Ty Bopp dropping from Iowa House race

Iowa House District 92 contains all of Washington County and parts of Johnson County, including Hills and Lone Tree, under the redistricting maps approved by the Iowa Legislature in November last year.

Ty Bopp, the lone Democrat on the ballot for Iowa House District 92, said he was “most likely” dropping from the race before the primary election in June. The candidate from Riverside said he needed to focus on completing his education.

“I realized I should probably finish my master’s degree first,” he said. “The DNC was totally OK with it, they were totally behind me with 100% support. It’s just, I value my education and … I can run at any time in my life. I’m a very energetic and outgoing person, and win or lose, they’d be happy to have me as a candidate again in the future.”

Bopp said the decision was not an easy one, given the lack of a clear replacement to take his place.

“The last couple days I’ve been totally hectic trying to make sure this person’s on board so we don’t just leave the seat empty for the Republicans to pick up,” he said.

Washington County Democrats recruiter Terry Philips said the party supported Bopp’s decision, and was in talks with three other potential candidates to pick up the reins. He welcomed other hopefuls to get in touch via the group’s Facebook page.

“Since he is announced and on the ballot, it makes recruitment just a little bit harder because people go, ‘Well wait a minute, you already have someone,’” he said. “We have to explain to them, and then they have to sit back and think about it some, and so far we haven’t been successful in getting someone to say yes.”

Philips said those struggles could impact name recognition in November, but that he wasn’t too worried about the situation for now.

“It is a concern but this is a new district, and so everybody that’s going to be running in November will be new to the process,” he said. “It is a sleight disadvantage and we’d have to work just a little bit harder … it might give us a little incentive.”

The challenge is magnified by the fact that the candidate filing period already ended, after the March 18 deadline. Washington County Deputy Election Administrator Sue Meeks said whoever wanted to replace Bopp would have to run on write-ins for the primary election.

“The withdrawal deadline has already passed and the ballots (and) all that information had already been sent to the printer … they’re being printed now,” she said. “With a write-in being in as a possible candidate for the general, they’d have to have at least 35% of the vote.”

If that doesn’t come to pass, Democrats could hold a nomination convention instead.

“If we do have someone that comes forward, to get them on the ballot for November, we’d most likely have a convention in the district where all the delegates are invited to come in and listen to the candidate and then vote to have the candidate be on the ballot,” Philips said. “It’s not a very difficult process, just a little bit more involved.”

While reaching the 35% threshold isn’t out of the question, Philips said district Democrats weren’t planning on it.

“There is a possibility that if someone wanted to be active and mount a write-in campaign, we might be able to get enough votes,” he said. “That’s an alternative, but I don’t know how realistic it is right now.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com