Keith Soko

Civil Rights This ties in with women’s rights as an attack on gender issues that are based on outdated science and extreme religious views that most mainsteam religious persons would no longer accept. In 2025, Iowa Republicans eliminated trans rights by removing “gender identity” as a protected element of the Iowa Civil Rights Act! The trans issue is merely a deeper attempt to chip away at LGBTQ rights overall. Iowa was a leader in Gay Marriage legislation in 2009. We need to return to that leadership, instead of supporting hostile policies that encourage people to leave the state. Education Iowa was once a leader in education. We need to get Republican politics out of our education system, transfer more voucher money back to public schools, and make schools receiving voucher money accountable to taxpayers for what they spend and what they are teaching, and seek to make universities and community colleges more affordable. Healthcare Health care institutions are closing in Iowa, with rural health care almost completely disappearing. We need to strengthen the ACA (Affordable Care Act), which most citizens have supported, and move to universal health care, so that people do not go bankrupt due to health care bills, or die because they have no coverage. Health care is a human right, and one which most Western democratic countries already have. Immigration Yes, we need immigration reform to allow people to immigrate here legally and contribute to our society and to support their families. But the current practices of ICE in our communities and the building of detention camps throughout the country is not what America or Iowa is. Immigrants have become the “Other” that Republicans have used as a scapegoat. Iowa Republican policies in support of ICE’s tactics have decimated our communities and workforce in Iowa, especially in agriculture. It’s not moral, and it’s not good business! Environment / Energy A safe and clean environment is a basic human right. But Republicans in Iowa have continually favored profits over the basic safety of our citizens. Iowa’s cancer rates are the second highest in the country, and it is one of only two states where the rate is increasing and not decreasing. Many factors contribute to this, but pesticides and agricultural practices are part of the issue. We need honest discussion of these factors in agriculture and business and cannot give blank checks to corporations that eliminate their responsibility and liability. Abortion / Contraception Women’s rights are human rights. But these need to be singled out, because the Republican party has continually attempted to diminish these over the years. Women’s health care rights, including reproductive rights, as well as voting rights and economic rights, have all been under attack in Iowa.