The presidential race is overshadowing a pitched battle for partisan control inside the state legislature. House Speaker Linda Upmeyer of Clear Lake is the top Republican in the legislature and she was a delegate at the Republican National Convention last month. She says the event revealed the “messaging” Trump intends to use for the fall, but that’s not necessarily going to impact legislative candidates. “There’s a lot of discussion about the presidential, but it doesn’t immediately move then to down-ballot,” she says.

Republicans hold a firm majority in the Iowa House and Republicans have focused on trying to win control of a majority of seats in the Iowa Senate. Democrats currently have a 26-to-24 seat advantage. Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs is the top Democrat in the legislature and he was a delegate at last month’s Democratic National Convention.

Gronstal offers this advice to legislative candidates: “Your future doesn’t depend on the top of the ticket, the national mood. It depends on what you do in your own race.” Gronstal is up for reelection this November. Gronstal told reporters last week he has so far personally knocked on eight-thousand doors in his district. Each state senator represents about 60-thousand Iowans.

Gronstal’s Republican opponent is Dan Dawson, a state employee who is special agent in the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

(Radio Iowa)