116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Home / News / Government & Politics / Campaigns & Elections
Challengers file to run for Iowa House and Senate seats
Iowa City incumbent Elinor Levin draws primary challenger
Tom Barton
Mar. 15, 2024 7:52 pm, Updated: Mar. 18, 2024 8:03 am
Two Republicans will face off for an open Iowa House seat representing all of Iowa County and parts of Johnson County.
Democrats will compete in a three-way primary for the opportunity to take on a six-term Republican incumbent from Tama County.
And an Iowa City incumbent state representative faces a Democratic primary challenger.
Friday was the deadline to qualify for the primary ballot for state and federal offices in Iowa. This year’s primary election is June 4, and the general election is Nov. 5.
Senate 40
State Rep. Art Staed, D-Cedar Rapids, and former Cedar Rapids City Council member Kris Gulick, a Republican, have filed to run for the Iowa Senate seat being vacated by Democratic incumbent Todd Taylor.
Taylor, who announced his campaign in December for Linn County auditor, defeated Gulick to win re-election to the Senate seat in 2022. The district covers Robins, Hiawatha and parts of northwest, northeast and southwest Cedar Rapids.
Staed, a former educator and small business owner, is serving his seventh term in the Iowa House representing a district that encompasses northeast Cedar Rapids, Hiawatha and Robins.
“I fully intend to continue the work that Sen. Taylor has pioneered in the areas of education, labor, worker rights, justice and the well-being of Iowa families,” Staed told The Gazette in December when he announced his candidacy. “I want to help rebuild a stronger Iowa, with broader prosperity.”
That, he said, includes supporting early childhood education, a well-funded public education system with well-trained teachers, affordable quality health care and mental health services, a cleaner and safer environment, creating good-paying jobs and making sure the tax burden is spread in a fair and equitable way for all Iowans.
Gulick said his motivations have not changed from when he ran for the seat two years, saying Iowa’s second-largest metro area “needs an independent voice in the Iowa Senate majority.“
A certified public accountant, Gulick said he feels Iowa Republican lawmakers have let themselves “get distracted by some of the minutiae that is out there.”
He pointed to a host of bills that failed to clear a legislative funnel deadline this week that, he said, “didn’t need to be brought to the table.” The bills deal with everything from banning cruising in the left lane of traffic to prohibiting the Department of Natural Resources from purchasing land at auction to a requirement to honor a patient’s request for a known blood donor.
“Let’s spend our time on the most critical issues — education, workforce, the economy and taxes,” Gulick said.
A successful educational system is key to retaining and attracting businesses and workforce, Gulick said. Doing so means lawmakers must “fund it adequately and apply flexibility for local school and superintendents to make sure they can do what they need to get the best outcomes for our kids,” he said.
Senate 46
Democrat Ed Chabal, a longtime public school professional and community advocate, filed paperwork to challenge Republican Sen. Dawn Driscoll, of Williamsburg, for the Senate District 46 seat.
The district includes Washington and Iowa counties and rural portions of Johnson County.
Driscoll did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
“I am running for the Iowa Senate to give every Iowan the opportunity to send their children to the best public schools possible while ensuring that all of our residents have better quality lives,” Chabal, of Washington, Iowa, said in a news release. “This means affordable, quality child care, access to first-rate health care in rural Iowa, which includes freedom for women’s reproductive health care, clean water, and enhanced recreation opportunities for all generations to enjoy.”
Chabal said he was motivated to run for the seat after last year’s enactment of a new state law allowing Iowa families to use public funding to pay for private school tuition and other costs, which Driscoll supported. He said he also opposes Gov. Kim Reynolds’ and Iowa Republican House and Senate proposals to overhaul the state’s Area Education Agencies.
“I want to make sure our schools get the public funding that they deserve, that they need,” he said. “And AEAs play such an important role, for both public and private school districts. And I’m concerned if they don’t stay funded like they are now, they will not be able to offer the services they currently provide to all districts.”
House 53
Three Democrats filed paperwork to run for Iowa House District 53. The district covers all of Poweshiek County and most of Tama County.
The district is currently represented by Republican Rep. Dean Fisher, of Montour. Fisher is a retired farmer and founder and board president of the newly created Tama-Toledo Christian School. He is serving in his sixth term in the Iowa House.
