Democrats and Republicans have chosen their candidates for a special election to the Iowa House.
The election for house district 37 will take place on September 14th. The district includes Ankeny, Alleman, and part of rural Polk County. The seat was released after Republican John Landon died on July 29th.
Both parties have nominated their candidates Andrea Phillips and Mike Bousselot at special nomination congresses. You were the only two candidates who could qualify for the election on Monday afternoon. The deadline for submitting the ballot papers is Friday, August 20th at 5:00 p.m.
The outcome of the election will not change the balance of power in Iowa House, where Republicans hold a 59-41 majority.
The winner will serve for the remainder of Landon’s tenure through 2022. The seat will be re-elected next year, although the district’s boundaries are likely to change after lawmakers complete the decade-long reallocation process resulting in a new state legislative and congressional cards.
More:Why Polk County will be a battleground for the Iowa House next year
Here’s who’s running:
Andrea Phillips
Phillips, 47, is a Democrat who challenged Landon for the seat in House District 37 twice in 2016 and 2020.
Phillips is from Boise, Idaho and her husband moved to Ankeny 12 years ago to raise their two children.
“I think families in Ankeny pretty much all want the same thing,” she said. “We want to take care of our children, we want a well-paying job, we want to be able to save for our children to go to college and to save for retirement, we want to be able to send our children to school and have confidence in it.” you will be safe. “
She was Vice President of the Iowa Democratic Party from 2017 to 2019.
She is a former marketing director of World Link, a multinational company providing medical and dental services. She previously served on the Board of Governors of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, China, where, according to her campaign website, she led their corporate social responsibility programs.
Her 2020 loss to Landon inspired her to enroll on a masters program at Johns Hopkins University to study polarization and negative partisanship in government, she said.
“I thought I had to do something to resolve what I see as the biggest problem with politics in America today, which is the hostility between left and right,” she said.
Mike Bousselot
Bousselot, 38, is a former Republican adviser to Governor Terry Branstad and the current director of the Iowa Department of Management, which is responsible for the state budget.
He said he would step down as director of the Department of Management on Friday to focus on running for the House of Representatives seat.
Bousselot was Branstad’s chief of staff from 2015 to 2017 when Branstad resigned to become U.S. ambassador to China. Prior to that, he served in the Branstad administration as legal advisor to the governor and political advisor.
While working in the Branstad administration, Bousselot helped develop a property tax reduction package and worked on Medicaid Iowa privatization in 2013. Prior to becoming Head of the Department of Management, he was an attorney with Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath.
He is from Davenport and holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in accounting from the University of Iowa and a law degree from Drake University Law School. He lives in Ankeny with his wife.
Bousselot said he saw Landon as a role model and, if elected, would like to emulate his approach to legislation.
“He was a principled conservative and worked really hard in the state legislature, and for me, I want to do this job every day,” said Bousselot. “I want to listen to my church. I want to be a principled lawmaker and conservative, and I want to work hard every day in the Capitol to be a voice for my church. “
Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and registry policy. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter @sgrubermiller.