Campaigns come to a close: How did Jasper County candidates spend their Election Day?

Editor’s note: The following article is a collection of interviews Newton News conducted with Jasper County candidates throughout Election Day. The goal was to meet with candidates as they go about their day and get a sense of how they feel about their campaigns, their efforts and their concerns before results posted.

6:57 a.m. - Jon Dunwell’s three years of campaigning come to a head

Two statehouse candidates from Jasper County were some of the first people in line to vote at the polls of the county administration offices on Election Day. Although Tyler Stewart and Jon Dunwell would probably never admit it, they had common ground that morning: they both wanted it to be over.

Of course the 30- to 40-degree temperatures only made the urge to vote more pressing. Stewart tells me that at the end of the night, he will either be the representative of a Senate District spanning three counties, or he’ll have his life back. To him, both outcomes are net positives.

Dunwell is eager to fill out his ballot and put nearly three years of campaigning to rest. In 2020, he lost against Democratic incumbent Wes Breckenridge. When Breckenridge stepped down for a job at the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy a year later, Dunwell swooped in and flipped the seat.

The victory would be short-lived. In addition to statewide redistricting, Dunwell’s term ended within the next year. When he finished the legislative session, it was off to the campaign trail, another season of door knocking, canvassing and stump speeches. While it may seem difficult for some, Dunwell embraces it.

Campaigning might be the part of the process he likes most, as exemplified by his many on-the-trail selfies posted online. He enjoys being able to go door-to-door and remembering the stories he was told at past visits; many of them, Dunwell says, are not regularly attending Republican Party meetings.

“You never stop campaigning though,” he says. “Campaigning is an expression of the office. If I win, and I plan on winning, what I will spend the next couple months doing is focusing on connecting, once again, with my constituents and having coffee roundtables around discussions I’m going to have to deal with.”

Education is most certainly going to be at the top of the list. It is widely believed a school choice bill will make a return to the legislature, but Dunwell says there are also issues with declining enrollment in Iowa schools that need addressed. He also anticipates the economy will take a downturn with an upcoming recession.

“I have a perspective, but my perspective typically gets changed and adjusted a little bit by gathering information from constituents and trying to understand what Jasper County’s perspective is on these issues,” he says. “I’m a representative. And that term means something. People elect me to represent them.”

Which means he wants constituents to share their perspectives with him, have a civil conversation and also understand where he’s coming from.

Dunwell speaks confidently while he’s telling me this. He’s confident going into Election Day. Why shouldn’t he? Not only is he the incumbent, the county’s political demographics are changing. The departure of Maytag and the unions all those years ago are having a compounding effect on Jasper County.

But it also didn’t fall in Republicans’ laps. It took vigorous campaigning. After three years of work, Dunwell is looking for affirmation from the community that they want him to continue to represent them. The Republican lawmaker wants to have a voice — an influence — in legislation, the Iowa House and his fellow party.

“Being a part of the conversation of our agenda,” he says. “Part of me has really been focused upon really looking beyond this moment, to potentially what next year looks. I campaigned and did all the things that are necessary. People know me. They got a taste of who I am and what I’m about. It’s now in their hands.”

8:07 a.m. - Pam Olson takes it easy the second time running

For the next few hours, Pam Olson would not be thinking about the county board of supervisors election. There was a more important matter to attend to: looking after a family friend’s 6-month-old baby. Little Mason was wide awake by the time he was snuggled up to Olson and watching “Cocomelon” on Netflix.

While colorful characters sang gleeful tunes on a widescreen, Mason bounced up and down on Olson’s lap and grinned through two puffy cheeks. Eventually Olson would have to hand Mason off to his grandmother so she could go to work, another distraction to keep Olson’s mind off the race.

At this point there is little left for Olson to do other than to care for a baby and work. Two years ago she retired from engineer’s office after 41 years. Secondary roads have been big issue for her campaign for supervisor, specifically when it comes to outsourcing project designs and overall gravel roads strategies.

Time will tell if voters feel the same way. Content with her run, she ends her campaign feeling like she did her best and with no regrets.