The Democrats who will be on the June 4 ballot for the seat are John Anderson of Tama, Tommy Hexter of Grinnell, and Jennifer Wrage of Gladbrook
House 66
A former longtime Republican state lawmaker who made national headlines for switching parties in a rebuke of then-President Donald Trump is running again as a Democrat for House District 66.
Former Iowa Rep. Andy McKean of Anamosa filed paperwork to run for the Iowa House seat currently held by Rep. Steve Bradley, R-Cascade.
Bradley, a dentist, is in his second term, having won the seat from McKean in 2020.
In 2019, McKean was the longest-serving Republican in the Iowa Legislature when he switched to the Democratic Party. McKean said the move largely stemmed from his philosophical differences with the policies and actions of Trump, and a party he believed “has veered very sharply to the right.“
McKean served 24 years in the Iowa House and Senate and was first elected in 1978.
House District 66 includes Jones County and the majority of Jackson County, excluding Maquoketa and the southwestern corner of the county.
House 80
Hiawatha City Council member Aime Wichtendahl, a Democrat, and Cedar Rapids veteran John Thompson, a Republican, filed paperwork to run for Iowa House District 80.
The district covers Hiawatha, Robins and part of Cedar Rapids.
State Rep. Art Staed, D-Cedar Rapids, currently represents the district, but is running for the Iowa Senate.
Wichtendahl, Iowa’s first transgender elected official, said sweeping new laws passed last year by Republican lawmakers and signed into law by Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds that place restrictions on LGBTQ students, school materials and access to abortion, and create new taxpayer-funded private school scholarships prompted her to run for the Iowa House seat.
“I think something is fundamentally broken in Des Moines, and it’s going to require new leadership to change,” Wichtendahl told The Gazette in December when she announced plans to run. “Granted, that’s going to be a long, hard road, but it’s one that has to happen … if we are to truly have a government that works for its citizens instead of pushing people they don’t like to the borders.”
If elected, Wichtendahl said she would push to raise the minimum wage, expand access to affordable housing, use the state’s budget surplus to create tax credits for child care and reverse state laws that place restrictions on LGBTQ students, ban nearly all abortions and provide taxpayer-funded private school scholarships.
Thompson serves as president of Salute to the Fallen, a nonprofit he created to help veterans and first responders and their families with mental health issues, homelessness and more. He also is a member of the Carpenters union Local 308.
Thompson said he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2007 and was discharged in 2012 due to injuries. He said he served as an infantryman and deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.
He moved to Cedar Rapids eight years ago from Texas and founded Salute to the Fallen in 2019. The nonprofit provides a crisis intervention hotline, as well as financial assistance to pay for therapy for trauma-related disorders in veterans and first responders. It also provides peer support and assistance, pairing veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder with trained service dogs, as well as helping with food, clothing and household goods.
Thompson said he’s running for the Iowa House to better help and be a louder voice for veterans, first responders and small businesses, and to improve Iowa’s mental health care system.
House 83
Democrat Kent McNally of Central City filed paperwork Friday to challenge Republican incumbent Rep. Cindy Golding in House District 83.
The district covers northeast Mount Vernon, Lisbon, Center Point, Central City, Coggon, Palo, Alburnett and other communities in Linn County.
Golding, of rural Linn County, filed to run for a second term. A farmer and small business owner, Golding defeated Democratic newcomer Kriss Nall in 2022 to win the seat.
House 89
Democratic incumbent Rep. Elinor Levin, of Iowa City, filed to run for a second term to Iowa House District 89. Levin, a writing tutor, was elected in 2022 with 82 percent of the votes over Republican Jacob Onken.
The district covers part of Iowa City and University Heights.
She faces Democratic primary challenger Ty Bopp, an assistant store manager at Hy-Vee in Iowa City.
Bopp, an Iowa city native and a 2021 graduate of Cornell College with a degree in political science, also filed in 2022 to run for Iowa House District 92 in Johnson and Washington counties, but dropped out of the race in April. His name still appeared on the June primary ballot.
Bopp is currently pursuing a master's degree in business administration.
He said he was motivated to run for the seat out of a desire to increase access to quality community health care, expand tax credits for farmers and renewable energy, and raise the minimum wage.
