I spend a lot of my time making the best of things, connecting with people all over the state, and sometimes the country, so that I'm prepared for little windows of opportunity to make progress.

This is well-worth doing, and I'm lucky to get to do it.


BUT, it would be great to see real changes, moving Iowa back to a balanced, responsive state government, which is why I am inveseting so much of my time and energy in this midterm election. When some of the fantastic candidates we have running all over the state pick up seats in the Iowa House and Senate; when Rob Sand becomes Governor; and when Chris Jones becomes Secretary of Agriculture; that's when real changes start.

That's how we prevent the culture war bills from reaching debate and finally give queer Iowans a break from being the IA GOP's punching bag. That's how we secure desperately needed Iowa water quality initiatives. That's how we change the incentives for farmers from mono-cropping fencepost-to-fencepost, build up our public schools, and require data center projects to fully disclose and take responsibility for their proposals' impacts on water, energy, land, and water.

So, I'm knocking doors, sharing resources, and ensuring that Iowans all across the state have real choices on their ballot this fall, and I want to thank everyone reading for allowing me the chance to continue serving in this role!

If you live in House District 89, there's going to be a lot more on your ballot this fall that candidates. We're going to see three different important ballot initiatives, and I want to share some thoughts about each one.

Statewide Constitutional Amendment: Requires 2/3 of the IA House and Senate to approve any increase to either individual OR corporate income taxes going forward. This is a bad idea, as it will limit our state government response to future situations, nearly guarantee the increase of our state sales tax in the coming decade, and could even lead to taxes on basics, like groceries.
I'll be voting NO.

Kirkwood Community College Bond: The entire 18-county region served by Kirkwood gets to weigh in on their bond to expand learning labs and update facilities for high demand jobs such as nursing and healthcare, business and IT, advanced manufacturing and trades, & emergency response. For all of this, we are each asked for under $10 for each $100,000 of value in our property.

I'll be voting YES.

Johnson County Jail Bond: We need a jail, by law and by societal need. We need a new jail; the current building is in terrible condition and does not have the space that it needs to be safe and best implement the kinds of evidence-based, compassionate programs that Johnson County expects from our government services, including for those charged with a crime. We need a jail that allows for in-person visits and private medical conversations. We need it to be a healthy workplace for staff. We need it to have space to separate people who are in crisis or dangerous to one another. We need to keep folks from our community in our community when they're arrested, not ship them to Washington, Cedar Rapids, Marengo, and jails even further away.

AND the proposed jail includes the potential for a lot of those things. The medical section is a major improvement, and the size means that our county would rarely need to jail people across county lines anymore. Those are both significant improvements.

BUT, this proposal includes a lot more than that, and the price tag reflects it. $94.5 million is a lot of money, and only 45% of that is for the jail- the other $51,975,000 is for the new Sheriff's Office, integrated into the project and the bond proposal.

The proposed location is also a concern for me- it's out Melrose far enough that most JoCo residents only know the area if they go past it on their way to the landfill. When someone's arrested, their car doesn't come with them, so what happens to folks who are released on a daily basis (as most are from our jail- in July '26, 387 bookings and 385 releases) and then there's no transportation for them to get back into town? I'm told, "Well, the city will have to plan for a bus line going out there," but that's not agreed upon and would be an additional cost to the Iowa City residents of HD89, since no lines currently go further west than Westwinds Dr. 


TLDR: I don't get to vote on my ideal jail proposal; I only get to vote on the one on my ballot, and I will be honest. I'm still undecided. I urge everyone in JoCo to learn as much as they can, ask all of their questions, and share the answers, making sure that our community members go to the polls as educated voters.