May 2021 - PAC is open to new members!
Welcome to the Iowa People’s PAC! Someone you know has invited you to learn more about how we’re making Iowa elected officials more responsive to local voters. We’re glad you’re interested - please join us for our next monthly meeting:
May PAC Meeting
Monday, May 26th @ 7PM
Zoom Meeting Link: http://bit.ly/May2021-IPP-Mtg
Our History
The Iowa People’s PAC was organized in Grinnell in the Spring of 2017 to bring together local voters willing to donate a small-dollar amount every month until the 2018 election, so that we could pool our funds to give substantial support to candidates willing to listen to grassroots voters instead of the big-money donors who usually fund our elections. We hoped to turn progressive candidates into winning candidates by helping them run strong campaigns.
By October 2018, thanks to the contributions of more than sixty donors, the Iowa People’s PAC had collected over $16,000, and PAC members voted to award grants of $2000 to each of three local candidates, as well as a $10,000 grant to Kayla Koether, a Grinnell College graduate running an aggressive race for the Iowa House against a Republican incumbent in Northeastern Iowa. The awards were given as matching grants for candidates to use as incentives for raising equal amounts of small-dollar donations directly to their own campaigns.
Learn more about our history →
WHY A PAC?
The campaign-contribution system in Iowa is broken. Current laws put no limits on the amounts that an individual can contribution to a candidate or a campaign. Our laws also permit out-of-state individuals and PACs to pour unlimited funds into Iowa campaigns. As a result, big money drives our elections, often at the last minute.
In the long run, we need to reform Iowa’s campaign financing laws. But we can’t wait for reform. To elect progressive candidates right now, the current laws are all we’ve got. Our approach is to use the existing laws for Political Action Committees (PACs) laws in Iowa, which traditionally favor big business and wealthy donors, to create a new kind of PAC that brings together small donors to have a big impact on our local elections.