Rayhons Gets Primary Challenge

House District 8 Gets Weirder

The Deeth Blog has had its eye on House District 8 since Map Day and just when you think every last bit of drama has been wrung out of Wright County, there's another twist:

A 62-year-old minister announced Friday he will wage a primary election challenge to veteran Republican legislator Henry Rayhons next year.

The Rev. Bob Dishman will make his political debut against Rayhons, 75, who has been in the Iowa House for 16 years.

First of all, whod'a thunk Henry Rayhons would be the one left standing in this district, the only seat with three incumbents on Map Day? He was up against majority leader Linda Upmeyer and former Senate leader and party chair Stew Iverson. Everyone just figured Henry would hang it up.

But then Upmeyer decamped to points north, Rayhons announced, and everyone assumed that Iverson was running in Senate 4.

WRONG! Former quarter-term senator Jim "Back In" Black announced for Senate 4, with Iverson as campaign chair.



The rumor mill says What Up With That may be... Iverson ending his legislative comeback after one term to run for local office?

And now, the district with three legislators on Map Day gets a primary challenger. Is this one of Kim Pearson's recruits?

“The goal should be a smaller, more efficient government and that’s what I intend to accomplish,” said Dishman, pastor of Park Church of Christ in Goldfield.

He said he will focus on conservative values that include supporting pro-life issues and traditional marriage in Iowa.

And Rayhons, while a pretty conservative guy, was on the "wrong" side of that vote I'm using for my scorecard, Pearson's Total Abortion Ban. Pass the popcorn, this'll be fun to watch.