“I go out of here with integrity because I went into it with integrity,” she says, gently bobbing Mason up and down on her lap. “I didn’t do any backstabbing. I’m not that kind of politician. I’m not going to tell you everything everybody’s done wrong, but I’m going to tell you what I hope I can do.”

Olson ran for a supervisors seat before in 2018. Compared to then, she is less stressed about the whole thing. That year was difficult for other reasons, too. Her husband, Mike Olson, died at their home in July 2018, about a month after the primaries. Olson was left to grieve and run a campaign.

“I’m a lot calmer this year,” she says. “I realized I’m going to be the same person on Wednesday that I was on Tuesday. I’ll either help serve the citizens of Jasper County or their choice will be somebody else. It’s not going to defeat me, or deflate me. You know what I mean? I still get to see this face every morning.”

Mason looked at Olson with a wide-eyed expression and waved his arms in agreement. That morning she was hopeful and believed she could bring a lot of good to the county, especially having worked in the engineer’s office for more than four decades. Still, at the same time she was guarded.

The sting of defeat had been felt once before, but Olson refused to let that wound fester into jaded cynicism. She had hope Democrats would find their victories. Olson even looked at fellow Democrat, Bev Price, and felt she might have a better chance of winning over herself.

“But, like I say, I’m not going to be devastated if I don’t win,” Olson says.

10:17 a.m. - Bev Price believes people will vote for a person over party

Bev Price was easing her nerves with a strong cup of tea and a conversation with friend Pat Wallace inside Uncle Nancy’s Coffee House. The more sips she took, the more at peace she became. Price has experience running for an elected office. She ran for school board in years past, but she was unopposed.

“There was very little stress back then,” she said. “Periodically I have felt stressed (about this election). More so to just make sure to do what I promised and to keep the campaign clean. We were always going to rise above the fray and comments and the political-ness of it all.”

With three other candidates vying for a supervisors seat this time around, the likelihood of a top finish had dropped drastically from her race for school board. Still, Price is confident she has something to offer Jasper County, and she is ready to serve. Ultimately, it is up to the voters to decide, she says.

To her, the supervisors position is not a political position, it’s a personal position. More often the Jasper County Board of Supervisors is solving local problems and meeting the needs of the more than 37,000 people who live in the county. Price says the job is primarily fiscally focused. The retired banker knows all about that.

Having a level head and keeping emotions out of decisions is a practice Price was already accustomed to. Prior to her retirement, Price supervised 200 people in 20 banks. She says the job of a supervisor requires she look at the facts and make the best decision knowing not everybody gets to be happy all the time.

There’s a chance the voters of Jasper County will elect a woman — or two — to the board of supervisors. The last woman to be elected to the board was Jeanne Bridenstine, who served from 1975 to 1978 and then again from 1983 to 1990. Price ran her campaign not on the basis on gender, but rather her character.

“I want to be voted to the position because I’m qualified,” she says. “I do think a woman’s perspective does bring a bit of balance to behavior sometimes, depending on who the woman is. But I think it’ll be easy for me to say, ‘No, that’s not how we act at the board table.’ I’m older besides that. It’ll be a balance.”

Interestingly enough, Price was one of the few Democratic candidates whose signs appeared alongside the signs of Republican candidates. Even opponent Brandon Talsma’s “beard” signs shared lawn space with Price signs. She chalks it up to voters being interested in her as a person rather than a party.

“I think that goes to 45 years of experience serving this community and banking,” she says. “I worked with a lot of people through a lot of different projects and helped them personally and their businesses. Some of those people really just know what I stand for and it really isn’t party-related.”

All three members of the board of supervisors are Republicans. To gain the support of Republicans — whose registered voters now outnumber the registered Democrats — is a big deal. Price says it means a lot for Republican voters to support her.

“It’s somewhat of a bold statement,” she says, adding the crossover appeal led some to accuse her of being a Republican. “I’m like, ‘I’m going to be a servant.’”

10:43 a.m. - Brandon Talsma keeps his mind busy with county work

Brandon Talsma had every intention to camp out at the courthouse like he usually does on Election Day, but now that his name is on the ballot he felt that probably wasn’t such a good idea. Still, that did not stop him from keeping himself busy in the supervisors chambers for most of the morning.

