page_title: Leonard Boswell
section_title: Political campaigns
hierarchical_section_title: Leonard Boswell / Political campaigns
caption_attribution_description: Congressman Leonard Boswell and his wife Dody.
context_page_description: Leonard Leroy Boswell was an American politician who served as the U.S. Representative for Iowa's 3rd congressional district from 1997 to 2013, a district based in Des Moines. A member of the Democratic Party, he was defeated for reelection in 2012 by 4th district incumbent Tom Latham, who decided to run against him after redistricting. Boswell left Congress in January 2013.
context_section_description: Boswell won the Democratic nomination for the 3rd District after 12-year Republican incumbent Jim Ross Lightfoot made an unsuccessful run for the United States Senate.  He defeated Poweshiek County Attorney Mike Mahaffey by just over 4,000 votes.  He was likely helped by Bill Clinton carrying the district, as well as the endorsement of the normally Republican-leaning Iowa Farm Bureau.  He was handily reelected in 1998 and 2000. During his 2nd term, Boswell pledged to serve no more than 8 years. By 2004 he had reversed that pledge, stating that "A thinking person is allowed to change their mind."
  For his first three terms, Boswell represented a sprawling district that stretched from the Illinois border almost to the Nebraska border.  However, his district was dismantled in the 2000s round of redistricting (even though Iowa didn't lose any seats), and its territory was split among three other districts. Boswell's home was shifted to the heavily Republican 5th District. Rather than face almost certain defeat, Boswell moved to Des Moines in the newly created 3rd District—thus making him technically the successor to Greg Ganske, who represented a Des Moines-based district from 1995 to 2003 and ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 2002.
  Boswell had a non-cancerous tumor removed from his stomach in 2005.  The surgery and resulting recovery period caused him to be the most-absent member of Congress for the year. Rumors circulated that Democrats were looking to replace him on the ballot for 2006's Congressional race against Iowa GOP Senate leader Jeff Lamberti, but Boswell's return to work and apparent good health put an end to the speculation. He was reelected to his 7th term on November 4, 2008.
  After the 2010 census, Boswell's district was significantly redrawn.  It now extended across the southwestern part of the state from Des Moines to Council Bluffs. He faced 4th District congressman Tom Latham in the 2012 election; Latham had been drawn into the same district as fellow Republican Steve King and opted to move to the 3rd. Talking about his re-election campaign, Boswell quipped, "I'm running against Tom Latham, I think I'm running against Boehner, and there's this guy called Karl Rove." Politico described the race between Boswell and Tom Latham, both incumbents faced off against each other as a result of redistricting, as one of ten bellwether races. At the end of the first quarter of 2012, Boswell trailed Latham substantially in both fundraising and cash on hand. Latham won the race, 52.4% to 43.7%.
caption: Boswell and his wife Dody, 2006
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