Jody Puffett will appear on the general election ballot in Iowa’s second Congressional district, alongside two-term Republican U.S. Representative Ashley Hinson and Democratic challenger Sarah Corkery. While Hinson is not generally viewed as a vulnerable incumbent, Puffett’s candidacy could make the IA-02 race more interesting.
Since launching her campaign in early June, Puffett said in an August 28 statement, her “small but mighty grassroots team” surpassed the number of signatures needed to qualify as a U.S. House candidate (at least 1,726, including at least 47 signatures from at least eleven of the district’s 22 counties).
Puffett is the only independent candidate running for Congress in Iowa this year, and could end up being the only alternative to Democrats and Republicans in any of the four U.S. House races. Libertarians filed in the first, third, and fourth districts, but Republicans on the State Objection Panel knocked them off the ballot on August 28. It’s unclear whether the Libertarians will successfully appeal that decision in court.
JODY PUFFETT’S KEY ISSUES AND EXPERIENCE
Puffett has spent the summer “attending county fairs, community events, and going door-to-door to businesses across the district engaging with constituents.” She is trying to reach voters who are disenchanted with both Republicans and Democrats, and is highlighting the following priorities, according to her campaign:
- Prioritizing Domestic Needs Over Foreign Aid: “While I understand the need to support our allies, we need to take care of the needs of our own citizens first and foremost,” Puffett emphasized. “We should not be sending hundreds of billions of dollars to other countries while we still have veterans who are homeless. It is disgraceful. We also need to provide the funding to secure our own border and improve a legal immigration process and path to citizenship.’
- Investing in Local Needs: Puffett is committed to directing more funding back to the district, specifically to bolster funding for veterans, mental health services, foster care, and education.
- Cutting Government Waste: Puffett plans to scrutinize and reduce unnecessary spending, beginning with Congress itself. It’s time Congress leads by example, cutting expenses and walking the walk that every-day Iowans do,” she said. For example, you won’t see me spending taxpayer dollars for trips to Israel or Ukraine. That is why we have a Department of State.” Another area of focus for Puffett will be congressional compensation and benefits.
- Promoting Transparency with Single-Subject Bills: Criticizing both major parties for using multi-issue bills to manipulate legislative outcomes. Puffett declared, “This tactic is not only unethical but also lacks transparency. I will advocate for bills that address one issue at a time, ensuring that every piece of legislation is clear and focused.”
- Advocating for Term Limits: Puffett believes in bringing fresh and current perspectives to Congress, appointed officials, and the Supreme Court, and she will push for legislation that sets term limits for these roles.
Puffett worked for Transamerica in Cedar Rapids for many years “in various finance, risk, audit and transformation related roles,” and since 2020 “has served in both Chief Financial Officer and Chief Risk Officer roles for two private equity backed start-up U.S. insurance companies.”
POTENTIAL APPEAL IN A RED-LEANING DISTRICT
National election forecasters do not rate IA-02 as one of this year’s competitive U.S. House races. Hinson was re-elected by a comfortable 54 percent to 46 percent margin in 2022, when Democratic challenger Liz Mathis raised and spent more than $4 million. The GOP incumbent has a large fundraising lead in the current campaign, with about $1.9 million cash on hand as of June 30, compared to $69,427.85 for Corkery. In contrast to Iowa’s first and third districts, Democratic groups that spend heavily on U.S. House elections are not targeting IA-02 this cycle.
On the other hand, the numbers in IA-02 are less lopsided than in many safe Republican districts. The Cook Partisan Voting Index for the district is R+4, meaning that in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, voters living in counties that are now part of IA-02 voted about four points more Republican than the nationwide vote for president. Looking only at the 2020 results, the Daily Kos Elections team calculated that Donald Trump received 51.3 percent of the vote in counties that now make up IA-02, while Joe Biden received 46.9 percent.
The latest official figures indicate that IA-02 contains 169,472 registered Democrats, 179,223 Republicans, 201,809 no-party voters, and 3,802 Libertarians.
Puffett does not have a high profile in political circles. A state database shows she has made no contributions to Iowa candidates and only two contributions to Iowa political committees: a pair of $35 donations to the Linn Eagles (a Republican PAC in Linn County) in May. The OpenSecrets database shows only two federal political contributions in Puffett’s name: $100 in 2021 to Larry Elder, a GOP candidate for California governor, and $225 in 2021 to the Save America PAC, which Trump founded shortly after losing his re-election bid.
Although Puffett is running as an independent voice, beholden to no party, her background in corporate finance and the issues she is emphasizing—cuts to foreign aid and domestic spending, term limits—would likely appeal more to Republican-leaning voters than to those who favor Democrats. Anti-establishment candidates running from the right did surprisingly well in this year’s GOP primaries in the first and fourth Congressional districts.
On August 23, Puffett’s Facebook page shared a post by GOP Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, with the comment “Tom Massie gets it, Ashley doesn’t. Vote for Jody – she gets it!” The Massie post criticized the majority of his House colleagues for “spending this country into oblivion” and not understanding “the crisis we have created.”
Hinson did not face a primary challenger, so it’s hard to guess how many conservative constituents are disenchanted with her record. But Puffett’s August 28 statement characterized the incumbent (who has taken several foreign trips in office) as a big spender: “It’s time Congress leads by example, cutting expenses and walking the walk that every-day Iowans do […] you won’t see me spending taxpayer dollars for trips to Israel or Ukraine. That is why we have a Department of State.”
If Puffett attracts protest votes from the right, Democratic turnout is high across northeast Iowa, and no-party voters swing toward Democrats now that abortion rights (a top issue for Corkery) have become more salient, this race could be much closer than anyone expects.
To follow the candidates:
Ashley Hinson: website, Facebook, X/Twitter
Sarah Corkery: website, Facebook, Instagram
Jody Puffett: website, Facebook
IA-02 covers the green area on this map.
