An Iowa House subcommittee passed House File 139 on Tuesday. The bill has been called the “Sore Loser” law because it relates to candidates who fail to receive the nomination of a political party and then decide to run in the general election in some other party.
Nobody spoke for or against the bill as it was a brief meeting.
Representative Bruce Hunter asked what the bill was intending to accomplish.
Republican Rep. Mike Sexton said he had talked with Rep. MaryAnn Hanusa, who sponsored the legislation, and said his impression is the problem involves someone losing a primary and then running in the general, which divides the votes
“I would think of somebody loses the primary and decides to run as an Independent or whatever, we should let them,” Hunter said. “I understand that it’s going to split votes possibly and create a problem for one of the candidates, but I think the right for anyone qualified to run for office trumps that.”
Republican Rep. Dave Deyoe pointed to a bill that is also going through the legislative process that would have filing deadlines for the general election before the primary is over, which would essentially solve this problem as well.
The bill advances to the full Iowa House State Government committee.
