Spool of voting stickers. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

TAMA COUNTY – A three-way race for the Republican nomination to run against Democratic incumbent senator Eric Giddens in the November 2024 general election is one of several area state legislature primary contests to take shape in the wake of last Friday’s candidate filing deadline.

Sen. Giddens – currently in his first full term – represents Senate District 38 which encompasses parts of three counties including the northeast corner of Tama County – Traer, Dysart, and Buckingham – as well as the Black Hawk County communities of Cedar Falls, Hudson, Evansdale, Elk Run Heights, Gilbertville, Washburn, and LaPorte City, and a sliver of Benton County including Mount Auburn.

Republicans James McCullagh, Steve Schmitt, and Dave Sires have all filed to run in the June GOP primary for the chance to take on Giddens.

McCullagh, a newcomer to elected office, is a Cedar Falls native. He holds a PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan. According to his campaign website, he is the inventor of novel vibrational energy circuits. He returned home to Iowa to care for his family including his late parents, James (Jim) McCullagh and Cheryl Edwards McCullagh.

Waterloo businessman Steve Schmitt previously served for 12 years on the Waterloo City Council. He was also co-chair for the Black Hawk County Republican Central Committee from 2002 through 2008. According to a campaign press release, Schmitt began his professional career in the railroad industry working as a locomotive engineer for the Illinois Central Railroad. In 1983 he began working in the telecommunications industry before starting his own company, Schmitt Telecom Partners. He sold the company in 2016 but continued as the company’s vice president of telecommunications. Today he works as the company’s director of telecommunications sales.

Incumbent Sen. Eric Giddens, center, submits his nomination papers for the Iowa Senate District 38 Democratic primary at the State Capitol in Des Moines earlier this month. PHOTO COURTESY OF ERIC GIDDENS

Businessman Dave Sires – a ‘lifelong Iowan’ – served four years on the Cedar Falls City Council beginning in 2019. He owns the manufactured housing community Cedar Village Community as well as Added Self Storage. In early 2022, Sires donated a 55-foot aerial ladder truck to the City of Traer. At the time of his donation, Sires told the newspaper he bought the 1990 truck for fun but felt it could be put to better use by a small town fire department. In 2021, Sires ran for mayor of Cedar Falls but lost in a run-off to incumbent mayor Rob Green.

House District 76

Incumbent state Rep. Derek Wulf was the only Republican to file papers for House District 76 which includes Clark, Perry, Geneseo, and Buckingham townships in northeast Tama County, three rural townships in northwest Benton County, and the Black Hawk County areas surrounding and including Hudson, La Porte City, Gilbertville, Evansdale, and Elk Run Heights, as well as much of Cedar Falls proper.

Wulf, a young farmer and rancher who lives in rural Hudson, is finishing up his first term in the Iowa House.

Challenger Jarred Johnston of Dysart was the only candidate to file for the Democratic nomination. Johnston is currently in his fourth year as a social studies teacher at Waterloo West High School where he is also a member of both the varsity football and basketball coaching staffs.

Republican James McCullagh, right, submits his nomination papers for the Iowa Senate District 38 Republican primary to Secretary of State Paul Pate at the State Capitol in Des Moines earlier this month. PHOTO COURTESY OF IOWA SECRETARY OF STATE'S OFFICE

House District 53

A three-way race is also shaping up for the Democratic nomination to run in House District 53 against longtime incumbent Dean Fisher, a Republican from Montour.

House District 53 covers all of Poweshiek County and most of Tama County excluding the northeast corner.

Democratic candidates John Anderson of Tama, Tommy Hexter of Grinnell, and Jennifer Wrage of rural Gladbrook have all filed to run in the June primary.

Anderson, a engineering technician, previously ran for the statehouse in 2020, losing to Christina Blackcloud in the primary. He also ran for Tama Mayor last November which he lost to incumbent mayor Brian Hanus.

Republican Steve Schmitt, left, submits his nomination papers for the Iowa Senate District 38 Republican primary to Secretary of State Paul Pate at the State Capitol in Des Moines earlier this month. PHOTO COURTESY OF IOWA SECRETARY OF STATE'S OFFICE

Hexter currently works as a rural organizer for the Iowa Farmers Union while also serving as executive director of Grinnell Farm to Table. In 2020, he was elected to the Poweshiek County Soil and Water Conservation District.

Wrage is currently a sixth grade teacher for the Gladbrook-Reinbeck Community School District in Reinbeck. Her husband Nathan Wrage previously ran for the Iowa House in 2016.

Republican Dave Sires submits his nomination papers for the Iowa Senate District 38 Republican primary to Secretary of State Paul Pate at the State Capitol in Des Moines earlier this month. PHOTO COURTESY OF IOWA SECRETARY OF STATE'S OFFICE

Incumbent Rep. Derek Wulf, right, submits his nomination papers for the Iowa House District 76 Republican primary to Secretary of State Paul Pate at the State Capitol in Des Moines earlier this month. PHOTO COURTESY OF IOWA SECRETARY OF STATE'S OFFICE

Jarred Johnston, formerly of Dysart, submits his nomination papers for the Iowa House District 76 Democratic primary at the State Capitol in Des Moines in early March. PHOTO COURTESY OF IOWA SECRETARY OF STATE'S OFFICE

Incumbent Rep. Dean Fisher, left, submits his nomination papers for the Iowa House District 53 Republican primary to Secretary of State Paul Pate at the State Capitol in Des Moines earlier this month. PHOTO COURTESY OF IOWA SECRETARY OF STATE'S OFFICE

Tommy Hexter of Grinnell submits his nomination papers for the Iowa House District 53 Democratic primary at the State Capitol in Des Moines earlier this month. Hexter is one of three Democrats vying for the chance to take on longtime incumbent Rep. Dean Fisher, a Republican from Montour, in the November general election. Photos of candidates John Andersen of Tama and Jennifer Wrage of Gladbrook were not available. PHOTO COURTESY OF IOWA SECRETARY OF STATE'S OFFICE