UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ia. — In a dimly lit living room in University Heights, Kimberly Graham got to work trying to make up for the phone call that never came. Graham was the first of four Democrats who filed in the race to unseat U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst in 2020. But when the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee — the party's central planners to get Democrats elected to the Senate — were picking candidates in Iowa, they passed over Graham.

"I had been announced for about a month when she announced and I had called the DSCC," Graham said. She called Chuck Schumer's office, sent out emails, "And to this day, I never heard the response from them."

Back in June, the DSCC chair, U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, tapped Theresa Greenfield to run against Ernst. In November, she told TIME, "Why not let the candidates who are going to get in the race get in, give them six months or whatever amount of time, and see what happens, see what they do?”

Graham greeted people from the top of the stairs as people trickled in, politely removing their snow-melt covered shoes on their way in. She is banking on the June 2 primary election to be under-attended due to a combination of fatigue after the caucuses and a typical lackluster primary attendance.

"We have about 2 million registered voters here in Iowa, and ... we're expecting roughly 150,000 people to vote on June 2," Graham said. "It's possible because we only need roughly 50,000, 55,000 votes to win. There's (four) candidates running for the U.S. Senate seat on the (Democrats') side. With that many, if nobody gets 35% of the vote, it's going to go to the state convention."

But this returns to her central problem: Graham doesn't have the early money and establishment support Greenfield does. So in hopes of inflating her numbers, Graham has been aggressively campaigning across the state meeting living rooms like she found in University Heights with Iowans that feel powerful groups like the DSCC picked too soon.

"I think it’s unfortunate from my perspective that party leaders made a very early endorsement," said J.P. Hourcade, who was one of the hosts. "I wouldn’t mind if they did it one month before the election, but by making it so early it’s almost an inherent message to everyone else not to run."

Hourcade said he was happy to see a candidate like Graham running a progressive platform for Iowa Senate.

During her speech, she laid out her three planks: universal single-payer health care, actions to reduce climate change and child care. The latter is an item Graham is hoping to make her signature. During her pass through eastern Iowa, she said she was planning listening posts across the state to dialogue with child care providers, teachers, parents and anyone else that can offer input on what a state like Iowa needs to better its support for children and their care providers.

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Zachary Oren Smith writes about government, growth and development for the Press-Citizen. Reach him at zsmith@press-citizen.com or 319 -339-7354, and follow him on Twitter via @zacharyos.