Meggers

With the decennial census and legislative redistricting process recently completed, portions of the State House and State Senate maps have been left without an incumbent candidate headed into the 2022 November election.

For the past 10 years the city of Reinbeck and Grundy County have been represented by Rep. Pat Grassley (R-New Hartford) in House District 50.

Grassley resides in Butler County and will be running for his ninth term in the newly formed House District 57 which no longer includes Grundy County.

Grundy County was instead placed in House District 54 with Hardin County and a small portion of western Black Hawk County.

With no incumbent residing in the newly formed House District 54, two candidates, both from the Republican Party, have stepped forward to run for the open seat. Conversely, the Democratic Party has yet to announce a candidate for the race.

Josh Meggers of Grundy Center announced in early January his intent to run for the office. Though the candidate filing period has not officially opened, it appears as though Meggers will be facing off against BJ Hoffman in a primary race for the Republican nomination in the November election.

Meggers is a career law enforcement professional, taking a Bachelor’s degree in criminology from Upper Iowa University into full-time work as an officer with the Belle Plaine Police Department in the early 2000s.

In 2005 Meggers took a job opportunity with the Iowa State Patrol and has been a state trooper for the past 16 years.

The House 54 race is Meggers’ first run for public office and he said the biggest driving factor behind his decision to seek election was a desire to see revitalization brought to rural areas like the communities in District 54.

Meggers grew up in the unincorporated community of Buckingham in northern Tama County, graduating with the Class of 1999 from Hudson High School.

“For me, economic development is very important,” Meggers said. “A lot of the businesses that I remember growing up are now gone. And I think that it’s important to have somebody coming from a rural community like Buckingham that has the passion for small towns and being a voice to help bring businesses and jobs to the community.”

Meggers said he hopes to work toward that priority in the Iowa House by finding ways to lower corporate tax rates to incentivize new business development as well as property tax rates to attract people who might be open to moving into rural communities.

Another platform priority for Meggers is a focus on legislative partnerships with schools.

“As a representative, I’d like to work closely with our school boards to first learn about the successes they’ve experienced and then to find ways to connect those good ideas to more schools so that other districts can also prosper,” Meggers said.

In the coming weeks Meggers plans to meet with a number of governmental councils and boards in the House District 54 region to introduce his campaign and to hear some of the concerns and issues going on at the local level.

In late January he made a visit to the Reinbeck Fire Department where the group discussed funding for emergency services as well as the increasing problem of volunteer recruitment and retention.

Meggers lives in Grundy Center with his wife Danielle who is also in law enforcement, serving as a sergeant for the Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office. The two have a daughter that attends Grundy Center Middle School.

In his free time Meggers enjoys riding his Harley Davidson motorcycle, spending time with family and friends and attending school events for his daughter.