That is perplexing. What goes on in that area? Is it all farming or is there some industry there? How about corn for Ethanol or wind farms? There is something there that draws either liberals, unions or government workers. I’m not that familiar with Iowa. Been there, but don’t know about it’s demographics.
I’ve been there a few times as well. Iowa City has the University of Iowa, so I can see the blue there. But the rest of the eastern part of the state seems to be agriculture and agricultural processing (Cedar Rapids smells like cornflakes from time to time.)Farm subsidies are usually a bipartisan issue, so that probably isn’t it. It must be a held-over Scandinavian immigrant thing, like parts of Winnesota and Wisconsin.