Sen. Annette Sweeney (R-Iowa Falls).

The state legislative election picture became clearer last week following the Friday filing deadline for Republican and Democrat candidates to appear on the ballot for the June primary election.

The current midterm election cycle marks the first foray into the new legislative districts that were drawn and approved by the state legislature last fall using the 2020 census statistics.

Within the three legislative districts that will be encompassed within the Sun Courier coverage area, the biggest change geographically came with new Senate District 27.

During the previous 10-year district cycle Grundy County was grouped with Hardin County and portions of Story County and Butler County. Tama County meanwhile was attached with Marshall County in a tidy, two-county footprint.

Senate District 27 will now include both Tama and Grundy counties as well Hardin County, Poweshiek County and a small portion of Black Hawk County. This makes it one of largest Senate districts east of Interstate 35, akin to the sprawling districts seen in much of western Iowa.

Cox

Republican incumbent senator Annette Sweeney of Buckeye is the lone candidate vying for the Republican nomination while first-time challenger Sam Cox of Grinnell was the only candidate to file for the Democratic nomination.

Sweeney will be seeking her second full term in the senate after being elected twice in 2018. In April of 2018 Sweeney won a special election to fill a senate seat vacancy left by the unexpected departure of Sen. Bill Dix of Shell Rock. Later that year the same seat was up in the November general election. Both the special election and general election were won by Sweeney over Democrat Tracy Frese of Dike.

Sweeney works on a family cattle operation and is a former teacher, state representative and business owner.

The presumptive Democratic nominee for the District 27 comes from the opposite end of the district in Poweshiek County.

Sam Cox is a small-business owner from Grinnell, operating the Saints Rest coffee house in the downtown Grinnell area since 2013.

Rep. Joshua Meggers (R-Grundy Center).

House District 54

A primary race for the Republican nomination in the newly formed Iowa House District 54 took an unexpected turn in recent weeks as Hardin County Supervisor BJ Hoffman bowed out of the race and endorsed another candidate.

In a Facebook post on March 21 Hoffman said, “The timing wasn’t right for my family and I. We have to trust our hearts first and my heart said it wasn’t the time.”

Hoffman then offered words of encouragement in his endorsement of Republican candidate Robert Nazario. Nazario is a retired merchant marine living in rural Iowa Falls.

Also on the primary ballot is Joshua Meggers of Grundy Center. Like Nazario, Meggers is a first-time candidate for state office. He announced his campaign in January. Meggers works as a state trooper for the Iowa State Patrol.

Nazario

Whichever candidate emerges from the June 7 Republican primary is likely to carry the November election as there were no Democrats that filed to run for the rural House 54 seat. Iowa House District 54 includes Grundy County, Hardin County and the same western sliver of Black Hawk County contained in Senate District 27.

House District 53

In Tama County, a pair of incumbent representatives will be facing off in the upcoming June Republican primary.

Republican incumbent representative Dave Maxwell of Gibson and fellow GOP incumbent representative Dean Fisher of Montour both filed for election to seek the party’s nomination in the newly constructed House District 53.

The new district includes Poweshiek County and all but the northeastern corner of Tama County.

Maxwell

Maxwell and Fisher entered the legislature at the same time following the 2012 election, Maxwell serving Poweshiek County and part of Iowa County and Fisher serving Tama County and part of Marshall County over the past 10 years.

On the Democrat side of the primary, challenger Sarah Smith of Grinnell has filed to run a second time after a 2020 bid to defeat Maxwell for the Iowa House 76 seat fell short.

Smith, who is running unopposed in the June primary, currently works as the Director of Program Outreach & Events for Grinnell College.

Voters will head to the polls on June 7 to cast their ballot for the party nominations to the November general election.

To vote in the primary election voters must be registered as a member of one of the two political parties. Those seeking absentee ballots for the June primary have until May 23 to turn in an absentee ballot request form.

Rep. Fisher (R-Montour)

For voting or voter registration questions, contact the county auditor’s office.

Smith (D-Grinnell)