LEE COUNTY – A Donnellson man who’s worked his way up from being a page in the Iowa legislature is the Lee County Republicans' choice to fill the vacant 100th District seat in the Iowa House of Representatives.
Blaine Watkins, who is currently a legislative aide to State Sen. Jeff Reichman, blew the doors off three other candidates at the county GOP nominating convention Thursday night at the Pilot Grove Community Room in Donnellson. He’ll face Democrat Nannette Griffin in a special election called by Gov. Kim Reynolds in Lee County on March 11.
Watkins won the first ballot with a whopping 70.3% of the votes of the 28 precincts represented at the meeting. The ballots were weighted based on the 2024 general election ballots cast for Martin Graber. So if one precinct had 500 votes and another precinct had 250, those were weighting 2:1. Graber died unexpectedly on Jan. 31.
Three other candidates were also nominated with Larry Kruse getting 22%, Tracy Gach received 5.2%, and Daniel Atwood received 2.5%.
Watkins said he’s been a member of the Donnellson community, and his political career began with a joke to Graber at a convention.
“I was rubbing shoulders with him and I said, ‘Hey if somebody doesn’t show up, I can go up and make some jokes at one of their conventions'. He called me and I made some jokes and then Joe Mitchell hired me,” Watkins said.
He said after the Page program, he landed a spot with Craig Williams of Carroll for two years. Then he transitioned over to Reichman as a clerk for the past three years.
“I hate to say it, but he may have to find a new one,” Watkins said.
He said he’s been making phone calls for the last few days and wanted to talk to everyone.
“You gotta know who your people are and I think we’re going to do a fantastic job,” he said.
The campaign is severely truncated with just 25 days before the special election is held. Watkins said it will be “controlled chaos.”
“We want to get everyone out. We want to knock out every town and every home we possibly can. We have a lot of good groups, AFP (Americans For Prosperity) and a lot of different people who want to be involved. And I think they’re going to have the people who can help us,” he said.
He said it will also be an effort of getting the message out that the election is going on.
“I think we have a good shot and filling Martin’s shoes we need to have the same values,” Watkins said.
Watkins told the group that Graber’s death was unfortunate and he would want things to move on.
He told the convention that he had three issues he wanted to tackle right away, if elected. The first was taxes and fiscal responsibility.
“Property taxes are too high. They’ve gone up astronomically since the early 2000s and now, with many bonds and things coming through the county, farmers are experiencing on average a $7,000 increase in property taxes,” he said.
He said the others are school choice and parental rights, and economic growth and jobs.
He said the country is on the verge of winning a trade war and the country needs to start exporting ethanol and other goods and services.
“This election is not about filling a seat, it’s about fill shoes of a wonderful human being and choosing a leader who will fight for your values and be your voice.”
The candidates have until Feb. 25 to file papers with the Secretary of State’s office.
Early ballots can be requested from the Lee County Auditor’s office until Feb. 24 at 5 p.m.
Absentee request forms can be sent to P.O. Box 190, Fort Madison, Iowa 52627.
Early and absentee voting will take place at the Auditor's office in Fort Madison at 933 Avenue H from March 3 to March 10, Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Early voting will also take place on Saturday, March 8 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the auditor's office. In Keokuk, early voting will take place from March 3-March 7 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Voting will take place at voting centers across the county from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, March 11 including:
• Roling Hall - 2210 Avenue I, Fort Madison
• Heritage Center - 508 Main Street, Keokuk
• Hidden Tower Event Center - 2416 340th Street, Keokuk
• Ivor Fowler Center - 710 Main Street, Montrose
• Pilot Grove Savings Bank Community Room - 506 N. Main Street, Donnellson
• West Point American Legion - 309 5th Street, West Point
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