Once upon a time, a few moderate Republicans served in the Iowa legislature. Sometimes they faced primary challenges from the right, because conservatives resented their positions on social issues and their willingness to compromise with statehouse Democrats.

Social moderates are long gone among Iowa House and Senate Republican ranks, but party leaders prefer not to talk about, let alone deliver on, some of the key priorities for hard-liners. That leads to occasional infighting between mainstream Republican lawmakers and those who want to rock the boat.

One of the proud non-compromisers, Tom Shaw, just announced plans to retire from the Iowa House. His comrade-in-arms Greg Heartsill will face at least one Republican primary challenger in Iowa House district 28.

Only halfway through his first term, Heartsill has shown that he is as “out there” as they come. He “stood side by side with Tom Shaw” in supporting all of the pro-gun legislation promoted by Iowa Gun Owners. That advocacy group views the National Rifle Association and most statehouse Republicans as too willing to “water down” gun bills.

Heartsill co-sponsored Shaw’s more extreme version of “personhood” legislation, which not only declared life to begin at conception, but also would penalize mothers who terminate pregnancies. In addition, Heartsill co-sponsored several marriage-related items: a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, a bill to end no-fault divorce for couples with young children, and a “blatantly unconstitutional” attempt to block county recorders from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Heartsill was also among one of nine Iowa House Republicans who stupidly promised to vote against appropriations for the Des Moines Area Community College “unless they withhold taxpayer’s dollars from the Governors LGBTQ Youth Conference.”

You get the picture. Heartsill’s list of endorsers is like a Who’s Who of Iowa Wingnuts, including all five representatives who filed articles of impeachment against Iowa Supreme Court justices in 2011 and three House Republicans who voted against a 20-week abortion ban, because it did not go far enough. Let’s not forget Bill Salier, whose stance on resisting marriage equality was too extreme for Steve King.

I have not seen an official re-election announcement from Heartsill, but nothing on his campaign website indicates that he plans to step back from seeking a second term. Here is an excerpt from his official bio:

  Greg graduated from Mt. Pleasant High School and received a computer programming degree from Indian Hills Community College and business degree from Buena Vista College in 1993.

   Greg worked in downtown Des Moines for 12 years in Information Technology, designing systems that dealt with various state and federal compliance issues; first at Allied Group, then at Principal Financial.  In 2004, he left the corporate world and embraced the small business climate of Iowa to begin his own business in order to have more time with his growing family.  In the last 10 years, Heartsill Fencing has grown to be a respected family business in House District 28.

    Greg and his wife Angie have lived on a small farm in Southern Marion County for the last 19 of their 20 years of marriage.  They have 9 children that they home school.  He is active in church and mission work, is a member of National Federation of Independent Business, National Rifle Association, Pheasants Forever and Farm Bureau.  He has served on the Central Committee of the Marion County Republicans for many years and attended several County, District, and State Conventions to promote a solid, conservative Republican platform.

Republicans outnumber Democrats by more than 1,300 in Iowa House district 28, which covers about half of Lucas County (but not its largest town, Chariton), a small area of southern Jasper County, and most of Marion County, including county seat Knoxville. Scroll to the end of this post for a detailed map.

Although Mitt Romney didn’t have a big edge over Barack Obama in this district, Heartsill won his first race by a comfortable margin in 2012. For those reasons, the winner of the Republican primary will be strongly favored to hold House district 28 this year.

An alert Bleeding Heartland reader informed me that earlier this month, Jon Van Wyk created a Facebook page for his Republican candidacy in House district 28. Judging from the issues page of his campaign website, Van Wyk is a conservative down the line. Here’s his official bio:

Jon has been interested in politics since high school, and achieved his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and his Masters in Public Administration, both from Iowa State University. Wanting to gain real world experience before becoming a lawmaker, Jon worked in both the public and private sectors over the years and is now a small business owner. He is honored at the possibility to represent Iowa House District 28…an area he has always called home.

Jon grew up in the country west of Oskaloosa, IA. During his senior year of high school, Jon had the opportunity to meet Svetlana Kamneva, who was a foreign exchange student from Russia at the time. They began dating after Jon learned of Svetlana’s plans to attend Grandview University in Des Moines the following fall. By the end of the school year knew they wanted a future together.