Talsma hit the ground running after winning his debut election to the board of supervisors in 2018. Throughout those four years, he has maintained the position of board chairman at least two times and has thrust himself beard first into the middle of county business and county disasters like the 2019 gravel road thaw.

“There’s a whole lot of baptism by fire that whole first year,” Talsma says. “There were times that first year I was like, ‘I have no idea what I’m doing and I will wholeheartedly admit that I have no idea what I’m doing.’ But it’s just a whole lot of sitting back that first year or so and learning. I’m still learning.”

For the past two years, Talsma says he has become more confident as a county supervisor and as a leader. On the morning of Election Day, he found himself alone in the board room signing off on documents — the boring and tedious stuff. But it kept his mind off the election and the ensuing results.

Like Price, there was some level of worry. While he was confident in the Republican electorate, there was a part of him that thought anything could happen. Keeping himself busy — whether it was scribbling his signature, spending time with family or joining a results viewing party — eased the worry.

Working to fill time is nothing new for Talsma. He keeps tabs on all the county’s boards and commissions and frequently works with the county engineer on secondary roads strategies. He’s involved with 14 or 15 different boards he either sits on himself or is in discussions with those members.

Does he put too much responsibility on his shoulders, especially when there are two other supervisors on the board? Talsma says that’s a question for his wife.

“It ebbs and flows,” he says. “There are times where you can put things on autopilot to where there’s nothing too big going on. (For example,) a year ago with Larry Ladd and his project, I shifted my focus from one area and put it into community development and planning and zoning.”

There are times where he feels like he cannot keep up. Talsma feels like that now. He points to three or four folders sitting at the board table. “This is all drainage information,” he says, patting his hand on each folder. “Ohhhh it’s loads of fun.” To him, it’s a job where “you get out as much or as little as you put into it.”

Talsma says, “You could get elected into this position and be like, yup, I’m going to show up for my 30-minute to an hour meeting on Tuesday morning and I’m going to leave right away and that’s all the involvement you have on it. You could get away with doing that.

“As long as you have other people who are participating more actively.”

Between planting season, harvest and family time, Talsma will sometimes try to scale back his involvement. Otherwise he’s pouring in 40 to 50 hours a week into the county. He says it fluctuates, too. It could be 20 hours one week. Either way, those hours of work have changed him. Perhaps now he feels vulnerable.

Devotion to the job and to the county have changed Talsma’s feelings going into Election Day. He may be the incumbent, but now’s not the time to get complacent. If he wants to continue his work, it’s ultimately up to the voters. He’s keeping positive, but he’d be lying if he said he was not feeling uneasy.

“Four years ago I didn’t have a history. When you’re the new guy you can come out and attack everything. You don’t ever have to come on the defensive … I was feeling really, really good four years ago,” he says. “This year I’m still feeling good about it but I’m a little bit more apprehensive about it.”

“Now I got a four-year history that, for good or bad, I have to stand behind.”

1:20 p.m. - Tyler Stewart knows he’s the underdog and his chances are slim

Six hours after Stewart cast his ballot at the county administration office precinct, his students found out he was running for office. Admittedly, that was my doing. When school kids see a cameraman, they rightfully ask questions and they wonder if they are the ones being photographed. Or they make faces at him.

I tell them I’m not taking pictures of them, I’m taking pictures of their teacher.

“Why?” a middle school girl asks. I tell her it’s because her teacher is running for office. She paused, genuinely confused. “What’s that mean?”

Stewart answered for her, “If you take my civics class next year you’ll find out.”

Others knew exactly what that meant. Pretty soon they were pestering Mr. Stewart with questions about his campaign for Iowa Senate District 19 and what would happen if he won or if he lost. He gave short answers but tried to keep their attention to their work for the remaining few minutes of class.

Eventually, it was time for students to leave for their next class, leaving Stewart a minute or two of free time before teaching his civics students a lesson on, of course, elections. In about seven hours he would know if voters wanted him to become their next representative. Stewart already feels accomplished.

