Republican State Rep. Garrett Gobble currently represents a tough district in Ankeny. His prospects get a little bit better for re-election in 2022, but currently, he is in a district that’s pretty purple.
In 2020, he beat Democrat State Rep. Heather Matson by 157 votes. That’s not very many. It is, however, 102 more votes than he won his Republican primary by. Yes, Gobble won the GOP nomination by a mere 55 votes.
As a public school teacher, there is no doubt Gobble is a top target of the Left. Just scroll through his Facebook page and read the comments. They LOVE to give Gobble a hard time.
And I’m sure it is tough to have so many in your profession hold beliefs and positions that are counter to your own. I mean, I’m in the media. I can’t imagine what it must be like… (yes, that is sarcasm).
Gobble is now siding with these Leftists against Iowa Senate President Jake Chapman, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and a huge majority of Iowa parents who are not comfortable with sexually explicit, vulgar, inappropriate books being in school libraries.
We have recounted how the Left, the media and essentially Gobble are misrepresenting what Chapman said a couple of times. There’s no sense in going down that path again.
And Gobble has ignored questions from The Iowa Standard regarding the books as well as others on his Facebook post. But on an issue like this, no answer is certainly an answer. Especially when the person not answering is publicly saying those fighting for children have gone “too far.”
Gobble has made a fatal political miscalculation in his decision to side against sanity. He is trying to appease people who will never vote for him to begin with.
There may be one or two folks who voted for Gobble in 2020 and support keeping these books in the school library. I seriously doubt it, but I’m open to the possibility there is one or two.
But I can guarantee at least 80 percent of Gobble’s voters would not want these books in the school library. At least 80 percent.
And, surprisingly, I would bet that if those who voted against him actually saw the images or actually read the passages from the books, a fair number 30-50 percent, would not want those books in the library either.
This is why it seems there are three parties represented in the Iowa House — Democrats, Conservatives and moderate Republicans. Democrats obviously have the least amount of influence, followed closely by the conservatives. Then there are a whole bunch of moderate Republicans with more than enough votes to derail conservative priorities.
Topping that list right now would be school choice.
Now, there are times “debate” within the Republican Party can be a good thing. But if the GOP is actually to the point where members of the Republican Party are going to debate whether these images should or shouldn’t be present in school libraries, then the Republican Party is closer to irrelevancy than I thought.
Here is something moderate Republicans need to understand…
Republicans do not win by being Democrats.
That is not a winning message. When presented with a conservative candidate and a liberal candidate, Iowans will more than likely select the conservative candidate right now.
By all accounts, the Iowa Senate has been far more conservative than the Iowa House while the GOP has held the trifecta in the state. And, last time I checked, not a single Senate Republican has lost re-election.
There’s something to be said for actually legislating based on the platform and the wants of the voters who put you in office.
But that isn’t what is happening here, unfortunately.
Look, there is not a single Republican in Iowa who is going to win re-election with 100 percent of the vote. I learned a long time ago when I was a high school student umpiring Little League games that there are times in life and certain jobs in life where you will make half the people happy and half the people upset.
The quickest way to defeat for a Republican is to attempt to be more like a Democrat. It will deflate the base.
And I can’t think of many things more deflating to the Republican base in today’s political climate than defending sexually explicit books in school libraries and teachers who defend sexually explicit books in school libraries.
I know it’s a difficult thing to do, but a legislator — like an umpire — needs to simply block out the crowd and make the right call rather than try to keep everyone happy.
There’s a chance Gobble doesn’t see anything wrong with these books being in school libraries. There’s a chance he simply did not know how depraved they were.
But the reality is Gobble won two elections by razor-thing margins in 2020. And while he might have been trying to secure some Democrat support for his general election in 2022, he instead may have invited a primary challenge.
There’s an old saying — dance with the girl who brought you. Public school teachers did not get Gobble elected. Democrats did not get Gobble elected. The mainstream media did not get Gobble elected.
Moms and dads concerned about their children’s innocence at school did. Moms and dads who aren’t comfortable with sexually explicit, vulgar, inappropriate materials on the shelves of the school library did.
Quit trying to “represent” people who will never vote for you anyway. Focus on the base. Energize and excite them. And then grow the base by being a bold, unapologetic conservative.
Imagine what Ankeny would be like if DMACC were a 4 year college…