Jason Noble

jnoble2@dmreg.com

U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack — the most prominent Democrat remaining in Iowa politics after last month’s general election wipeout — will lead a post-mortem analysis of what went wrong for the party in 2016 and how it can rebuild for 2018 and beyond.

Loebsack, a five-term incumbent from Iowa City who won re-election in November, announced a new task force to analyze the party’s standing in Iowa and develop recommendations for winning over voters on Saturday during a meeting of the Iowa Democratic Party’s state central committee.

“It’s a post-mortem. That’s what it is. There’s no question about that,” he said. “But we’re not dead.”

The effort will include professionally conducted focus groups to find out what messages resonate with voters, a wide-ranging “listening tour” to hear from party activists and political allies and additional research on improving campaign strategy.

Iowa Democratic Party Chairwoman Andy McGuire will convene the committee by early next month, with a final report due by mid-April.

Such an analysis is seen as necessary, given the party’s shrinking footprint in Iowa. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton lost the state by 9 percentage points, and Democrats lost badly in two congressional races and a U.S. Senate race that were once seen as competitive.

The party also lost its majority in the state Senate, turning over control of the governor’s office and both legislative chambers to Republicans for the first time in 20 years — and lost their long-time Senate leader in the process.

Loebsack, in his remarks to the central committee, described Iowa Democrats as being like a boxer who was knocked down and remained on the canvas for 8 or 9 counts — that is, nearly knocked out.

“We do have to pick ourselves up,” he said. “We have to get off the mat, folks.”

The future of the Iowa Democratic Party was the dominant concern at the meeting. In addition to the post-mortem announcement, several candidates for party chairman campaigned among the central committee members and presented their vision for the direction of the party.

McGuire will step down next month. The eight-way race to succeed her is the most wide-open and contested in decades, underscoring the dearth of Democratic leadership following this year’s losses.

Among those in the running are outgoing state Sen. Mike Gronstal, the long-time Senate Democratic leader, former Bernie Sanders campaign organizer Blair Lawton, political consultant Derek Eadon and former congressional candidate Kim Weaver.

The 49-member state central committee will elect a new chairperson at a meeting on Jan. 21.