Rita Hart was reelected Saturday to serve another term as chair of the Iowa Democratic Party.
Three Democrats — Kim Callahan, Alexandra Nickolas-Dermody and Tim Winter — challenged Hart in the election for party chairperson. Hart won with 38 of the 49 votes cast by members of the party’s State Central Committee.
She has faced criticism from some fellow Democrats after the party failed to win back congressional seats in the 2024 election, and the number of Democrats in the Iowa Legislature continued to decline.
Hart said when she was first elected as IDP chair two years ago, the Iowa Democratic Party was $100,000 in debt and had fewer than three employees. She said it was “pretty dire,” and she had to stabilize the organization.
“These things are in place now,” Hart told reporters after the vote. “We have the staff, we have the resources, we know what needs to be done. I’m excited about getting off and running here in ’25. I think it’s going to make a huge difference.”
Hart said the IDP has had seven party chairs over the past decade. On Saturday, she was elected to serve four years as party chair, after Democrats changed the duration of leadership terms from two years to four years.
Hart said being reelected means she will be able to immediately start carrying out her plans to help Democrats win in 2026.
“It sends a good message, I think, to all Democrats, that we are on the same page,” she said. “Not to say that we don’t have work to do, and that there’s still a lot of fence mending to do, but it really gives us a chance to use that continuity to our advantage.”
Hart said her work will include leading Democrats in a “family conversation” about the future of Iowa’s Democratic caucuses. The Democratic National Committee voted in 2023 to end Iowa’s first-in-the-nation status for nominating the party’s presidential candidates. Iowa Republicans led that party’s presidential nominating process in 2024.
Hart said Democrats are divided on how the caucuses should work and whether the IDP should try to regain its first-in-the-nation status for the 2028 election.
“I’ve had many conversations already…and it’s clear we’re not in agreement,” she said. “And so that’s a process that we need to go through to talk about what makes sense for us [and] what’s in Iowa’s best interest.”
She said the outcome of the election for DNC chair will also impact the conversation around the caucuses.
