Jess Piper is a former teacher who lives in a farm in Missouri. She is an energetic Democrat who spends time getting out the vote in rural areas. As she explains in her latest blog post, she has spent lots of time in Iowa.

She explains the startling results of the latest poll from Iowa. It’s a ruby-red state, but the highly respected Selzer poll reported that Harris has taken the lead in a state that Trump won twice.

The biggest issue, she says, is abortion. The fight against the abortion ban is led by mothers and grandmothers, who are defending their daughters and granddaughters from entering a world where they might die for lack of health care.

By the way, dynamic Jess Piper will speak at the Network for Public Education Annual Conference in Columbus, Ohio, April 5-6, 2025.

She writes:

Here’s the thing that a lot of pollsters have been getting wrong: they don’t think abortion will be the reason that older women choose to vote for a Democrat. And I know that isn’t true. I have talked to hundreds of folks on the ground in places like Iowa. I’ve spoken to so many women.

Abortion may be seen as a political strategy to some, but it is life or death for women and girls.

I spoke in Mt Ayr, Iowa last year. The population is 1600. I was again summoned by the Ringgold County Democrats led by a woman. We met in a woman-owned bookstore. There was wine and food and desserts and they gave me one of my favorite t-shirts. It says “Hard Working Rural Democrat” and I wear it often. 

Over half of the folks who showed up to this Mt Ayr event were teachers. That’s very often the case in the spaces I travel to speak…they are quiet, but they always show up. You’d think with all of those teachers that the topic would be public schools and that is indeed where we started, but the Q and A session turned into a forum on abortion bans. Most of the women at the event were grandmothers — they worried that their daughters would need reproductive care and could die waiting for it under an abortion ban. 

That is a fair worry. A worry that women have been dealing with since the creation of the United States.

“I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.”

~Abigail Adams to her husband John Adams, 1776.

We have been fighting for equal rights under the law for hundreds of years. 

I have been in Council Bluffs. I have spoken in Iowa City. I traveled to Sioux City. I have been to Mount Pleasant. I have traveled the state for the past two years and I can tell you that while I am excited to see the data on Iowa, I have been telling you the stories for a while now. The rural stories — the organizing stories. 

The poll reinforces what we are seeing on the ground.

The Selzer Poll shows that Trump still leads in rural spaces in Iowa, but here is what I know: he’s losing his grip on those folks. And the reason? Women voters. Rural women voters.

The Republican ban on abortion was a step too far for most women…even for Independent and Republican voters. Especially with those rural voters who believe in limited government. Who believe that lawmakers don’t belong in doctor’s offices. Who believe in freedom.

I also have to take every poll with a grain of salt. 

We know that polls don’t win elections — voters will decide who takes the Presidency on Tuesday. But, here is what I am telling you; the vibes have changed. I am in the rooms and you have a reason to be hopeful. You have reason to think Iowa may just go for Harris and wonder if it can happen there, where else may it happen?