“I did it. I put my name on a ballot. I ran, I knocked doors, I went to a lot of events, I spoke to a lot of people,” he says. “It is exciting that the grueling part — especially the last month or so — is over. That is kind of exciting to feel like I’ll have some time to get my life back a little bit and not worry about campaigning.”

New candidates oftentimes put a lot of responsibility on their shoulders. The fear of failing, of letting down others is constantly running through their minds. That stress only builds when many of those voters who put their faith in candidates also donated money. Those sorts of things are weighing heavy on Stewart.

“It’s not like a lot is expected of you, but just a lot of pressure,” he says. “Win or lose there’s a lot of pressure on you.”

The 30-year-old teacher joined the race in March of this year. Fed up with the rhetoric and legislation actions against teachers — including those proposals that did not pass or make it past committee — Stewart decided he would run for office, something the poli sci fanatic had always wanted to do.

Plus, getting to speak on the behalf of teachers was an added bonus.

“It’s almost weekly that I hear something from teachers about a parent complaining about something in the classroom that was just total misinformation, wasn’t something that actually happened,” Stewart says. “In the last few years, that’s gotten worse. The complaints have gotten worse over literally nothing.”

Teachers are beat down and emotionally drained, he adds. Stewart used his platform to speak against the negativity perpetuated by lawmakers.

Government and politics are some of the subjects he teaches on a daily basis at Berg Middle School. He even gained a reputation for hosting several political leaders in his classroom, including presidential hopefuls like Beto O’Rourke, the state auditor, former Congressman Dave Loebsack and many other candidates.

Stewart has frequently hung political signs from candidates of both major parties on the walls of his classroom. Still, he has taken some flack from some folks who feel he gives special treatment to Democratic candidates, despite the fact he has invited Republicans to his classroom. He was already used to these attacks.

Developing a thick skin for the more political aspects to his campaign would be an easy feat for Stewart, but winning against an already established Republican challenger like Ken Rozenboom would require a miracle. Stewart acknowledges he is the underdog. He’s ran the numbers. He knows he’s at a disadvantage.

“But there’s something about speaking truth to power,” he says. “I know my opponent is part of the establishment. What I’ve learned is that we put a lot of these politicians on a pedestal. We assume they’re very well-organized, thoughtful, knowledgable beings. I don’t think that’s necessarily always the case.”

The teacher learned a thing or two about politics. Stewart learned that everyday Iowans like himself can run for office.

“I understand that a lot of this isn’t personal, it’s political,” Stewart says. “And I know a lot of people will see the letter before my name before they’ll see my name and know who I am and what I stand for. And I think that’s just reflective of a broken system that we have.”

2:00 p.m. - Erick Zehr agonizes over what he could have done better

Erick Zehr occasionally looks around for his dog, Kemba, while tracking down the absentee ballots. The blue heeler mix is never far off from his side. She’s timid and is rather affectionate once she gets to know someone. But most of all she’s calm, which is exactly what he needs at the moment. He pets her often.

The first-time candidate for Iowa House District 38 is rehashing the past year in his head, thinking back to all the things he could have done better or the things that he missed. He’s agonizing while at the same time trying not to feel guilt if he does come up short. Zehr is putting himself in a difficult, incongruent headspace.

“I’m excited for whatever’s next, whether it’s going to the Capitol or getting my life back,” he says with a nervous laugh, almost mirroring the same comment I heard from Stewart earlier this morning. “I’m optimistic about the potential returns, but I keeping going over things in my head. Second-guessing my choices.”

Zehr thinks back on the campaign and he doesn’t understand how somebody can be in his position as a candidate and have an ego or develop arrogance. Now that he has experienced this all firsthand, he does not comprehend “how people that get elected can be such narcissists” and be so full of themselves.

“I just don’t understand how you can go through this process and feel that way,” he says. “Having gone through it I couldn’t be more the opposite. I’m reminded of every single day of how much responsibility these positions bear on making people’s lives work. It’s hard for me to grasp that.”

