It’s going to take “hard work” for Iowa Democrats to have a successful election in November, party Chair Rita Hart told the party’s state convention Saturday morning.

Speaking at the Prairie Meadows Events Center in Altoona, Hart encouraged Democrats to “find the thing that you can do that you can contribute to this effort and do it in spades.”

“It’s going to be a long, hard haul until November,” she said. “Let’s support each other. Let’s encourage each other. Let’s do this hard work together, because that’s the only way it can be accomplished.”

Iowa Democrats this year are seeking to reelect President Joe Biden, break Republicans’ hold on all four of the state’s seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and cut into Republican majorities in the Iowa House and Senate.

The party played a recorded video message from Vice President Kamala Harris, who touted the administration’s efforts to cancel student loan debt, cap insulin costs at $35 per month for seniors and tackle climate change.

“When we win in November, we will finish the job,” Harris said. “We will raise the federal minimum wage, expand access to paid family leave and affordable child care and invest billions of dollars to lower rents and help more Americans buy a home.”

Senate Minority Leader Pam Jochum, D-Dubuque, said Democrats are fighting for freedoms this year.

“It is our duty to keep that torch of freedom lit for generations to come,” she said. “And we will keep that torch of freedom lit by reelecting President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. We will keep the freedom lit, the torch of freedom lit by electing Christina Bohannan, Sarah Corkery, Lanon Baccam and Ryan Melton to the United States House of Representatives.”

She said Democrats are facing an “extremist movement,” pointing to Republican policies restricting transgender students from school bathrooms that align with their gender identity and banning books that depict sex acts from schools.

“We, Iowa Democrats, are the party of the people and never forget it,” she said. “Iowans want us to focus on the issues that affect their everyday lives, like affordable child care and health care and housing and collective bargaining rights and public education. They do not want us arguing over bathrooms and bedrooms and books.”

House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst, D-Windsor Heights, said Democrats can flip Republican-held seats in the Iowa House this year and expand their 36-member minority.

“We can get to the majority as soon as humanly possible,” she said. “Not as soon as I want, but sooner than they think. We are going to get this done.”

She said Democrats can win races in November by staying focused on education and abortion rights, rather than other issues that Republicans want to talk about.

“Message discipline is critically important this year,” Konfrst said. “Every year, but this year especially. Because Iowans are voting on two issues this year. What’s on their mind is public education and abortion and reproductive freedom. And guess what? They’re with us. So that’s what we’re going to talk about.”

Konfrst encouraged Iowans to sign up for text alerts from the party to be informed when the Iowa Supreme Court issues a ruling in the coming weeks on whether the state’s Republican-passed six-week abortion ban is constitutional.

Republican Party of Iowa Chair Jeff Kaufmann released a statement criticizing Democrats’ platform and touting Republicans’ record on raising teacher pay and cutting taxes.

“Today, the Iowa Democrats will gather to host their state convention where they will outline their extreme, far-left platform that shapes their party,” he said in the statement. “Iowa Democrats wonder why they are in the super-minority while they align themselves with Biden and continue to push out-of-touch policies such as high taxes, open borders, and abortion up until birth.”

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa Democrats urge focus on education, abortion in November elections