A state panel has unanimously decided Eddie Andrews has qualified for the G-O-P Primary for governor.
The State Objection Panel found Andrews met the threshold of having at least 100 signatures in each of 19 different counties. “This is a win not for the Eddie Andrews campaign, but it’s a win for Iowa,” Andrews told reporters after the meeting. “It’s a win for Iowa voters.”
Andrews said Republican rival Adam Steen and his campaign staff contacted him three times, threatening to challenge his petition signatures. A spokesperson for Steen issued a statement saying Andrews had been invited to join the Steen campaign, but denying the charge that there had been a threat about his nomination for the primary ballot.
David Bush, who filed the objections, has donated to Steen’s campaign. Bush told the Objection Panel his challenge was prompted after a text from his own son about the validity of Andrews’ petitions.
“I hope we haven’t gotten to the point that supporting a candidate and wanting election integrity are mutually exclusive,” Bush said.
Bush suggested having a five-person race for the GOP nomination favored the perceived frontrunner. “What I saw from the public documents concerned me and I knew enough about this race to understand that some had a vested interest in seeing as many Republican candidates as possible and would never question anything, which is a problem in and of itself,” Bush said, “so it was going to have to be me.”
After the meeting, Andrews responded to Bush’s remarks. “(I) heard a comment about low expectations,” Andrews said. “Let me just tell you: we have a standard of high expectations and a standard of excellence.”
After the meeting, Bush congratulated Andrews.
