Heather Hora faces challenger Anna Banowsky in race for Iowa House District 92 seat

Republican Incumbent Heather Hora, who was elected to her first term in the Iowa House in 2022, is facing a challenge from newcomer Democrat Anna Banowsky for Iowa House District 92.

The district includes all of Washington County and part of Johnson County. Early voting began Oct. 16. Election Day is Nov. 5.

Neither Banowsky nor Hora faced primary challengers to advance to the general election.

Anna Banowsky

Banowsky, 26, is a graduate student and teaching assistant at the University of Iowa. The daughter of a schoolteacher, Banowsky is focusing her campaign on advocating for education, including “affordability and accessibility of two-year colleges.”

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“I want to live in a state that prioritizes public education because I want all Iowa students to graduate from the K-12 system with the necessary skills to pursue further education or enter the workforce,” Banowsky wrote in a candidate questionnaire from The Gazette.

She believes the state should repeal the Education Savings Accounts program that provides public funds for private school enrollment. Instead, she said that money should be spent on public education.

The Washington resident ranks reproductive freedom and mental health care access as the other two most important issues facing the state.

“I believe in a woman’s right to choose her own health care. I think that choosing to be or not to be a mother is a hugely personal choice, and not one that should be forced on someone,” Banowsky wrote. “The 6-week abortion ban is wrong for Iowa.”

If elected, Banowsky said she would want to tackle the mental health crisis on a county level and is in favor of allocating state funds to do so. She said the need for access care — both routine and crisis care — is “most felt in rural districts.”

“I’m in favor of state-funded, locally-run mental health programs, as each county has unique needs and should be able to determine what works best for their residents,” Banowsky wrote in the questionnaire. “I also propose that any state funding include a research component to assess the efficacy of these programs.”

She said counties should be able to pick the “programs that make sense” for them, whether that’s building a crisis center, hiring mental health professionals, training current health care professionals, investing in telehealth, or another option.

Heather Hora

Hora, a fifth generation farmer, is seeking her second term representing House District 92 after winning a first term in 2022.

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During her time in office, Hora has supported legislation creating Education Savings Accounts; expanding medical coverage for firefighters with cancer; limiting diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the state’s three universities; increasing teacher pay; and overhauling the state’s area education agencies.

She pointed to property taxes, affordable housing and education as the three most important issues facing the state. On these issues she said she will work to “get something meaningful done” to help Iowans with property tax bills. As the state phases in tax cuts, it “must maintain control over spending,” Hora said.

“Returning Iowa taxpayers' hard earned money should remain priority one while still meeting the priorities of the government,” she wrote in a candidate questionnaire from The Gazette. “I believe we need to make government better, simpler and faster.”

Hora, 54, said she will advocate for protecting homebuilders and homebuyers from “increased government regulations and unnecessary code changes” that make homeownership expensive. She also wants to give school boards more flexibility to decide how to spend funds, and she wants to “empower” teachers.

“We need to empower teachers in the classroom, giving them the disciplinary tools they need to allow for better learning environments,” Hora wrote in a candidate questionnaire from The Gazette. She also said she would advocate for more mental health professionals in schools.

Hora supported a bill that bans abortion once cardiac activity can be detected in an embryo or fetus through a transabdominal ultrasound, which is typically at roughly six weeks of pregnancy. Hora said now that the law is in effect, the legislature should focus on “fighting for policies that promote life and support strong families in Iowa.”

“There is so much we can do in this regard. For example, we can work to improve our foster care and adoption systems, increase access to quality maternal health care, provide support for women suffering from postpartum depression, provide financial and educational support for new parents, particularly in the case of unplanned pregnancies, and expand access to quality and affordable childcare,” she wrote in the questionnaire. “I would support looking at ways we can address better access to contraception and support for families struggling with infertility.”

District voter breakdown

Iowa House District 92 has a total of 21,346 registered voters, 5,679 of which are inactive. Of the active voters, 4,388 are registered as Democrats and 6,789 are registered as Republicans. There also are 79 active voters registered as Libertarian, 4,391 registered as no party, and 20 listed as other parties, according to Oct. 1 data from the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office.

Comments: megan.woolard@thegazette.com