Sodders Announces Candidacy Against McKibben in Senate District 22

Earlier this month, Steve Sodders announced his candidacy for State Senate against Larry McKibben in district 22, which includes Marshall and Hardin Counties. Sodders is a Deputy Sherriff in Marshall County and former County Chair of the Marshall County Democratic Party.

“Serving in the Iowa Senate is an opportunity for me to apply the experiences I’ve gained working with hundreds of local students, parents, and other community leaders to bring common sense solutions to the State Legislature,” said Sodders, a Democrat. “I will be an active, fiscally responsible voice that will work to ensure that our families have the jobs, schools, health care and public safety necessary to succeed.”

I will be covering this race a lot over the next year. I live in Senate District 22 and know Steve Sodders quite well. Not only that, but it should be one of the most highly contested races in the State Senate in 2008. Iowa Progress ranked this seat as the top pickup opportunity for Democrats earlier this year, saying...

McKibben represents a district that Chet Culver won by nearly 1500 votes in 2006. It consists of Marshall County, a traditionally strong Democratic county and Hardin, a mildly Republican leaning county. In 2004, McKibben edged out the Democratic candidate, Wayne Sawtelle, a labor activist, by less than 800 votes. McKibben owed his victory to piling up a huge lead in Hardin County, despite running significantly behind George Bush in Marshall County. The large labor community in Marshalltown will still be gunning for McKibben in 2008 and McKibben won’t be running on anywhere near as strong a ticket in 2008. With Tom Harkin up for Senate and Selden Spencer making a more serious attempt to run against Tom Latham, McKibben won’t have the advantages he had in 2004. He’s hanging on by a slim thread and this race will probably be decided again by less than 1000 votes.