Iowa primary voters will go to the polls Tuesday, June 5, to pick their candidates for the governor’s race and four congressional House races this fall.
Iowa primary election 2018: live results for governor and House races
Both these races could have big implications in the national health care debate.
There are two particularly interesting Democratic primary races, which both have implications for the country’s health care system. In the Democratic primary for governor and in the Third District, which Democrats hope to pick up this fall, an intraparty fight over the future of Medicaid, Medicare, and the Affordable Care Act is playing out.
Polls close at 9 pm Central time. We have live results below, powered by Decision Desk.
Democratic governor’s primary
Two Democrats are vying for the opportunity to challenge incumbent Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds in November.
Business owner Fred Hubbell, and local labor leader Cathy Glasson are all competing in the Democratic primary. Hubbell is the top fundraiser and first in the only poll on the race so far, but Boulton and Glasson could be competitive challengers. Reynolds’s signature achievement is probably moving Iowa’s 600,000 Medicaid enrollees into managed care, a privatized version of the program where private health plans administer Medicaid’s benefits. Hubbell wants to reverse that privatization, while Glasson supports a more liberal single-payer option. A third Democrat, state Sen. Nate Boulton, who had been receiving some attention, dropped out of the race.
Iowa’s Third Congressional District
Small-business owner Cindy Axne and former Bernie Sanders campaign aide Pete D’Alessandro are running for the chance to challenge incumbent Republican Rep. David Young. Axne has been endorsed by Emily’s List, while D’Alesandro (no surprise) has Sanders’s support. Cook rates this district R+1 this year, so it definitely has the potential to swing.
And there’s a strong health care angle in this race. The Democratic side is a contest between a progressive vision for health care and a more moderate one: Axne is running on fixing Obamacare, while D’Alessandro has fully embraced a platform that includes Medicare-for-all.
Correction: state Sen. Nate Boulton has dropped out of the race but will be on the ballot.
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