6 Oct 2026
Affordability, Politics and the Fight for Good Jobs in Iowa
This episode of Sage Against the Machine covered two things that I think are at the heart of what this podcast is about: whether government is actually working for working people, and whether the jobs being promised to Iowa workers are actually going to be good jobs.
We started with Tony Thompson, a fourth-generation Iowa farmer, small-business owner, data professional and Democratic candidate for Iowa Senate District 23. Tony talked about something I think a lot of Iowans can relate to: spending years believing government was the problem, only to start asking a different question, who is government actually working for?
For Tony, the biggest issue is affordability. Housing, healthcare, utilities, transportation, education and the basic cost of raising a family are all putting pressure on working people. His message was pretty simple: before politicians start arguing about whether government should be bigger or smaller, maybe we should ask whether it’s actually delivering the outcomes people need.
Tony also talked about something that drives me nuts about politics, making decisions without talking to the people who are actually going to live with them. His answer was basically, get the right people in the room. Patients, workers, farmers, experts and regular Iowans shouldn’t be an afterthought after the lobbyists and politicians have already made up their minds.
And with the election just a few weeks away, Tony is taking that message directly to voters. He’s inviting supporters to join him for his birthday celebration and a rally for his campaign three weeks before Election Day. The event will include food and live music from Abbie Sawyer. Donations are optional, but the campaign is asking people to RSVP so they can plan for food. RSVP for Tony’s event (https://www.facebook.com/events/1387275653538470).
Then we got into the big story dominating southeast Iowa: the proposed $15 billion Mesabi Metallics steel project in Lee County.
Charlie Wishman, president of the Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, joined us to talk about what this project could mean for Iowa workers. The potential numbers are massive, thousands of construction jobs and roughly 1,750 permanent jobs, but Charlie made an important distinction: there’s a difference between jobs and good jobs.
That’s where the fight over union labor comes in.
Charlie wants a Project Labor Agreement and a neutrality agreement that would give workers a real opportunity to organize. His argument is straightforward: if taxpayers are potentially putting more than a billion dollars into incentives for this project, Iowa workers should get something substantial in return.
And I agree with that.
I’m excited about the possibility of bringing major manufacturing back to southeast Iowa. But I’m not interested in celebrating a $15 billion announcement simply because the number looks good on a press release. We need to know where the money is coming from, whether the project actually gets built, how the workforce will be supplied, and most importantly, whether the people doing the work will be able to build a decent life from those jobs.
Charlie also made a bigger point that goes beyond this one steel plant: America needs an actual manufacturing and infrastructure strategy. We can’t keep making one-off deals and hoping they somehow turn into a national economic plan.
And, of course, we had to talk politics, including the Senate Leadership Fund’s attack ad against Josh Turek. As a Marine Corps veteran, I couldn’t get past one thing: the ad couldn’t even pronounce Marine Corps correctly. That’s not a minor detail when you’re trying to use veterans as political props.
At the end of the day, that’s what this episode was about. Cut through the talking points. Ask questions. Talk to the people who will actually be affected. And don’t let politicians convince you that a big number automatically means a good deal.
Whether we’re talking about taxes, healthcare, agriculture, manufacturing or a $15 billion steel mill, working people deserve better than political slogans.
They deserve results.
And that’s why we keep asking questions, keep talking to people and keep showing up.
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