After the current Iowa Legislature session is over, a real scramble will begin as state legislators and challengers have to introduce themselves to new electorates. The 2020s redistricting plan, for the first time since the 1970s,* separates Traer from Tama-Toledo, and for the first time pairs part of Tama County with part of Cedar Falls.
As things currently stand, there will be an incumbent-on-incumbent primary in one of the Tama County districts and an open seat in the other.
Rep. Dave Maxwell, who’s in far southern Poweshiek County, is paired up with Rep. Dean Fisher of western Tama County. By the end of January, both Republicans had announced plans to run for re-election, reported the Tama-Toledo News-Chronicle. New District 53 is the southernmost state House district in the new 2nd Congressional District.
The district including the south half of Cedar Falls along with eight other cities will not have any present legislative member. The North Tama Telegraph reports that Rep. Dave Williams, D-Cedar Falls, is not running in new District 76. The article link includes a map of the new district, which the Princeton Gerrymandering Project estimates as about a 59-41 Republican lean. The district does not include the UNI campus or the College Square commercial area, but its northernmost bound is Seerley Boulevard between them.
*The Management is aware of the decade-ago promise to re-create older redistricting maps. The hamsters are taking their sweet time to get back on the wheel. — Ed.