One marriage, two campaigns: Iowa spouses launch dual campaigns for legislature

On a February evening in Iowa, the dining room table at the home of  Spencer and Sinikka Waugh is buried under notebooks, campaign maps, yard signs — some with his name and some with hers. 

On a February evening in Iowa, the dining room table at the home of  Spencer and Sinikka Waugh is buried under notebooks, campaign maps, yard signs — some with his name and some with hers. 

Married since 1998, the two are both running for office in Iowa — Spencer for the state House and Sinikka for state Senate.

Their story didn't begin as a coordinated political plan. Spencer, an associate dean at Simpson College, had run in the last election and lost by 17 points. When he announced early last year that he planned to run again, Sinikka's first reaction was blunt. "I looked at him, I said, 'Why?'" What followed were conversations about "the work and the care that we have for the community and the service that we can do along the way." As she listened, Sinikka, a small business owner, began thinking about her own role. "How could I use my gifts and my skills and my talents to support him best in the campaign?"

At first, she did so in familiar ways:  She stood by his side when he kicked off his campaign. She knocked on doors and showed up at events. Then, at one campaign gathering, someone in the crowd said, "You know, the Senate seat is open." It happened again at another event.

The moment Sinikka decided to take up the challenge still makes them laugh. "What if I really ran?" she asked one day in late December. "[Spencer] runs downstairs and he comes back like two seconds later," she recalls. In his hands was a printed map. "This is the Senate district map. Take a look at this." When she asked why he already had it, he told her, "I printed it a few weeks ago. Because I could tell."