This August, Tatum Watkins `27 attended the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois as one of 46 delegates for the state of Iowa. Watkins is the vice president of the Grinnell Campus Democrats and a member of the Iowa Democratic Party’s third congressional district.
Raised on a farm in rural Iowa, Watkins’ parents introduced her to politics at an early age. They brought her to democratic caucuses and local state fairs where she first engaged with national and local candidates. By 17, Watkins was a member of her local county Democratic Party.
This summer, Watkins was elected to the roles of Democratic presidential elector and delegate for her local congressional district, after some initial inspiration from Professor Barbara Trish’s class on the presidency and encouragement from the chair of her county party. “Part of why I ran was that I wanted to show that there are still Democrats in rural Iowa, and there are still progressives statewide,” Watkins said.
As an Iowa Democratic delegate Watkins nominated Kamala Harris and Tim Walz as the Democratic presidential and vice presidential candidates in early August.
At the DNC Watkins’s days were broken up into three sections. Watkins started her mornings with her state delegation breakfasts and meetings with major politicians. “We had everyone from Amy Klobuchar to Pete Buttigieg to Tom Harkin and Tom Vilsack, and just a lot of interesting political figures that would speak to us in these morning meetings,” Watkins said.
In the afternoons Watkins attended public caucus meetings, the first of which was the LGBTQ+ caucus, where Tim Walz made one of his first public speeches as vice presidential candidate. Evenings were dedicated to official convention business and limited to only credentialed individuals, delegates, press, and official guests.
But rather than the function of the convention, it was her fellow delegates that impressed Watkins. One of the many opportunities to mingle with other delegates was the shuttle back to the hotel each evening.
“One night, I was next to a woman who was from rural Tennessee, and she’s talking about how hard it is to motivate but that people still really care. It’s just that it’s hard to be openly Democrat in some rural areas,” Watkins said. “That resonated with me, and we had a great conversation. I still think about that, and I think about the fact that it’s really cool that she’s still putting herself out there.”
Over the course of four days, Watkins learned from, related to, and was inspired by the speakers and her fellow constituents at caucuses, on the shuttle or even in the line for the gender neutral bathrooms.
“One of my delegates that I was there with, and she commented, ‘You know, honestly, there’s a sense of democracy in the bathroom.’ And that statement still makes me laugh, but I’m like, she’s on to something,” Watkins said, explaining that the bathroom lines were made up of convention attendees from all walks of life, from state governors to press and other delegates.
“Even at a national convention, you find different spaces where there’s, you know, democracy at work, and like, a sense of community building and that that happens,” Watkins said. “It doesn’t necessarily happen in the room, but outside and around the room where you build meaning and you exchange ideas.”
“And I think for me, there was a takeaway that they [Democrats] aren’t giving up on rural America,” Watkins said. “That they aren’t giving up on normal, common people.”
Watkins said was able to attend the DNC because a former delegate for her district chose to step out of the race when she learned that Watkins was running against her. “She knew that realistically, they’d probably vote for her again. But she wanted to step out and pave the way for someone else to step in,” Watkins said. “Maybe I’ll be back in four years. Maybe I’ll be back in 40, who knows. But right now, I think it’s really important that another person is given the opportunity.”
Now, Watkins intends to focus her energy on supporting local candidates and working with Campus Dems to narrow the margins and to guarantee that races do not go uncontested.
Watkins said she took away that, “anyone can get involved on any level of politics. Especially within Iowa politics, get involved with the county party here in Grinnell, get involved with Campus Dems, we’ll find something for you to do. But also know that Iowa is worth it, and that students staying here inspire a lot of people on a statewide level, knowing that people want to come here, they want to be here, even if they’re only here for four years. It’s still really awesome. The best thing you can do is vote. Vote for Democrats. That’s going to be the biggest way that students can make an impact in Iowa politics, and then in turn, in national politics.”
