Background

The 1st Congressional district of Iowa is located in the northeastern portion of the state and spans a stretch of the Mississippi River well over 100 miles long. Congressman Bruce Braley was elected to Iowa’s 1st Congressional district in 2006, becoming the first Democrat to hold the 1st district seat for almost three decades. In early June however, an event that transcends politics occurred as the waters of the upper Mississippi River rose and flooded a large portion of eastern Iowa. This natural disaster unofficially coined “Iowa’s Katrina”, lasted for almost an entire month. The devastation was catastrophic, yielding over 7 billion dollars in damages and destroying lines of communication and supply across the state.

Congressman Braley needed a program to quickly contact members of his district affected by the flooding. He sought to alert them of the different services available to them and how best to deal with the problems they were facing. It was a situation for which no one was prepared and we needed to communicate with the victims of the flood as soon as possible.

We put together a series of three telephone town hall meetings that allowed the Congressman to guide his constituents through the different phases of recovery from the catastrophic flood. We connected the Congressman with nearly 5,000 constituents suffering from the flood. This forum allowed the Congressman to inform his district about what relief efforts were underway and enabled constituents to ask specific questions about managing their own flood damage.

Throughout the ordeal there was a constant sense of urgency. We conducted two more telephone town halls. The first catered to the media, allowing them to take stock of the federal response to the flooding Braley was able to highlight his work on behalf of the first district.

Our last telephone town hall, scheduled as a catch-all for many issues, was almost exclusively devoted to the issue of gas prices—almost $4 a gallon at the time. Again, Braley came across as the competent, caring member of Congress who took time to listen. These town halls proved him to be strong and capable leader who would not flinch under crisis. Voters got the message and any serious competition for the future was quashed. He won the 2008 election with 64%.