Talking to people for eight months straight and hearing their stories, their struggles, has opened Zehr’s eyes. He wants to help them solve those issues.

But the only way he can is with a victory. Therein lies the issue. Zehr has doubts. He won’t say it aloud though. Then again he doesn’t have to. Even from the most basic political side of things, the odds are stacked against him. Democratic representation in the county is slipping.

For more than four years the Democratic Party has struggled to maintain a hold on Jasper County. With the county becoming redder than ever with each election cycle, it is not out-of-line to think Republicans will take this one by storm. Which leaves Democrats in the sheriff’s, treasurer’s, recorder’s and attorney’s offices.

Zehr is convinced the political system is broken, maybe even worse than he initially thought going into the race. He says this without knowing the results. He is disgusted by the sports team mentality of today’s party politics. There are ideas and solutions out there, he says, but too many people are standing in the way.

“Standing in the way of progress,” he says. “Too many immutable things like money in politics or the parties wanting to keep things a certain way because they feel that’s a game they at least know how to play, versus the unknown alternate way of fighting for these things. I don’t know it changes.”

It is going to take politicians who have their priorities straight before any real change occurs, Zehr adds.

Zehr worries about Iowa. Although he believes the state’s demographics are very purple, Iowa is “very red” in terms of representation. He worries about national politics coming to the state, alleging Gov. Kim Reynolds has higher ambitions. He worries about public money going to private schools, about an abortion ban.

“All of that is national agenda brought down to Iowa, and I’m not sure that it works for Iowans,” Zehr says.

The ruminating thoughts were forcing out of Zehr’s mouth like steam from a pressure cooker. The whistling, burning vapor left after a few minutes, letting him finally concentrate on some more positive aspects. He thinks back on his campaign, the progress he and his volunteers tried to make.

Win or lose he is looking forward to is seeing how much difference they made.

“We had goals and pillars of our campaign that were guide stones. Yes, winning the election is the ultimate goal, but the subgoals are to elevate and prioritize actions over words,” he says. “We want to show we’re a campaign about action, not empty promises. We want to make sure these voices are heard.”

3:06 p.m. - Denny Carpenter spends Election Day rehabilitating at Newton Village

Denny Carpenter sits in a recliner listening to the radio with his eyes barely open. The view from his window at Newton Village lets him see trains pass by, but the blinds are drawn. The lights are turned off. He might have been trying to rest when I knocked at his door.

His white hair is combed and he looks relaxed in his plaid shirt and blue jeans, which seem almost too big for him. Around his neck is a fall detection pendant. He sits upright in his chair when I meet with him. Carpenter says he’s doing well, his walking is improving and that he’s gaining weight every week.

“I want to start walking a little bit by myself but I’m not quite brave enough yet,” he says, noting he still requires a walker.

For the past month or so, Carpenter has been recovering from a fall in his home. He says he got up at 2:30 a.m. and tripped. Carpenter was on the floor and couldn’t pick himself up. The 82-year-old supervisor didn’t receive help until 3:30 p.m. The chair of the Jasper County Republican Party checked in and found him.

More than twelve hours on the floor. Half a day. Carpenter was taken to MercyOne Newton Medical Center on Oct. 18 where doctors found he was not moving enough nor drinking enough fluids or eating enough food. Eventually, he was moved to Newton Village for rehab.

Carpenter meets with specialists every day to do different exercises and stretches to get him moving, to work his muscles. He likes stretching the long piece of rubber the nurses give him. However, his condition means he cannot attend supervisors meetings in-person. He does join via Zoom.

“I’m there each morning, and Jon Dunwell makes that possible,” he says. “He comes over. He hooks me up. And we go from there. I do everything from here.”

He even voted absentee for the first time.

While attending rehab, Carpenter says he has not done any campaigning for this election. Which is not unusual, even if he wasn’t at Newton Village. With almost 50 years experience serving the county in the engineer’s office and as a supervisor, Carpenter has earned a lot of name recognition.

In 2018, Carpenter says he did not do any door-to-door campaigning, yet he still received more than 6,700 votes. He says has not campaigned this year either. At every stump speech he ever had, Carpenter has stated he is not a politician. He sees himself a servant of the people of Jasper County.

