Reynolds: ‘This is the most important election ever’

In a plane tour of nine stops the day before the election, Republican candidate for governor Kim Reynolds touched down in Cedar Rapids with a host of Iowa Republicans to rally voters around a state moving in the right direction.

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Nick Rohlman

Governor Kim Reynolds speaks during a rally at the Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Capids on Monday, Nov. 5, 2018 as Lieutenant Governor Adam Gregg, Congressman Rod Blum, R-Iowa, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, and Senator Chuck Grasley, R-Iowa, look on. The event was part of Reynolds’ flying tour of Iowa on the day before the midterm elections. (Nick Rohlman/The Daily Iowan)

Sarah Watson, Politics Editor

CEDAR RAPIDS — Republican candidate for Iowa Governor, Kim Reynolds, touched down at the Eastern Iowa Airport to rally voters in the final day before polls open.

Reynolds and a host of Iowa Republicans told a crowd of about 30 that Iowans need to cast ballots for a Republican team, which she said has worked to keep Iowa’s economy prosperous.

She was joined by the entire Republican statewide ticket, Congressional candidate Rod Blum, local legislative candidates plus Sens. Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley.

“It’s all about getting out the vote,” she said to the group. “It’s about starting at the top of the ticket and going all the way down. And I know that you hear over and over, but this is the most important election ever.”

She paused before repeating louder,“This is the most important election ever!” to a round of applause.

Tuesday will decide the outcome of a competitive gubernatorial race between her and her opponent, Des Moines businessman Fred Hubbell, a Democrat.

Her last pitch to Iowa voters in the 20 hours before polls open?  “Elections have consequences.”

“Do you want to continue to see your wages go up, do you want to see the economy keep growing, do you want to lead the nation, do you want to maintain Iowa’s number 1 status in the country?” Reynolds said to reporters, claiming her opponent, Hubbell, would put raise taxes and eventually have to cut funds to programs.

She compared him to Chet Culver, the Democratic governor during 2007 to 2011 who cut Iowa government programs by 10 percent across the board. The Iowa Legislature passed $35 million in budget cuts after projected shortfalls in 2018.

She visited Coralville Sunday to rally voters. Before her Cedar Rapids visit, she stopped by Ankeny and then headed to Davenport on a nine-stop plane tour on Monday.

In Iowa, more than 20 percent of registered voters have already cast their ballots according to totals released by the secretary of state. For Reynolds, looking forward, said the campaign is focused on getting Republicans to come out to the polls on Election Day.

“It’s all about turnout. Turnout, turnout turnout,” Reynolds said.

Grassley, who presided over now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings, said he was confident Republicans would turn out on Election Day to vote for a candidate who prioritizes lower taxes and smaller government.

“I think Iowans really honor voting on Election Day and not voting early,” Grassley said. “I happened to have cast an absentee ballot, but most Republicans want to vote the old fashioned way.”

He told the crowd to “never change horses in the middle of the stream,” emphasizing a need to continue Iowa’s economic policies under a Reynolds administration.

In the 2018 Legislative session, Reynolds signed “historic” tax reform which will cut small businesses and individuals’ income taxes by $398 million in 2019. More tax cuts could be enacted in the future if certain triggers are met. Democrats criticized the bill, fearing it would lead to reduced revenue and cuts in government services like health care.

Paul Pate, the Republican candidate for secretary of state told the group the 2017 voter-ID law that will require voters to bring identification in 2019 would be at risk if the governor or Legislature fell to Democrats.

“If we don’t keep this team a lot of the hard work we’ve done will be pushed away and put back the way it was and along the wrong path,” he said. “One of those things is voter-ID. My opponent opposes it.”

Deidre DeJear said in a previous interview with The Daily Iowan that she would work with voters and a Legislature who support the law, but believed it put in place obstacles for voters.

Reynolds also acknowledged close margin between her in Hubbell in public polling, but said she was confident Iowans “wanted Iowa to move in the right direction.”

A Nov. 3 Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll showed Hubbell and Reynolds in a statistical dead-heat. Hubbell leads by a 2 percentage point margin, and the margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

An Emerson College Poll found Reynolds leading Hubbell by a 4 percentage point margin, but with 5 percent undecided and a plus or minus 2.7 percentage points. A Hawkeye Poll found the race to also be within a statistical tossup.