Democratic delegates in Iowa Senate district 18 nominated former television news anchor Liz Mathis last night for the November 8 special election. No other candidate sought the nomination. Republicans picked businesswoman and Linn County GOP co-chair Cindy Golding in a three-way nominating contest last week.

Both Mathis and Golding indicated yesterday that they will focus on jobs and the economy rather than social issues during the short campaign.

After being nominated, Mathis said she would “do all I can to promote jobs and business and promote education” if she is able to serve in the legislature.

A key legislative issue has been the effort by opponents of same-sex marriage to put the issue on the ballot. Golding has indicated she would support letting Iowans vote to amend the state Constitutional to ban same-sex marriages. In April 2009, the Iowa Supreme Court struck down a state law banning same-sex marriages.

“As most Iowans …I uphold the judges’ decision,” Mathis said.

She believes it’s people from outside Iowa are trying to make gay marriage an issue in the Iowa Senate 18 race.

“I have to say the people of District 18 are concerned about jobs and business growth and education,” she said.

Mathis’ official campaign website is here. The front page highlights three issue areas: “Business & Jobs,” “Education,” and “Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice.” Since leaving the broadcast news business, Mathis has served as chief information officer for Four Oaks, a child welfare and juvenile justice agency in the Cedar Rapids area. The official bio on the Mathis campaign website mentions that she “is an Ohnward Bank Board Director with branches in Marion and Cedar Rapids and sits on the Wartburg College Board of Regents.”

Mathis struck a bipartisan tone in her official campaign announcement earlier this month, and it looks like Senate district 18 voters will hear more along those lines during the campaign. The front page of the Mathis campaign website declares,

Liz will be a strong voice for eastern Iowa where she spent more than 25 years as a news anchor, asking the tough questions to elected officials on both sides of the aisle.

While campaigning for the Senate district 18 nomination, Golding described herself as a fiscal and social conservative. According to Eastern Iowa Government, she is emphasizing economic and fiscal issues:

Golding also focused her attention on job growth [on September 28]. A Republican win would break Democrats’ “stranglehold” on legislation and allow the GOP to advance its agenda of tax and budget issues to create a climate more conducive to business growth and job creation, she said.

In an interview with IowaPolitics.com yesterday, Golding spoke cautiously about same-sex marriage rights:

Cindy Golding, a businesswoman from rural Cedar Rapids who’s the Republican candidate in Iowa Senate District 18, told IowaPolitics.com that Iowans deserve to have a vote on the issue, but declined to shed light on her personal beliefs about same-sex marriage.

“I have friends who are in gay relationships, and friends who abhor gay relationships,” Golding said, proposing that Iowans should make their own “cultural” decisions.

Earlier this week, Representative Michele Bachmann made a presidential campaign appearance in Cedar Rapids. She had offered to campaign for Golding while in the metro area. Golding didn’t jump at the chance for a joint appearance with Bachmann. Later she sent out a press release indicating that she “won’t endorse any presidential candidate but that any GOP campaign or organization is welcome to help with the campaign efforts.”

Any comments about the Senate district 18 special election are welcome in this thread.

UPDATE: Todd Dorman covered more of Mathis’ Q and A with reporters last night. Here’s the more complete answer regarding same-sex marriage rights:

“You know, I think there have been a lot of voices from New York and Des Moines and Washington D.C. that are coming in and trying to make marriage the issue of this campaign and this district. I have to say, the people of District 18 are concerned about jobs, and business growth and they’re concerned about education. And those are the things constituents are concerned about.

“As most Iowans, I support the judges’ approval and the judges upholding of the constitutional right. And I believe that people need to be focusing on business and jobs and education. I uphold the judges’ decision.”

Here’s another point that may emerge during the campaign:

At last week’s GOP convention, your opponent, Cindy Golding seemed to suggest that you have too many ties to downtown Cedar Rapids. What do you make of that?

“Golly, I think that would be one of the arguments that would work in favor of me. Because we don’t have silos up between the cities. We don’t have silos up between the counties. And I can only imagine that there are a lot of people in Marion and Robins and Hiawatha who have jobs everywhere, in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids, all over the county. And to say that that’s that way is rather limiting. I think it’s rather parochial.”