Iowa Senate District 30

We've got some interesting things going on with this senate seat here in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls area, so thought I'd try to catch you up on it a little.

Democratic Senator Jeff Danielson resigned from his senate seat Thursday, which he had held since 2005. The district is considered a swing district. https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2019/02/14/iowa-senate-democratic-senator-jeff-danielson-resigns-democrat-special-election-cedar-falls/2875742002/

My understanding is he resigned from the Iowa Senate because he is also resigning from his job with the Cedar Falls Fire Department. Not many jobs will let you have the time off to go to Des Moines and be in the legislature periodically. Apparently he has accepted another job in the Cedar Valley, but has not disclosed about it publicly yet.

Why did he resign from the fire department? Well, Cedar Falls has been using dual-trained (police & fire) public safety officers (PSOs). Many of the existing firefighters feel that is a much less safe way of protecting the public, and ten have resigned. The city says using PSOs is just as safe and saves money. For myself, it seems strange to me that so many firefighters feel so strongly about this that they gave up their livelihoods.

The most likely Republican candidate is the abominable Walt Rogers, who lost his house seat last November to Dave Williams. Both Williams and Bob Kressig, the other House representative from Danielson's district, have said they are not interested in the Senate seat. However, there are already two possible Democratic candidates: Amy Peterson, a UNI Special Education professor, and Tom Ralston, a local labor leader. As usual, Bleeding Heartland has great information: https://www.bleedingheartland.com/2019/02/16/two-democrats-running-for-iowa-senate-district-30-special/

A special district convention will pick the Democratic nominee on February 23. Rumors are flying that Governor Reynolds will opt to have the special election during spring break, to lessen the impact of votes from UNI students.