Senate hopes whoever raises ‘old Dem values’ holds event at store selling ‘ABOLISH ICE’

A Democratic Senate hopeful in Iowa is posing as a candidate who believes in “old Democratic values.”

However, on Saturday, State Senator Zach Wahls held a campaign event at the hard-line activist bookstore, Dog-Eared Books, which talked about ending ICE, financially supporting non-profit organizations fighting ICE, seizing time for children, and advocating for books banned from schools for their sexually graphic content, among other far-fetched store activism.

Fox News Digital asked Wahls before the event if he knew the history of the bookstore and if he regretted holding a campaign event there, but Wahls did not respond.

Meanwhile, Wahls’ campaign website promises Iowans that they will work to “secure the border and fix our broken immigration system,” and in social media posts he has stressed that the nation must have an immigration system based on “law and order.”

“I believe in the old Democratic principles of hard work and family, not handing out billions and insiders,” Wahls also praised the campaign video posted on his X account.

Video obtained by Fox News Digital outside the Ames, Iowa, bookstore where Wahls held his campaign meet-and-greet event with his novelist wife, titled “Reading and Running: An Interview with Zach Wahls and Chloe Angyal,” showed at least one sign near the front door that read “ICE NOT ACCEPTED HERE” in bold capitals. The store has hosted events for Wahls’ wife in the past before Saturday, and sells her romance novels.

After the federal agent-involved shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, a bookstore created a logo of a dog wearing sunglasses holding a protest sign that read “ABOLISH ICE,” and even put it on the store’s sticker on its website.

After Good and Pretti’s shooting, the store also pledged to donate 25% of its sales to a network of anonymous charity groups called the Immigrant Rapid Response Fund. Other groups that have been publicly reported as working with the fund include anti-ICE groups such as the George Soros-funded Headwaters Foundation for Justice, which “believes that[s] in a future without ICE,” and the Black Collective Foundation Minnesota.

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“Don’t back down. Don’t back down. Double up,” said Lulete Mola, the group’s president and founder, following the ICE shooting in Minneapolis, according to Inside Philanthropy.

An “ICE NOT WELCOME HERE” sign sits in the window next to the door of Dog-Eared Books on the night the US Senate candidate from Iowa held a campaign event there to meet voters. (Fox Stories)

Besides being staunchly opposed to ICE, the bookstore where Wahls held his meet-and-greet event on Saturday also has a history of supporting gender reassignment of minors and working against efforts by Republican lawmakers aimed at protecting women by removing “gender identity” from the state’s list of classes protected under Iowa’s civil rights laws.

Dog-Eared Books also has a history of hosting children’s drag story-time events, including one featuring a 14-year-old drag queen, and people selling “banned” books that are often removed from school districts because of what critics see as age-inappropriate sexually explicit content. Among the best sellers are “All Boys Are not Blue,” by George Johnson, which Dog-Eared Books notes on social media is “one of the most banned books in Iowa,” and “Gender Queer,” by Maia Kobabe, a book banned in schools because of its graphic sexual imagery.

At the time, the store also showed solidarity with hard-line anti-Israel activists, saying on the Facebook event page of the “Tattoos For Palestine” event that Israel was “committing Genocide” for its actions following the Oct. 7, 2023. Also, a web page on the bookstore’s website, encourages people to join their letter-writing campaigns to include in their book advertising campaign “No one is illegal. All people deserve access to reproductive health care. Health care is a human right,” and other far-left policy positions.

Books on display at Dog-Eared Books include American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten’s “Why Fascists Are Afraid of Teachers” and “How Fascism Works” by Yale professor Jason Stanley. (Fox Stories)

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Fox News Digital also reached out to the Wahls after the event and did not receive a response. The bookstore did not provide a response either.

Wahls is vying for the US Senate seat being vacated by junior Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and if she wins, she will sit next to longtime Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley. Wahls, the former Senate Minority Leader of Iowa, is taking a field of opponents in his primary race coming up in June. Among his main competitors is Democratic State Representative Josh Turek.

Before entering politics, Wahls rose to prominence after giving a speech to the Iowa Legislature about growing up as a mother, amid the state’s efforts to amend a section of the state constitution related to same-sex marriage. He and his wife who is a writer recommend the event with their meeting.

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