He keeps to his word. If he tells citizens he’s going to do something, he does it. Carpenter sees it as his greatest strength that will get him elected.

“My No. 1 priority is serving people and not myself,” he says. “It’s been like that for a long time. And I’m not changing. I won’t change. Nope. No.”

Carpenter says it was God’s will he run again. Much like the election four years ago, he is leaving this year’s results in God’s hands. The supervisor has wiped his hands of it at this point, relinquishing all control. Carpenter tells me he has no feelings on the election whatsoever.

“I always put it up to Him,” he says. “Whatever he chooses. He’s the one who’s in charge. Whatever happens happens. God is in control. I control nothing.”

I had to ask. “Does being in Newton Village hurt your chances at all?”

Carpenter shook his head. “Nope. Not at all.”

7:41 p.m. - Michael Wood rushes to get his vote in on time

Michael Wood looks nothing like the guy we met onstage at the candidate forums last month. Underneath the stage lights of the Newton Community Theatre and Newton High School’s Center for Performance, we saw a man with combed back hair and wearing a dress shirt and slacks.

At his polling place, the Libertarian candidate from Mingo is in street clothes, a pair of discolored blue jeans, a black sweatshirt and a black beanie. The boxing decal on the back of his sweatshirt makes him look like he just got done throwing a few hooks and uppercuts into a punching bag.

Wood brought his son along to the precinct. He stood against the wall while his dad filled out a ballot, a little too young to vote just yet. I ask him if he is the boxer in the family or if it’s his dad. He laughs. It’s him, not his father. They just back from his practice in time to vote. Much in the same way Wood entered the race.

According to the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office, Wood was able to collect enough signatures to get his name on the ballot for Iowa House District 38. His filing date was Aug. 27, about five months after his Republican and Democratic opponents. He was given only two months to campaign.

Collecting signatures as a third party candidate felt like a litmus test for Wood. Those people who signed his petition were enthusiastic about a third party, and they were tired of a two-party system. Wood was given admittance to the candidate forums in Newton.

Between the forums and word of mouth, that is about all the campaigning Wood would do. When he ran into people he’d tell them he was running for office.

At the forums, Wood was a little nervous being put on the spot. He admits he had a little stage fright, but he was proud of himself for doing it. As the only libertarian on the ballot, Wood knew ahead of time there is not a lot of activity from the third party in Jasper County. He estimates there are about 150 registered libertarians.

Still, he pushed forward with the campaign. Wood says it’s nothing against his opponents, but what fueled his efforts were the parties themselves. Wood met both of his opponents: Dunwell and Zehr. He thinks they’re good people, which is something he wants to keep in mind.

“Because too often the parties demonize the opponents to get you to vote for them. They demonize about horrible that person is or blah, blah, blah,” Wood says. “After meeting them they were both very nice and courteous to me. That’s one thing I will personally keep in mind. To not demonize those guys.”

But sooner or later other people are going to have to step up and make a third party, he says. Wood sees his run as a way to reach people disenfranchised by the two major parties.

“I’ve been voting Libertarian for quite a long time now and I thought you’re not to just start out running fro governor or president. You gotta start small. Maybe it could have gone smaller like school board or something like that,” he says, noting the Libertarian Party eventually contacted him to help him run for office.

It would take more than the registered Libertarians to get Wood elected. Even knowing that he still feels like he has a good chance. People actively involved in politics, he says, are getting sick and tired of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. But they like this positions on issues.

“It’s going to be big step for me to do something I’ve never done before if I would win,” he says. “Of course I would be disappointed if I don’t.”

Oftentimes a third party is perceived as a detriment to some elections, with the rationale being it will take away votes from one side. Wood was asked about this specifically and which side would get his votes. He thinks he will take away votes from both Republicans and Democrats.

“I’m going to take the Republican voters that are more fiscally conservative but socially liberal, and the opposite on the Democrats that support the women’s right to choose and gay marriage but don’t want government involved in everything,” he says. “I’m going to pull from both. I could surprise people.”