At the finish of their freshman year of college (Jon at Iowa State and Svetlana at Grandview) they were married in May of 1998. Ames would be their home until 2003 when they moved to Clive to be closer to their jobs. After seven years of marriage, Jon and Svetlana decided to start a family, and now have three children; Dimitri (9), Ana (6), and Nikolai (3). As a Christian family, the Van Wyks understand the importance of traditional family values, and how the erosion of those values in America is one of the prime culprits of the nation’s moral decline over the years.

Jon’s family has a long history in the Pella/Sully area, with his ancestor Willem Van Wijk having immigrated from The Netherlands in 1892. Willem purchased a farm just southwest of Sully, and had a total of seventeen children; fourteen of them boys. As one might imagine, this means a shared ancestry with many of the Van Wyks in the Pella area. Jon’s father grew up on a farm east of Knoxville; a farm still maintained by his grandfather today.

Jon co-owns Van Wijk Winery (Sully, IA) with his brother and parents. Van Wijk wine has been produced in Pleasant Hill and sold in Des Moines Metro grocery stores since 2009. In 2011, the Van Wyk family acquired an old building from the city of Sully with plans to completely renovate it into their winery’s new location. Their new tasting room formally opened in November 2012. Van Wijk wine can now also be found in grocery stores and retail locations in Ames, Newton, Grinnell, Pella, Knoxville, and Indianola.

Jon has a wide variety of interests and personal hobbies. As a former member of Echo Company (2nd BN, 24th Marines), he developed a prolific interest in firearms. He is an NRA Certified Range Safety Officer (RSO), and fulfills that role with Brownells Big Springs Shooting Complex just east of Lynnville. As an RSO, he is also a member of the National Rifle Association through whom he is certified. Jon also enjoys playing classical violin and has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do (ATA). He is a member of the Des Moines Fencing Club and enjoys sport fencing with epee and foil.

Jon enjoys traveling around the world, and learning about cultures and perspectives that differ from his own. He has visited fourteen other countries including Austria, Belize, Canada, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Mexico, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, & Venezuela. He studied Russian in college and is an intermediate speaker in both Russian and Spanish.

I am seeking comment from Van Wyk on areas of disagreement between himself and Heartsill, and whether any groups encouraged him to run for the Iowa House. I will update this post if I hear back. My hunch is that Van Wyk will have support from conservative groups such as Iowa Right to Life or the National Rifle Association’s PAC. Some of those activists are tired of self-styled Republican purists like Shaw and Heartsill.

Any relevant comments are welcome in this thread.

UPDATE: Heartsill confirmed to conservative blogger Shane Vander Hart that he will seek re-election.

“Two years ago I campaigned on the notion that state government just doesn’t need cleaned up, it needs sanitized!  After witnessing much of the abuses up-close, I believe that this statement still holds true today,” Heartsill told Caffeinated Thoughts. […]

“I have put forward an aggressive, multi-layered agenda that proposes many common sense, long-overdue reforms in government, human dignity and personal responsibility, and education.  It would be unrealistic to achieve all of these objectives in one legislative term.  Therefore, I am running to continue the work I have started, building coalitions and cultivating bipartisan support that is an absolute must to get things accomplished in the Iowa Legislature.”

Heartsill also said he wants to continue with the agenda he was elected on in 2012.

“I feel that it is necessary for me to continue my strong stance on issues regarding life, marriage, property rights, and constitutional protections such as our Second Amendment.  In my very first year of office, I lead the charge in the House by shepherding the bill which restored liability protection to landowners.  Protections that our own Iowa Supreme Court attempted to strip out with the stroke of a pen.  I signed on to major pieces of legislation that affirm and protect our Second Amendment rights.  I also voted to protect the identity of weapons permit holders from being exploited by media that is hostile towards gun ownership.  I was the first co-sponsor of a bill that would recognize and define personhood for babies yet to be born; which would nullify the Roe vs. Wade decision in the State of Iowa and would bring abortion to an abrupt end.  And I was one of only 11 House Republicans to vote against taxpayer funded abortions in the last session,” Heartsill stated.

That last point refers to the state budget for health and human services, which included Medicaid funding for abortions under very limited circumstances.

I predict that Heartsill will depict Van Wyk as a carpet-bagger, on the grounds that Van Wyk has been living with his family in Clive, while co-owning a business located in House district 28.

SECOND UPDATE: Van Wyk pre-empted that argument on Twitter:

Moving to #HD28 isn’t #carpetbagging.  It’s getting rid of 2hr daily commute to my business, saving $500/mo on gas, & is 3yrs in the making.