Ed Fallon - Run For Governor

Run For Governor

In October 2002, after progressive Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash, Fallon decided that he wanted to emulate Wellstone's impact on his state's politics by running for Governor. After spending almost two and a half years testing the waters and preparing for his run, he announced his candidacy on April 9, 2005 at a rally at the Iowa State Capitol Building, becoming the first candidate to officially declare.

During the course of the race, in which he faced Secretary of State Chet Culver and former state economic development director and Congressman Mike Blouin, Fallon positioned himself as a candidate focused on populist concerns. The main focal point of his campaign was a pledge to enact voluntary public financing of elections, a pledge that he reinforced with his refusal to accept donations from political action committees and lobbyists and his self-imposed limitation of $2400 in contributions per person. He was also in favor of creating a locally-owned renewable fuels industry, universal health care, reforming the Departments of Human Services and Corrections, ending government handouts to big business, and increased funding for public education. He opposed urban sprawl, legalized gambling, factory farms, and the Iowa Values Fund, a multi-million-dollar corporate incentive package that he dubbed "corporate welfare."

In January and March 2006, more delegates pledged to him were selected to attend the state party convention than those of any other candidate. If no candidate had won 35% of the vote in the primary, convention delegates would have awarded the nomination. In late May, he received the endorsement of the Iowa Sierra Club and the Iowa City Press-Citizen, becoming the first candidate to receive support from a major newspaper.

The primary was held on June 6, 2006. With 100% of precincts reporting, the winner was Chet Culver with 57,976 votes, or 39.09%. Fallon ran third out of a field of four, receiving 38,160 votes, or 25.73%. Although this result was not the win that Fallon and his supporters had hoped for, it was considerably in excess of the 5 to 10% that pundits had speculated he might receive at the beginning of the race.