The Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, Stephen Wolf, Carolyn Fiddler, and Matt Booker, with additional contributions from David Jarman, Steve Singiser, Daniel Donner, James Lambert, David Beard, and Arjun Jaikumar.
Leading Off
●IA State House: On Tuesday, Iowa state Rep. Andy McKean announced that he was leaving the Republican Party to join the Democrats and would seek re-election under Team Blue's banner in 2020. McKean's move leaves the GOP with a small 53-47 majority in the state's closely divided lower chamber.
Campaign ActionMcKean previously served as a Republican in the state House and then the state Senate from 1979 until retiring in 2003, but he returned to the lower house in 2017. That made McKean the longest-serving Republican in the legislature until his switch. Throughout his career, he'd cut a relatively moderate profile, even siding with Democrats in recent years on bills involving labor rights and gun safety.
That left McKean increasingly out of step with the GOP, and in announcing his decision, he said he was leaving the party because of Donald Trump. At a Tuesday press conference, McKean said that he felt he had to be able to support his party's presidential nominee but couldn't say that about Trump—in his words, a "bully" whose "actions have coarsened political discourse, have resulted in unprecedented divisiveness, and have created an atmosphere that is a breeding ground for hateful rhetoric and actions." McKean concluded, "Some would excuse this behavior as telling it like it is and the new normal. If this is the new normal, I want no part of it."
However, McKean's decision to run for re-election as a Democrat is unlikely to make his life easier. McKean's seat, which is located near Dubuque in the eastern part of the state, swung from 56-43 Obama to 58-37 Trump, and according to analyst Drew Savicki, GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds carried the seat 56-41 during her re-election campaign last year, so it doesn't look like this area will rapidly shift back to the left next year.
McKean won re-election 69-31 during his final campaign as a Republican last year but he's likely in for a tougher contest come next year. Still, if he can find a way to hold on, he'll help Democrats put the Iowa House in play.