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Republican incumbent Tom Latham retained his seat in Iowa’s 4th Congressional District, easily besting Democrat Becky Greenwald, according to preliminary precinct counts.
With 90 percent of precincts in the district counted, Latham had captured 60 percent of the vote Tuesday, one of his biggest wins in his eight terms.
Latham thanked supporters at the Gateway Hotel in Ames, where more than 100 supporters gathered. He said his campaign ran the race as if they were always 10 points behind and that their hard work paid off.
He also stressed the need for politicians to put aside partisanship.
“This country faces a lot of challenges and to be successful for the future, we have got to pull together,” said Latham, of Ames. “ . . . This is for the American people. This is for the country.”
Greenwald, of Perry, conceded at around 10:40 to a crowd of supporters who gathered at Legends restaurant in Ames.
She said she would continue to remind Latham of the families who need his help — the woman who declines to go to community events because she’s rationing gas, and the couple unable to retire because of their stock losses. “I’ll continue the fight and talk about the issues,” Greenwald said.
Greenwald also said her campaign did “everything possible with the resources we had.”
She said the eight-month campaign allowed her to do what she loved — talk with people and learn.
“It’s been a fantastic ride,” she said.
The district, which covers parts of central Iowa including Story and Warren counties and expands into the state’s far northeast corner, was considered by some political groups as a highly competitive race. Time Magazine named it as one of 12 key races to watch.
Latham criticized Greenwald for saying she would have voted for the $700 billion bailout Congress approved last month. Latham voted against the plan and has said he doesn’t believe it is the answer to solving the economic crisis. He and his campaign accused Greenwald of supporting “reckless and greedy Wall Street” executives.
Greenwald, in turn, noted that Latham had voted more than 90 percent of the time with President Bush and the Republican Party. She accused him of being unable to act independently and in the best interest of District 4 voters for such things as advancing renewable energy.
Latham, who was elected to the U.S. House in 1994, defended his turf, just as he has successfully overcome similar criticisms in past elections. In 2006, for example, Democratic challenger Selden Spencer said Latham and his Republican peers “have failed the country.”
Latham won 57 percent of the vote against Spencer that year. In 2004 he won 60 percent of the vote to beat Democratic challenger Paul Johnson. In 2000, he won 54 percent of the vote against Democratic challenger John Norris.
Part of Greenwald’s strategy was to go on television early in the campaign to introduce herself to District 4 voters.
But that strategy had a down side. She nearly exhausted her campaign finances going into the final three weeks of the campaign, a time when political ads generally peak. At that point, Latham had nearly $775,000, which was nearly 31 times more than Greenwald.
“I didn’t want somebody coming up to me afterwards and saying, ‘Oh honey, if I’d only known about you before I absentee voted.’ I think it was important for me to be out there so people at least know who I am,” Greenwald said Tuesday before election results were available. |
