Several legislative seats on 2022 Midterm Election ballot

Click on the links of each district mentioned to see a detailed district map

MASON CITY — All 100 seats in the Iowa House and 34 of the 50 seats in the Iowa Senate are on the ballot in Tuesday’s election.

 

== Senate District 30 covers all of Cerro Gordo, Worth and Mitchell counties as well as the far northwestern part of Floyd County including Nora Springs and Rockford.

Two-term Republican Senator Waylon Brown of Osage is facing Democratic challenger Whitney Mixdorf of Clear Lake. Brown says his experience will help lead this new district. “I’ve served since 2016, I’ve led on a lot of key issues, but the most important thing is that I listen. I listen to the constituents and I take their concerns down to the state. That is the intent of a citizen legislature is that we explain our district and the needs of our district down at the state capitol.”

Brown’s current district does not include the majority of Cerro Gordo County but he feels he’ll be a good representative of the Mason City-Clear Lake area. “I feel that I’ve done that very well in the past with the old district, and I’ve been able to meet so many great people out door-knocking and campaigning this year since the districts have changed, and I feel I have a good perspective on what the needs of the district are, and I believe with my experience, I’ll be a good fit.”

Mixdorf is running for public office for the first time and says she wants to help bring change to the legislature. “I’m a busy mom of three, and I know like many other people, I think I’m very frustrated with how our politics work and a lack of things actually getting done. I think somewhere along the line we’ve forgotten what it means to be a true public servant and we shouldn’t be passing laws or putting policy in place that harms other Iowans.”

Mixdorf says she hopes legislators can work together better in the future. “Even if we don’t agree on everything, we can always have a civil conversation. I think that is so very important, especially now when everything is completely torn apart politically. If we can’t have a conversation, we don’t have anything, and going forward, there’s a lot of extremism that’s going to be coming up on the ballot in our state legislature, and this is kind of the last stance that we can make before that stuff takes over.”

 

== The House District 59 race has incumbent Democrat Sharon Steckman facing Republican Doug Campbell in the Mason City-based district that also includes the communities of Plymouth, Rock Falls, Rockwell, Swaledale, Dougherty and their immediate rural areas.

Steckman is seeking an eighth term to the Iowa House. “I have been so proud to represent the good people of North Iowa. I’ve spent my career here working in our schools, for our kids and our families, and in Des Moines, for our community. The choice is clear on November 8th. My opponent and I could not be more opposite. I believe the 2020 election was not rigged. I believe climate change is real, I believe in the separation of church and state and reinstating Iowa’s public schools to first in the nation.”

Campbell says he wants to make the economic climate better for seniors to stay in Iowa.  “I am inclined to legislate for seniors on fixed incomes, and I think Iowa has done a very good job at taking away taxes from retirement incomes. I think we could do more for seniors. Seniors, they leave, they go to Florida, Texas, Arizona, we need to keep our seniors. We have some of the best healthcare in the nation and I think we should be able to keep them so they can enjoy that healthcare. I’ve talked to the people who have gone to the healthcare systems in these other states and they aren’t as good as Iowa’s.”

Listen to the candidate programs from Senate District 30 and House District 59 aired last month on KGLO below:

 

Senate District 30

 

House District 59

 

 

In the other area legislative races:

== In Senate District 5 which includes Winnebago County, Republican Dave Rowley of Spirit Lake is running unopposed

== In Senate District 29, Republican Sandy Salmon of Janesville is facing Democrat Jenn Wolff of Waverly in a district that includes all of Butler and most of Floyd counties in our listening area

== In House District 60 which covers the western third of Cerro Gordo, all of Worth and Mitchell, and the northwestern part of Floyd counties, Republican Jane Bloomingdale of Northwood is running unopposed

== House District 55 which includes all of Franklin, southeastern Wright and all of Hamilton counties, Republican Shannon Latham of Sheffield is unopposed

== House District 56 which includes all of Hancock and the northwestern part of Wright counties, Republican Mark Thompson of Clarion is facing Libertarian Party candidate Charles Aldrich of Clarion. There is no Democrat in that race

== House District 57 which includes all of Butler and the western part of Bremer counties, House Speaker Pat Grassley of New Hartford is challenged by Democrat Carissa Froyum of Denver

== House District 9 which includes all of Winnebago and most of Kossuth counties, incumbent Republican Henry Stone of Forest City is challenged by Democrat Joseph Tillman of Forest City.