Cedar County was the seat of a rural revival and candidate forum Sunday, Sept. 28. The event was hosted by Voices United of Rural Linn County and members of 82nd Indivisible, Voices 4 Democracy, Indivisible Muscatine County, Johnson County Indivisible and SD 33 Indivisible. Candidates running for federal and state office were in attendance for the event, and invites were sent to all candidates.

Matt Russell led off the event, discussing the progress made in his lifetime due to science.

“Our flashlights now are LED powered,” Russell said. “They’re 10 times brighter and use one tenth of the energy of the flashlights we grew up with. The most important Russell then held up a gasket.

“Anyone who has ever worked on a farm knows what this is,” Russell said. “They’re horrible. They make life harder on all of us.”

Russell said that the United States right now is like a grain truck spilling grain on both sides of the road.

“That’s where we’re at right at the moment,” Russell said. “It’s going to take some steps to avoid, but we can.”

Russell reminded attendees that rural Iowans joining together can make a change.

Attendees for the event were Kathy Dolter (running for U.S. House District 2), Taylor Wetlach (running for U.S. House District 1), Travis Terrell (running for U.S. House District 1), Christina Bohannon (running for U.S. House District 1), Nate Willems (running for Iowa Attorney General), Ryan Peterson (running for Secretary of State), Eddie Andrews (running for Iowa Governor), Bob Krause (running for U.S. Senate), Zach Wahls (running for U.S. Senate), Nathan Sage (running for U.S. Senate) and Josh Turek (running for U.S. Senate). Invites were extended to all current legislators and those running for federal or state office.

The first question for attendees had to deal with Iowa’s water quality issues.

Andrews said this was definitely not a Democrat or Republican issue, but an all Iowan issue and that Iowans need to come together to address the issue.

Peterson said as Secretary of State candidate, this would not fall under the wheel house of what his office deals with.

Willems said that as an attorney general candidate, his job is enforcing the laws that are on hand for the state.

Bohannon said that addressing water quality is important work for the state.

“I get how hard it is for farmers, but we need to work with farmers on water quality,” Bohannon said.

Terrell said he trusts farmers, but the industry has done a lot to reward cheap and quick farming practices.

Wetlach said one issue that wasn’t mentioned yet is that the EPA had changed the water quality standards on what is safe exposure to nitrates.

“We need water quality, but it is much harder when we’re dealing with changing data,” Wetlach said.

Dolter said hiring many of the workers from the Environmental Protection Agency laid off from the Department of Government Efficiency is important.

Krause said that removing so many streams out of regulation standards has only made the problem worse.

“We are tied for 49th in cancer rates and are the only state where rates are still going up,” Krause said. “We all know what’s causing it is the chemicals.”

Wahls said that we need to do something as a state to address this.

Sage said the important thing is that we need to get people believing in science again.

Turek said every Iowan needs access to clean water.

A question for those running for state office was about rural gun ownership.

Andrews noted Iowa values the second amendment, and whenever discussing weapons, that has to be mindful.

Peterson said that issue was outside the scope of the Secretary of State.

Willems said that the Iowa Constitution has a robust statement enshrining second amendment and gun ownership in the state Constitution.

For those running for federal office, the question was what can we do to provide quality health care affordable to all.

Krause said the system is fundamentally broken, and that health care is a human right.

Wahls said the important step is reversing the cuts to Medicaid.

Bohannon said that for many, health care and working goes hand in hand for so many people.

“No one should be faced with a choice of losing their income to deal with a health care issue,” Bohannon said.

She said that Medicare should cover mental, dental and vision care as well.

Terrell said that he broke his foot a few years ago, and the recovery from that was a wakeup call.

“We’re one of the richest countries of the world and we don’t have a universal health care system,” Terrell said. “I support Medicare for all initiatives.”

Wetlach said that repealing the big beautiful bill was an important first step.

Dolter went a step further and said impeaching Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from office, who is spreading misinformation on vaccines and autism, would be needed.

For state candidates, the question was about protecting election security.

Peterson said that in the past few years, the state has made it harder and harder to vote, reducing the window of time absentee ballots were open for the election.

Willems said that he looked forward to working with Peterson on this issue and that the reduction to 40 days for early voting critically reduces the ability of people to vote.

For all candidates the next question was on protecting public schools from defunding as well as how to protect from gun violence.

Dolter said that ending all private-school vouchers is the first step and making sure the Department of Education stays out of issues at the state levels.

Wetlach agreed with ending the voucher programs. As for protection from gun violence, Wetlach recommended banning assault weapons.

Terrell as well said removing vouchers should be the first to go. He said that enforcing red flag laws would go a long way to protecting lives.

Bohannon said education needs to be invested in at all levels.

Willems said education was important to him, and he led on issues related to education when he was a legislator.

“I do not believe an attorney general should be bullying school districts,” Willems said.

Turek said that at the state level, the state is spending less than $1,200 per pupil than the federal average, and that means schools are going to have issues.

“We need to make funding for schools a more equitable model for all districts,” Turek said.

The final question pertained to breaking up monopolies and communication monopolies.

Turek said that 90 percent of consumer products are provided by three larger companies.

Sage said getting money out of politics by repealing Citizens United is a big first step in that.

Wahls agreed with overturning Citizens United and asked that term limits be implemented for legislators.

Krause said more needs to be done to help the SEC be able to strengthen laws to fight against things like farm monopolies.

Peterson said repealing Citizens United would be a great step.

Willems said that Iowa has decent anti-competitive statutes that can be enforced.

Bohannon said that while there are a lot of limits in the constitution for individuals, there’s very little for limits for corporations or their powers.

“I did not see the Supreme Court of the United States corruption happening and more needs to be done to deal with the ethical violations of the SCOTUS,” Bohannon said.

Terrell said that corporations are not people and that more needs to be done to stop supporting corporate powers.

Wetlach said his firm has tangled with Trump in the past, and when the leaders didn’t stand up to him, he left. Wetlach said enforcing the laws we have on the books is important and that more needs to be done to strengthen the Federal Trade Commission, and a moratorium should be placed on any mergers.

Dolter said money should be removed out of politics.

“Monopolies happen because of rampant corruption,” Dolter said. “We need to repeal Citizens United.