T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY Republican Iowa Senate District 26 candidates Gannon Hendrick, left, and Kara Warme, second from left, and House District 51 hopefuls Brett Barker, second from right, and Marty Chitty, right, participated in a forum hosted by the Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce at Dejardin Hall on the MCC campus Thursday night.

A total of four Republican candidates hoping to represent the area in the Iowa Legislature took the stage during a forum hosted by the Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce at Dejardin Hall on the Marshalltown Community College (MCC) campus on Thursday night, sharing their qualifications and answering questions curated by Chamber President/CEO John Hall, who served as the moderator.

In Senate District 26, which includes all of Marshall County and a large portion of Story County outside of Ames, Gannon Hendrick of McCallsburg and Kara Warme of rural Ames are vying for the GOP nomination to replace retiring Sen. Jeff Edler (R-State Center), and in House District 51, which covers roughly ¾ of Marshall County outside of Marshalltown proper and most of Story County, Brett Barker and Marty Chitty, both of Nevada, are in the running to fill the seat currently held by retiring Rep. Dave Deyoe, also of Nevada. Barker and Chitty, though opponents in the race, are already highly familiar with each other as the former is the mayor of the city and the latter is the school board president.

During his introductory remarks, Hendrick, who is the chief of staff for Senate President Amy Sinclair (R-Allerton) and a former Colo-NESCO school board member, touted his credentials as a Story County native, a lifelong Republican, an active cattle farmer and a combat veteran who has served in the Army Reserve for almost 22 years.

“I think it’s important that the people of Senate District 26 have a conservative Republican option to vote for in the Senate primary. I am the only lifelong Iowan, (and) I am the only lifelong Republican running for this seat,” he said.

Warme, the chief development officer at YSS and an alumni of Stanford University who is raising two daughters with her husband Bryan, highlighted her family’s history of service as she was born in California while her father, a Vietnam veteran, was stationed in San Diego as a member of the U.S. Navy.

“My decision to run for the Iowa Senate is rooted in my deep connection to this local community and our core values of family, faith, hard work and education,” she said. “I’m proud of my dad’s Navy service. He was a fighter pilot in Vietnam, and raising us girls, we learned the values of service, patriotism and discipline. As we enter Memorial Day weekend, I thank the veterans who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in giving us a chance to have an open discussion like this tonight, so I welcome that and I look forward to it. I’m running for the Iowa Senate because I want Iowa to be the best place in the nation to raise a family for generations to come.”

Barker, a University of Iowa graduate, pharmacist by trade and a father of five along with his wife Tracy, highlighted his credentials in creating a healthy business climate and attracting growth in development in his adopted hometown.

“We’ve had small business growth, industry growth, agriculture growth, renewable energy and so forth, which I really feel like is a model that Iowa communities can use and is one big reason I’m running,” he said. “I understand how to make our communities strong with job opportunities for future generations so my kids, your kids, your grandkids want to stay in this state, and I’ll use that experience to fight for policies that are right for you and will move Iowa forward.”

Chitty, who in addition to his current title on the Nevada school board previously served on the Story County Board of Supervisors, shared that he, Barker and Hall had all worked together on the Nevada Economic Development Commission (NEDC). He is the son and grandson of farmers and has spent his professional career in the mechanical engineering and HVAC fields.

“I will tell you, in the District 51 that I would be representing, there are eight (school) districts either whole or part. They seem to be the last connective tissue that represents our smaller communities and standing them up and giving them the support we need,” he said. “Fifty-six percent of last year’s budget was for education through the K-12, through the regents, the AEAs, and I’d like to talk about that later. But we value it. That’s our calling card to the world. We raise a tremendous crop of kids, and I’d like to have the opportunity to further the goals of the school districts here in the district that I would like to represent.”

Noting their responses to the T-R’s candidate questionnaire and their general support for the recent actions and policy decisions in the Iowa Legislature, Hall asked each candidate for an issue on which he or she would take an opposing view. For Warme, it was the Area Education Agency (AEA) reform bill as she had heard from teachers, parents and other potential constituents that it caught them “off guard” despite her general agreement with the premise that Iowa spends more than surrounding states on special education with worse outcomes. Barker said he would like to see a Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) reform bill signed into law as he feels it could benefit rural communities and increase their vibrancy. Chitty and Hendrick both advocated for strengthening private property rights in relation to eminent domain for carbon capture pipelines, which has become one of the hottest topics in Iowa over the last few years.

