Lessons from a Warren County, Iowa Special Election
And Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand visits neighboring Marion County
Kimberly Sheets, Warren County Auditor (from her campaign Facebook page).
It was good news for Democrats and democracy in Warren County, Iowa Tuesday night when voters told the all-Republican Warren County Board of Supervisors and their recently appointed conspiracy theorist and election denier Auditor David Whipple to stuff it. In a special election, and by a nearly 2-1 margin (5,051 to 2,538) Warren County voters put Kimberly Sheets into office after Democrats effectively lobbied for a special election.
Whipple was appointed to the post in early June by the Warren County Board of Supervisors after the retirement of former Auditor Democrat Traci Vanderlinden, who recommended Deputy Auditor Sheets take over the office. According to KNIA/KRLS, the board cited problems they had with the Auditor’s Office, in addition to wanting someone new to take over the office and liking Whipple’s background in training despite no election experience. Shortly after taking office, Whipple put Deputy Auditor Sheets on a 60-day leave, drawing the ire of the public.
Kedron Bardwell, Professor of Political Science at Simpson was the first person, to my knowledge, to point out that Whipple, in now-deleted Facebook posts, shared several stories involving conspiracies around the 2020 election, QAnon, 9/11, and others.
The Warren County Republican Board of Supervisors put an election denier and conspiracy theorist in charge of elections, something Republicans are trying to do across the country.
Let me say here that the Warren County Board of Supervisors are a hot mess. I’ve interviewed a couple of them, watched meetings online for a couple of years, and petty bickering is common. So is outrageous behavior. A couple of years ago one of them called another elected official a “yellow-bellied coward” on Facebook. That post has since been deleted. On Facebook Wednesday, Warren County citizens are calling the defeat of Whipple as a no-confidence vote on the supervisors.
Speaking of Facebook, and not to rub it in, but a friend shared the following Facebook post with me from August 3:
There has been some great reporting on this. Andrew Swadner, Indianola News Director for KNIA/KRLS, had several interviews with both candidates. Laura Belin has also done some fine analysis, and the real-time election night reporting by Ty Rushing and staff at The Iowa Starting Line was perfect. Especially Ty’s tweets, er, X’s Tuesday night. The Des Moines Register has had some good reporting as well. Even the BBC covered the story. Sorry if I missed anyone.
After her win Sheets released a statement, which I quote in part.
“This is an historic night for Warren County. When the Warren County Supervisors tried to take away the voice of the people, the people of Warren County stood up for Democracy and said with one voice: we trust competence over conspiracies.
Today, I stood for an election in the county I’ve served for over 20 years. Tomorrow, I’m going back to work for the people. I am honored to work for the people of Warren County-they’re my boss. As I’ve always said, good government is drama-free and non-partisan. The people expect to be able to count on their leaders to do their jobs and do it right. That’s what I’ve always done, and I’m happy to make that pledge again tonight…”
The Iowa Starting Line reported that after his loss, in typical Trumpian form, Whipple played the “victim,” even comparing himself to Jesus Christ.
Here is Bardwell’s response:
Tuesday Kimberly Sheets was a respected and experienced Democratic candidate with an organization behind her that worked hard and won in a red county where Donald Trump beat Joe Biden by 17 percentage points in 2020.
Today she is the Democratic Warren County Auditor. She believes in good government and safe and secure elections. She is a classic public servant.
Hopefully, this is a bellwether for the future of democracy.
Democrats might be tempted to believe that this is a one-off election, that Whipple was a flawed candidate because he is a crackpot election denier and conspiracy theorist.
That would be a mistake.
Whipple is simply a typical Republican in today’s world who has been misled by Donald Trump and the right-wing media into believing (or are acting as they believe) that the 2020 election was stolen, that Trump isn’t a criminal despite all of the evidence to the contrary, and that Trump is a patriot and not a traitor.
To one degree or another, every Republican in elected office, or who is running for office, who doesn’t say Joe Biden won in 2020 or who doesn’t believe Trump should be held to the rule of law, is David Whipple.
Democrats need to run with this in mind. Whipple isn’t an aberration or a “bad” candidate. He’s a quintessential modern Republican.
Coincidentally, Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand was at the Marion County Courthouse that same day. As he usually does, Sand talked in detail about the Public Innovations and Efficiencies (PIE) program he created in 2019 to help state and local governments increase efficiency.
He also expressed frustration with the lack of transparency and accountability regarding public funds going to private schools.
This really isn’t news. Sand talks about this stuff all of the time.
The real news is I counted 38 people listening to Sand on the courthouse lawn and on the gazebo. He’s been here before, speaking at the same spot, at least two times in the past. If I remember correctly, the largest previous audience was maybe a dozen people. Three times that number were there Tuesday.
Like their neighbors in Warren County the Marion County Dems are showing up.
I’d like to take a moment to suggest readers take a look at my friend K. L. Orion’s substack. He just turned 16, and his post yesterday 98% Gorilla is top-notch. He’s a budding talent with a bright future, and I know he would love your thoughtful comments and support. Thanks!
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Iowa Writers’ Collaborative Columnists:
Fascinating and informative read. It's distressing to hear how much power baseless conspiracies have on politics, but it's also great news to hear how truth won this battle. Also, my deepest thanks for the generous shout out!
Yay for Warren County Dems! Great story. Wonderful to hear how many people showed up for State Auditor Sand.