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Deb Rasmussen of Independence, Iowa, foreground protests with Laura Wright and Jacob Krapfl outside an Iowa Tea Party event for U.S. Rep. Rod Blum in Dyersville, Iowa, Aug. 10, 2017. Mary Willie / for NBC News

Asked to name his proudest moments in Congress, Blum cites his push for term limits and a variety of bills curbing benefits for lawmakers, from pensions to flights to cars. Hes quick to note that used his first vote as a freshman to oppose John Boehner as Speaker.

"That took some courage," he said. "That hurt my fundraising, but it was a principled vote."

Winning back rural and blue-collar white voters may be a nice idea in theory, but in practice it also means running against dozens of incumbents who know their district and have built their own personas to match it.

But Blums policies are very different than his opponents, which could give them an opening. Hes a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus and dismisses Democratic proposals for a higher minimum wage and single-payer health care as "redistribution."

"it's a zero-sum game, you're taking from somebody to give to somebody else," he said. "You grow the economy, it's not a zero sum game."

Whether theres a national wave building or not, there are signs that the tide might be reaching Blums district.

Democrats have pilloried him for his vote in support of the House GOP health care bill and activists have flooded his town halls, including a particularly contentious one in Dubuque, to protest the decision. They're demanding he hold more public meetings.

Democrats are hoping that the same message that fueled his rise taking on entrenched elites could work against him now that his party holds power at the state and federal level alike. In Iowa, Republicans won unified control of state government and passed a collective bargaining law this year that unions bitterly opposed.

"There is going to be no disconnect in 2018, because they control everything," Finkenauer said. "Not one thing those Republicans have done, that Rod Blum has done in the U.S. House, has made anyone that I knows life better."

Democrats got a morale boost last week when Phil Miller, a veterinarian,

In downtown Dubuque, it wasnt hard to find voters still down on both parties.

Gail Stoffel, 60, was a former "diehard Democrat" who backed Al Gore and John Edwards in prior elections. But she loathed Hillary Clinton, whom she viewed as corrupt, and saw 2016 as a "lesser of two evils" contest.

Stoffel wouldnt say how she voted, but Trumps campaign pledges not to cut Medicare and Social Security, which she depends on, resonated with her. So did his pledge to crack down on drugs, an epidemic that had claimed the life of her son.

Stoffel is skeptical that Blum wants what she does. Asked if she might identify as a Democrat again, though, Stoffel shook her head.

"Hillary did too much damage," she said.

Benjy Sarlin reported from Dubuque, Iowa, and Alex Seitz-Wald from Washington, D.C.

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