Scholten makes his pitch at Charles City campaign stop

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

If Democrat J.D. Scholten doesn’t win the U.S. House seat representing Iowa’s Fourth Congressional District, it won’t be from a lack of optimism.

“There is this gut instinct of mine,” Scholten said. “For months, we’ve thought it was going to be close, but as we get closer to the day, I just see more and more positive things coming out, and I’m getting excited.”

Scholten, a 38-year-old paralegal and former professional baseball pitcher from Sioux City, is running against Rep. Steve King, the eight-term Republican incumbent from Storm Lake.

Wednesday night at the Charles City Public Library, Scholten made Charles City the penultimate stop of his barnstorming tour, which he is calling the “You Can’t Fake Showing Up” tour.

When he makes the final stop in Sioux City Thursday evening, he will have held town hall meetings in all 39 counties in the district, which covers northwest and north-central Iowa, and also includes the cities of Ames, Fort Dodge, Mason City and Sioux City.

King has proven to be very difficult to beat. Registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by about 70,000 in the district, but Scholten promised the mostly-Democratic supporting crowd of about 75 that his campaign — which has raised nearly three times as much money as King’s campaign — would close the deal with a full media blitz leading up to election day.

“We’re going to lay everything we have out there,” he said. “We are so close to something special.”

Scholten believes he has the momentum and the money to compete with King on election day, and he said he also has one other advantage — he’s been all over the district while King has been absent.

“Not only are we out-fundraising him, but we’re out here going around and talking to people and he’s nowhere to be seen,” Scholten said. “There’s a level of engagement there that we’re winning on, and there’s a level of fundraising that we’re winning on.”

The towering Scholten, who stands 6 feet, 6 inches tall, has never before run for office, said he thinks King will be in for a surprise come election day.

“He’s not willing to debate us, that’s his thing, but we have our game plan. We’re executing it, and come election night, I’m not going to be surprised at all when we pull this off,” he said.

In his remarks Wednesday, Scholten said he supports health care for all Americans, debt-free college and campaign finance reform.

“I will work for a health care system that works for all of us, an economy that works for all of us, and a government that works for us,” he said. “I’m frustrated with what’s happening in D.C., because I feel that our democracy is being dictated by self-interest and special interests. I want to get back to a government that’s of the people, by the people and for the people.”

Charles City residents questioned Scholten on issues such as agriculture. One of the gathered wondered what Scholten could do about President Trump’s tariffs, which have led to lower prices on corn and soybeans.

“Even without the tariffs, we’ve had low commodity prices for the last four years. Market consolidation is squeezing farmers on both ends,” Scholten said.

King has often made public comments that receive negative attention, and many in the room Wednesday said they find King’s habit of doing so frustrating and embarrassing. Scholten said the things King says don’t bother him as much as the things King does.

“The things Steve King says disgust me, but as the congressman from the second-most agricultural producing district in America, the fact that Steve King is not standing up and being a leader disgusts me more,” he said. “He’s been in 16 years. He could be the agricultural chair, but he’s not. He’s not even on the farm bill conference committee. I want to be a leader, and if that means working with Chuck Grassley, so be it.”

Scholten also took questions about term limits, which Scholten said he supported, and said he had no intention of making a lifetime career out of politics.

“Steve King ran his first campaign about term limits, so I’m going to hold him accountable to eight,” he said.

On a question about public education, Scholten said he came from “a long line of farmers and educators, and public education is a top priority of mine.”

Win or lose come election day, Scholten said he has loved the fight.

“These last 15 or 16 months have been an absolute blessing,” he said. “To be able to run for something like this from the place where is arguably the most meaningful thing I’ve ever done in my life. I knew how much work it was going to be, but I didn’t realize how much I would enjoy it.”