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Meet Iowa’s Next Governor

At its recent convention, Iowa AFSCME Council 61 announced its endorsement of State Sen. Nate Boulton for governor.
Meet Iowa’s Next Governor
By Pablo Ros ·

Iowa public service workers haven’t had an ally in the governor’s office in a long time. Former Gov. Terry Branstad, now the U.S. ambassador to China, was an enemy of public workers and their unions. Before he left in May as the longest-serving governor in U.S. history, he took away workers’ freedom to negotiate together.

The 2018 gubernatorial election will be hugely important in the fight to regain workers’ freedoms. And Iowa AFSCME Council 61 is preparing for it.

At its convention this past weekend, Iowa AFSCME Council 61 announced its endorsement of State Sen. Nate Boulton for governor. Boulton, a Democrat, is a labor law attorney who has a track record of fighting for workers, and who opposed Branstad’s collective bargaining law.

“He has just been a fighter for working men and women his entire life,” said Council 61 Pres. Danny Homan.

The council, which represents 40,000 public service workers throughout Iowa, surveyed its membership before making its endorsement. It held a forum for its members with five of the candidates for governor.

Boulton gets that public service workers never quit improving our communities.

“Every day, Iowa’s public employees go to work keeping our communities safe and doing everything they can to ensure all Iowans have a high quality of life,” he said.

Iowa, which is in the front lines of the national fight to protect workers’ rights, also plays a key role in choosing the country’s leader. It holds the nation’s first presidential nominating contest, the Iowa caucuses. 

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