Eddie Mauro, Democratic candidate for Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District, talks with the Des Moines Register editorial board. Michael Zamora, mzamora@dmreg.com
Eddie Mauro is a small business owner, veteran high school coach, and a longtime community activist. Now he’s running for Congress, and he wants to curb the influence of campaign cash on the nation’s political system.
“The No. 1 priority is money and politics because that is keeping everything else from happening,” Mauro said during a meeting Wednesday with the Des Moines Register’s editors and reporters.
“It is keeping good things from happening in this country, whether that be health care or taking care of our seniors when it comes to Social Security or Medicare, or gun safety, or the challenges with our climate that are in front of us,” Mauro, 55, said. “Special interests and money are keeping us from taking America forward where it needs to be.”
His solution is campaign finance reform at the federal level, including limits on corporate contributions that he believes are overwhelming the voices of individual citizens. According to Federal Election Commission data, about 70 percent of his contributions have come from individuals in Iowa. He has also loaned his campaign $300,000.
Mauro, who resides in Des Moines, heads a wholesale insurance firm with nearly 50 employees.
He is among three Democrats running for Congress in Iowa’s 3rd District, which covers 16 counties in southwest Iowa and includes the cities of Des Moines and Council Bluffs. The others candidates are Pete D’Alessandro of Des Moines, who directed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign in Iowa; and Cindy Axne of West Des Moines, a former state government official who…
