Iowa Family Passes the Torch to Next Generation in Visit to GOP Straw Poll

Amanda Freel first entered a voting booth when she was about 4 years old.

Her mother, Janet, wasn’t about to miss an election just because her daughter was with her. So Janet cast her vote inside the curtained booth with her little girl tucked against her legs.

“Even then, I explained to her what we were doing,” said 59-year old Janet. “I told her from the very beginning that this is what we do and this is why we do it.”

So began Amanda’s lifelong passion for politics, and now the 28-year-old Ankeny resident is about to add another political first to the list.

Amanda will attend the Ames Straw Poll this weekend for the first time. Although she will not be at the presidential debate tonight, she will visit the Straw Poll Saturday to meet and cast her own vote for her favorite candidate.

“It’s really cool and neat being able to shake their hands and look them in they eye and get whatever you can out of that meeting,” she said.

Amanda is a research analyst for the Iowa House Republican Caucus Committee, a job for which she has long prepared.

When Amanda was young, she and her family would talk politics around the dinner table and watch it on television. Opinions were shared and campaigns were watched. Amanda can thank her mother for her introduction to politics.

“We would never miss an election, then we would come home and talk about it,” Janet said. “It’s so important to know the facts and know they do affect you.”

Amanda graduated from Ankeny High School in 2002. Seven years of college and one law degree later, Amanda returned home in search of a career in the political realm.

“It has always been my passion. It interests me because of the effect it has on the community and individuals,” Amanda said, echoing her mother. “Every decision has a big impact on you, whether you know it or not.”

Prior to her current job, Amanda worked on the state campaigns of Jim Gibbons and Dave Jamison, both of whom lost in their 2010 bids for Congress and state treasurer, respectively.

Although she’s attended a couple Republican caucuses with her mother, this will be the first time Amanda has attended the Ames Straw Poll.

It will be a great opportunity to see — and hopefully meet — many of the GOP presidential candidates, Amanda said.

“In other states it’s doubtful you will ever be able to shake their hands,” she said. “But here in Iowa, they purchase tents just to make sure they meet you.”

Janet won’t accompany her daughter to the Straw Poll this year. She hasn’t been able to attend a Straw Poll yet but she’s happy Amanda has the opportunity to go.

“This will be good for her to know, to see the process,” Janet said. “It’ll just be another part of the learning process in her love for politics.”