“Eminent domain is a necessary tool in the toolbox under certain circumstances. We all like to have roads. We all like to have natural gas to heat our homes. We all like to have electricity. All of those things require eminent domain to some extent,” Hendrick said. “The however to that is (that) landowners do not have adequate protection in Iowa Code. We need to ensure that landowners have protections so that if they do get eminent domain, they don’t lose things in the process.”

Hendrick then drew the first major contrast of the night between himself and Warme, noting that she accepted $5,000 from Summit Carbon Solutions Co-Founder Bruce Rastetter. Hall then segued into fundraising and the source of each candidate’s donations. Warme said about 75 percent of her dollars came from within Marshall and Story counties without Political Action Committee (PAC) or lobbyist support while Hendrick had received over 70 percent of his contributions from the aforementioned sources along with former elected officials.

Hendrick countered, however, over half of Warme’s donations had come from either California or “Ames liberals” who do not have “rural values,” and 78 percent of them were contributions of over $250. When granted a response, Warme, who lives outside of the city despite having an Ames address, didn’t feel it was fair to assume that those who live in Franklin Township have “liberal values.”

Barker said he had primarily received small dollar donations and admitted that most candidates hate the fundraising aspect of campaigning, and Chitty agreed, noting that the only PAC money he had received was from the Iowa Road Builders, citing his history of paving gravel roads when he was a county supervisor and calling it an issue near and dear to his heart.

The next question was more directly related to carbon capture pipelines and how concerns about private property rights and eminent domain can be balanced with the growth of the ethanol industry in Iowa. All four candidates reiterated their firm support for private property rights, but Barker noted that Iowa ethanol is not currently allowed in airplanes while Brazilian ethanol is.

“For one plant in our district, Lincolnway Energy, $32 million is what that means to them, getting into sustainable aviation fuel. So that’s why it’s a big deal,” Barker said. “Yes, we have to make sure there’s plenty of rights for farmers to make sure their farms are put back like they are because there’s plenty of money out there, and everybody can win.”

Chitty opined that private companies should have to negotiate with landowners or find an alternate means to make projects happen, and he would never take away the right to say no as a legislator. Hendrick advocated for increasing landowner protections in the Iowa Code regardless of the project and felt the Iowa Utilities Board currently has too much power over the process. Warme also mentioned the need to protect Iowa farmland from foreign ownership and promote rural vitality, which includes ethanol.

From there, Hall asked about Tax Increment Financing (TIF), which is used to subsidize development through the temporary forfeiture of revenue by taxing entities like cities, counties and school districts, and its use both locally and across Iowa. Chitty expressed concern about the lack of sunset clause on TIF districts, and Hendrick said there were “good and bad actors” in the system, citing a wind turbine project in eastern Story County and the subsequent dredging of a lake that cost $1.2 million while only creating a bait shop in the process.

Warme felt the decisions would best be left to local governments and didn’t want to throw the proverbial “baby out with the bathwater,” and Barker said it had been a crucial tool in fostering development but also agreed with a recent change to exempt school districts and highlighted negative examples of TIF like Coralville, which used it to poach a Von Maur store from neighboring Iowa City. Roads and infrastructure are always a hot topic in Marshalltown, and Hall then asked if the candidates believed the state should play a role in financing repairs and reconstruction.

“I’ve noticed the infrastructure you’re talking about as I travel through Marshalltown. It’s a little rough in some places, and I think that’s a prime example here at the local level of why we need to ensure that we’re investing appropriately in infrastructure,” Hendrick said.

After the state raised the gas tax, he added, bids from contractors increased accordingly, and he hoped to avoid “shoving more money into the system” and driving inflation. Warme pushed for deregulation to drive down costs and speed up projects, and Barker cited the challenge of keeping aging infrastructure up to date in a state that has the most road miles per population in the U.S. He employed the old adage of eating an elephant one bite at a time and said the state should “absolutely” be a partner in the process.

Barker also worried about the impact of electric vehicles on the system, especially as drivers are not paying the gas tax. Chitty said something needed to be done about the condition of Iowa’s bridges.

“It’s a safety issue. It’s an economic issue, and frankly, it’s the right thing to do, and that would be something I’d love to have my hands on,” he said.

Hall pressed Chitty for specifics, and he advocated for more paving and utilizing state level resources due to Iowa’s advantageous current fiscal position. The moderator moved onto housing development tax credits and filling the need for more units in Iowa. Both Warme and Barker reiterated calls for deregulation, public/private partnerships and “market driven policies.”