“I don’t think a lot of has been accomplished the last two years, and I don’t believe the district’s needs are being upheld,” Bopp said
He said he supports raising the minimum wage to $10 an hour. House Democrats introduced a bill, which Levin co-sponsored, to raise Iowa’s minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next three years.
Bopp said he feels a $10-an-hour minimum wage is more manageable for Iowa businesses, and a compromise Republicans could support in the GOP-controlled Iowa Legislature.
Levin said she’s running to put people over politics and advance legislation that will lower costs, raise wages and improve the lives of everyday Iowans struggling to afford health care, food, child care, and utility bills.
Levin supported legislation that would put the right to collectively bargain in the Iowa Constitution and provide retirement security for more Iowans. Levin signed onto a bill that would implement a state-run “auto IRA” program that mirrors those passed in 19 other states.
In the House, she’s also been a vocal advocate for LGBTQ+ Iowans and a staunch opponent to bills that would remove gender identity as a protected class under the Iowa Civil Rights code and make changes to the funding and services that Area Education Agencies are able to provide to local students and families.
“I ran in the first place because most of the people I know, most of my friends, don’t feel like Iowa is a safe and welcoming place for them,” Levin said. “I don’t feel like I’m done yet. There’s still a lot of work to do.”
House 91
Williamsburg Mayor Adam Grier and Judd Lawler of Oxford will face off in a Republican primary for Iowa House District 91, which covers Iowa County and western and northern Johnson County.
Democrat Jay Gorsh of Williamsburg also filed for the seat Friday.
Republican incumbent Rep. Brad Sherman, a pastor from Williamsburg, is not seeking re-election. Sherman has endorsed Lawler.
Lawler, a Johnson County native and former federal prosecutor in New York, moved back to Iowa 18 years ago and is a stay-at-home father. He served as an assistant U.S. attorney, “protecting taxpayer dollars from frivolous lawsuits and prosecuting Wall Street crooks.”
As an attorney and former prosecutor, he said he brings legal expertise to ensure bills being drafted are good policy and to serve as a “watchdog for government waste, corruption and fraud.”
Lawler, who supported and campaigned for Sherman, said he would continue Sherman’s work of “strengthening families and protecting individual liberty.”
Grier was elected mayor of Williamsburg in 2021 and previously served on the city council.
He said he is running to maintain home rule, which empowers municipalities, counties, and school boards to govern themselves as much as possible.
"Whenever possible, local leaders need to be empowered to govern and ultimately be held accountable by their local communities,“ Grier said in news release. ”Government closest to the people governs best."
He said he also supports Gov. Kim Reynolds’ initiatives on tax reform, addressing workforce shortages and educational freedom.
Grier enlisted and served in the Marine Corps during Desert Storm until 1999 and worked in law enforcement in Cedar Rapids.
“With my experience in local government and law enforcement, I can make sound decisions for our district,” he said.
House 92
Democratic newcomer and first-time candidate Anna Banowsky, of Washington, Iowa, has filed to challenge Republican incumbent Heather Hora, of rural Washington, for House District 92. The district covers all of Washington County and parts of Johnson County.
Hora, a farmer in Washington County, was first elected in 2022 and is seeking a second term. She was endorsed by Gov. Kim Reynolds in the election because she supported creating taxpayer-funded scholarships to pay for private school tuition.
Hora said she welcomes the competition and is running for re-election to continue “all the great things” House Republicans have done, including passing Reynolds’ “school choice” bill.
“The reason I ran in the first place is because I have children, and making a difference for them is key to me,” she said.
Hora said the Education Savings Accounts created last year have helped low- and middle-income Iowa families “working two jobs” comfortably afford to send their children to private school to “achieve what they want for their children.”
She also pointed to her support of legislation this year that would expand medical coverage for firefighters with cancer; limit diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the state’s three public universities, and another would have required a K-12; increase teacher pay; and overhaul the state’s area education agencies
Banowsky, a graduate student at the University of Iowa, said she’s running to push increased support for education in the state and ensure that public dollars go to public schools.
"I want to make sure public education is funded, and I want to make sure students have adequate writing and research skills,“ she said. ”A lot of my students don’t feel they have the skills by the time they graduate high school to succeed.“
Banowsky said she’s also spoken to many Iowans who have benefited from the AEAs and wants to make sure they are further protected and “we’re not striking funding.”
Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com