to his economic-populist message, he said, more than its place on the nominating calendar.

“I know this is the presidential hotbed and all that, but I’m just going to be myself and say what I say and we’ve got a very, very good response there,” he said.

Joining Ryan on the Steak Fry stage will be U.S. Reps. Seth Moulton, of Massachusetts, and Cheri Bustos, of Illinois.

Moulton insists his political focus this year is on winning back the House. But as a 38-year-old Marine Corps veteran serving his second term in Congress, he shares obvious similarities with Kander and Swalwell as a figure who may be looking to climb onto the national stage for 2018, 2020 or beyond.

“Coming here doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re going to run for president or anything like that," Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Troy Price said. "But it allows them to get better at campaigning and get to know folks. Whatever they choose to do, it doesn’t hurt to have an organization or connections in the state of Iowa.”

Three-term U.S. Rep. Grace Meng, 41, of New York, will be in town next week for a Polk County Democrats’ event, and Pete Buttigieg, the 35-year-old mayor of South Bend, Ind., who ran earlier this year to be chairman of the Democratic National Committee, is attending the Progress Iowa Corn Feed in mid-September.

There have been signals of Iowa interest from Democrats with more traditional caucus credentials too, of course.

Sanders and fellow U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, of Minnesota, have already been to the state once this year, and both will be back on Aug. 31 for dueling appearances on the campuses of Iowa State University and the University of Iowa. U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, of Oregon, will be a co-headliner alongside Buttigieg at the Corn Feed next month.

As of yet, there’s only one declared Democratic candidate for president: Maryland U.S. Rep. John Delaney. He’ll be at the Iowa State Fair next week.