Marion GOP Candidate Once Endorsed By Democratic Opponent's Mother

The race for the District 68 Iowa House seat has an interesting dynamic.

The incumbent, a Marion Republican seeking a third term in the Iowa House, is running against a man whose distinguished mother once endorsed him, he said. 

Nick Wagner, 38, faces Democrat Daniel Lundby for a seat in the newly redrawn District 68. Lundby is the son of the late Mary Lundby, of Marion, who died from cancer in 2009.

Mary Lundby was a Republican and held several leadership positions in her 22 year career as an Iowa legislator, both in the Iowa House and then the Senate. Her district represented roughly the same area — and the same voters — as the district Wagner was vying for at the time of the endorsement.

Mary Lundby decided not to seek reelection to the Iowa Senate in 2008 in favor of seeking a seat in the Linn County Board of Supervisors, and offered her endorsement of Wagner as he sought a seat in the Iowa House.

The endorsement had serious weight, Wagner said.

Wagner said he applauds Daniel Lundby for running and has a tremendous amount of respect for his mother.

"She was a very good legislator. She worked very hard for her constituents," Wagner said. "She was very well respected."

The Race

Still, Linn County Republican Chair Steve Armstrong said Wagner faces a stiff challenge in the race for the new district against a well-known opponent.

It’s going well so far, though.

"Two weeks ago me and my wife, we knocked on doors in his district," Armstrong said. "Five out of five people that said they are going to vote for Obama are going to vote for Nick."

Wagner said he feels confident that his re-election campaign will close with a win in the November election.

Budget

Wagner cites his work on the budget as one of his biggest accomplishments while serving in the Iowa House.

He says he helped change how the state budget is viewed.

"I don’t think people really comprehend what we did with the budget," he said. "We changed philosophically how legislators, how lobbyist and how state agencies look at the budget."

Wagner said his work on the budget has helped solve two problems.

First, he said the Democrats deliberately underfund one area of the budget for the sake of another with the expectation they can get supplemental money later.

Wagner wanted Iowa’s budget to not rely on cash reserves to cover ongoing expenses. He said when Iowa’s revenues dipped in 2008 and 2009, the budget made use of reserves to fund long-term expenses. This practice "creates commitment that you can’t pay later on," he said.

Wagner said while a bill outlining this approach to budget management did not pass, he said the principles were incorporated into the state's budget.

Armstrong said Wagner has been effective at working with legislators from both parties. Wagner is known around Iowa for his work on the budget and the challenges he faced in helping it pass, Armstrong said.

"The House had five budget proposals (last year)," he said. "Getting a budget through the House is a really tall task."