Today, the Iowa Democratic Party launched a new program called Build Our Bench focused on the recruitment, training, and support of Democratic candidates for local office across the state. This year, the Iowa Democratic Party has filed a near-record number of candidates for state and federal races.
Build Our Bench will support those candidates, but it also works to focus on the hundreds of other races — from Soil and Water Commissioner to County Supervisor.
This new program offers tools to help Democrats who want to run for office find races to get involved in and resources to get started; it also offers tools for Democrats who are already running to build strong, effective campaigns.
The program includes:
- Recruitment lookup tool that allows Democrats to search what races are on the ballot and where a Democrat is needed to step up and run
- Training resources like online training modules, videos, and information about in-person trainings for candidates, managers, and volunteers.
- Mentorship program that matches elected Democrats with a new candidates
- Candidate Toolkit of specialized resources that candidates can use to develop their specific campaign
- Action Alerts of upcoming campaign deadlines, training opportunities, and other relevant information
“All across Iowa, Democrats are stepping up to run for office,” says Iowa Democratic Party Vice-Chair Andrea Phillips. “22 Iowa Democrats are running for statewide and national office right now. There are 113 Democrats running in almost all 100 seats in the Iowa House. We’ve got 26 awesome candidates running for the State Senate too. Just like so many Iowa Democrats who have stepped up to run, the Iowa Democratic Party is stepping up to support them and to help make sure a Democrat is ready to run in every single race.”