Lee County GOP voter block motivated

LEE COUNTY – The Republican voter block in Lee County is a motivated group.
Lee County Republicans stormed through the general election Tuesday with only one Democrat getting a win.
Former Fort Madison City Councilman Chris Greenwald (D-Fort Madison) defeated Tom Schulz (R-Fort Madison) for the District 2 Lee County Supervisor seat 1160-693. Tim Wondra launched a late write-in candidacy and there were 137 write-ins.
“I’m humbled by the whole experience. I’m excited, but I want to move forward with some humility,” Greenwald said after the results were posted.
Greenwald didn’t attend Supervisor meetings after announcing his candidacy and kept his campaign to a door-to-door grassroots effort. He said that helped him get the win.
“I didn’t paint the race a color. I have Republicans who voted for me and my intent through the whole campaign was that of unity. I thought, overall, it was a respectfully run race,” he said.
Greenwald said he stayed away from supervisor meetings because he didn’t want to turn them into campaign events.
“I could monitor it and I’ve seen too many times on the council when it became campaign season they would turn those meetings into a campaign event. Out of respect for that is why I stayed away.”
State Rep. Blaine Watkins (R-Donnellson) defeated former Fort Madison Mayor Matt Mohrfeld to hold onto his District 100 seat. Watkins won 16 precincts to Mohrfeld's four. They tied one district with Watkins pulling down 6,057 votes to Mohrfeld’s 5,030 overall for 54.5% of the vote.
That seat has been Republican for the past eight years with Jeff Kurtz the last Democrat to hold the seat.
Watkins said it was his authenticity that put him over the top.
“I think it’s a mixture of authenticity and meeting with people on their terms. You saw the way some of the other races went tonight. They didn’t go red, but we were able to keep Lee County in that position,” he said.
“We met people where they were and not saying, 'Hey we need a special event to do this’, he said. “This is who I am and what I’m doing. And I want to continue to do that. It was being available and meeting the people that you wouldn’t see other places.”

“When I knocked on doors I didn’t ask them to vote for me. What do you want me to take back to Des Moines with me? It was putting people on the spot but they want good jobs, lower costs, and build a life for our families so they want to stay here. We put a good foot forward.”
Lee County GOP Chairman James Creen said Watkins went the extra mile, personally knocking on doors in the county. He said the Republican voter block is getting it done the “old-fashioned way”.
“The way we’re accomplishing it is old-fashioned work and we have a message that resonates with voters. Dems believe because they scream the loudest that’s the message that matters, and it doesn’t,” he said.
He also said Republican voters are also motivated to vote early.
“Most of our people are older people and they don’t want to wait until election day when it might be cold and rainy like we saw today. They know they won’t have a long wait to do early voting,” Creen said.
Mohrfeld said his biggest miscalculation was Keokuk.
“I really thought they would vote. They were good to me and I enjoyed them,” Mohrfeld said.
“In my opinion, I’m not sure this seat can be taken by a Democrat. You’d have to come out and say things politically and not what we believe,” he said.
Mohrfeld said he was worried early about the numbers even before election night.
“Somebody like me, who is an analytical person. Running the numbers, that was going to be tough one to win. When you take the bet on trying to win it with a grass roots and issues-based, instead of going negative and hating your brother.”
State Rep. Matt Rinker scored a win in the Lee County precinct of the 99th District over Jennifer Kirkman 483-283, but Kirkman won the race with a 6,150 to 4,178 in the remainder of the District in Des Moines County for a 6,433 to 5,251.
In Lee County voting for the governor’s race, Rob Sand eeked out a win when absentee/early voting tabulations were released. The Sand/Muhlbauer ticket beat the Lahn/Wulf ticket by more than 700 votes. Absentee/early voting numbers broke for Democrats in all races, but the District 100 race between Watkins and Mohrfeld wasn’t enough to overcome the deficit.
More than 11,300 voters cast ballots in the Tuesday election, which is just slightly over the approximate 11,100 cast in the last governor’s election in 2022.