“I think there’s a lot of things that the private sector can do faster and less expensive if we get out of their way,” Warme said.

She also felt that a lack of housing is driving mental health problems in the state, and Barker said the 51st District is creating jobs but lacking the housing stock to keep up with demand. In Chitty’s view, the upper stories of downtown buildings should be seen as a prime opportunity to create more housing as younger generations want walking distance and proximity to amenities in the places they live.

“We have to realize that there’s a changing of the guard. Iowa is gonna be different,” he said.

Hendrick was generally opposed to the concept of tax credits and felt the tax code needed to be overhauled to ensure low taxes and a broad base to ensure the government isn’t picking winners and losers.

“We’re not there yet. Until we get there, these tax credits are part of what levels the playing field. At the end of the day, though, Biden’s economy and the hyperinflation that we have suffered through for the last four years is the root of the problem,” Hendrick said. “We’ve got high interest rates. We’ve got high inflation because Joe Biden keeps pumping more federal dollars into the economy without paying for it. That’s gotta stop.”

Hall then asked a texted question from the audience about whether the candidates received federal farm subsidies. Hendrick said because he is strictly a cattle farmer, he had only gotten $1,000 to stay afloat during COVID, and he wasn’t opposed to certain agricultural subsidies to prevent hyperinflation until the government gets completely out of the market. Warme did not believe her corn and soybean received any subsidies; Barker doesn’t have a farm operation, and Chitty said he “just gets a check.”

In response to another audience submitted question — which Hall prefaced by saying the Chamber generally avoids social issues but felt it was worth asking due to its prevalence — all four of the candidates were in agreement about keeping individuals who were born as males from competing in women’s sports.

“At the end of the day, there are biological differences between men and women, and so if we allow men in women’s spaces, the women are not able to compete at that level in spaces. And I think it undermines what they’re doing,” Barker said.

Chitty noted that he had seen former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines speak on her experience competing against transgender athlete Lia Thomas, and Hendrick worked with Edler on a “Bathroom Bill” and banning transition surgeries for minors in the state. Warme, a former college athlete herself, said it was a personal issue for her, and she wasn’t going to shy away from it on the campaign trail.

On education, Chitty objected to the idea that Republicans don’t support public schools, and Hendrick felt that recent moves to increase school choice like Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) were steps in the right direction. He would like to tackle the funding formula for districts, some that border each other, to improve economic development and recruitment of new residents. Warme also advocated for parental choice and getting “back to the basics” in education while promoting mental health among students, and Barker said kids needed to learn how to become “lifelong learners” and consider trade programs as opposed to the traditional four-year college route.

During his closing remarks, Hendrick again sought to distinguish himself from his opponent by noting that he has always been registered as a Republican and touted Edler’s endorsement.

“I didn’t grow up in California. I wasn’t a registered Democrat. I’ve never done any of those things, and I think that’s important for the people of Senate District 26 to know as they cast their vote,’ he said.

Warme expressed pride in her background and the fact that she and her husband chose to make Iowa their home along with being a person who works, lives, farms, pays property taxes, volunteers and leads a number of community organizations.

“Those are all things that connect me to what voters here are looking for, and so what I would say to you is (that) my loyalty would be to you. I’m Team Senate District 26. My desire is to listen to you, to represent you, to honor God first, to honor our country, and to represent you, I’d be honored to do that, and I ask for your vote,” she said.

Barker recalled trips to almost every gravel road in HD51 and said he wouldn’t be outworked either in the campaign or as a legislator.

“Ultimately, I’m running because of the depth and breadth of experience I have in economic development, health care, rural issues, foster care, and having that voice to be able to enact good policy at the state so that our kids and grandkids can be in a place that they can continue to thrive,” he said. “My record as a leader is full of big dreams that have been turned into reality by getting the right people at the table, being persistent, being tenacious and making sure that we see them through.”

He also asked the audience of about 15 to continue to pray for all four of the candidates. Chitty agreed that running for office is not an easy task and touted his longstanding history of public service.

“I would ask that you consider the breadth and the depth of my elective office. The people of Story County and my community keep placing me back in positions of power to do change on their behalf, so I would appreciate your vote on June 4,” he said.

The forum was also live streamed via KDAO Radio. In-person absentee voting is underway and is open through Monday, June 3 at the Marshall County Election Center on weekdays excluding Memorial Day from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and also on Saturday, June 1 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.