Sioux City Journal: Iowa GOP leader sees battles, but party cohesive

Iowa Republican Party Chairman Jeff Kaufmann on Friday said Republicans may engage in more public infighting than Democrats, but contended the GOP has healed from the 2012 election and is cohesive as the 2014 midterm election approaches.

“Do Republicans seem to fight a little bit more than Democrats? Yeah, we do,” Kaufmann said in a Journal interview. He was in Sioux City for the 75th anniversary event of the Iowa Federation of Republican Women.

Kaufmann took over the party in June 2014, filling the vacancy of a term that had been held by both A.J. Spiker and Danny Carroll. He will run again for a full two-year term in January 2015, in hope of leading the state party through the 2016 presidential election.

Kaufmann, a former eight-year state legislator from Wilton, can’t wait until Barack Obama is no longer president.