Political newcomer eyes Dawn Driscoll’s Senate District 46

Democrat and political newcomer Ed Chabal, a retired school finance officer for the Mount Pleasant Community School District, is vying in the Nov. 5 elections to unseat two-term incumbent Republican state Sen. Dawn Driscoll in District 46.

The district includes Washington, Kalona and parts of Johnson County. As of Oct. 1, the district reported 35,409 total active voters, according to the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office — including 14,564 Republicans and 9,860 Democrats.

Ed Chabal

“What I've seen in the last couple of years that's happened to public schools has been troubling to me,” Chabal, 64, said about why he decided to run for elected office. "The inadequate funding, not keeping up with inflation, and the school voucher bill that was passed the previous year, and then also the whole AEA reorganization.“

Referencing a 2024 law to change the funding model of Iowa’s area education agencies and a 2023 law offering taxpayer dollars to Iowa families wanting to enroll in private schools, Chabal said, “I just want to make sure our public schools are strong.”

“They’re the backbone of our communities — the foundation,” he said. “And taking away funding, taking away services … I just see it as a deterioration of our public schools.”

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Chabal, who retired from his school finance job in August, grew up in the district --- “on a farm between Kalona and Washington.“

Calling himself a “pretty moderate person,” Chabal said he’s hopeful residents of the district will be open-minded and up for discussion and education.

“I hope they will vote on the issues instead of just for a political party,” he said, identifying education and the environment among the most important challenges facing Iowa in the coming years.

“We need to fund research to get to the bottom of why Iowa is second in the country in cancer rates,” he said in connection with his assertion Iowa needs to address environmental issues.

“We must continue to investigate cancer clusters to research the complex combination of factors that are leading to the cancers,” he said. “We must also incentivize known ways to reduce cancers such as radon mitigation or reverse osmosis systems to filter water — especially in our rural areas.”

Dawn Driscoll

Driscoll — a sixth-generation farmer, wife and mother living in Williamsburg — didn’t respond to emails and phone calls from The Gazette for this article. She also didn’t attend an Oct. 9 League of Women Voters forum held in Kalona to discuss her candidacy.

On her campaign website, Driscoll, 45, lists among her legislative priorities continued tax cuts, expanded opportunities in agriculture and parental rights in education.

“In the Iowa Senate I ensured parents had the option of full-time, in-person school and parents made the decision on whether or not their children wore a mask to school,” according to her website. “I supported the Parents’ Bill of Rights, guaranteeing parents a clear and consistent path to classroom materials and curriculum.”

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Driscoll voted for the 2023 bill allowing public dollars to be used for private school tuition.

She also in her most recent Senate term served as chair of the agriculture committee — having previously been president of the Iowa County Farm Bureau — and sponsored more than a dozen bills and resolutions over her time in the Legislature, including one supporting increased protection for America’s borders.

She backed a resolution recognizing the term “brain health” in light of stigma around the term “mental health,” and during her first term signed a joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Iowa Constitution declaring it “shall not be construed to recognize, grant, or secure a right to abortion or to require the public funding of abortion.” Iowa Republicans have since abandoned the proposed amendment after the Iowa Supreme Court ruled abortion is not among the rights guaranteed by the Iowa Constitution.

Driscoll first was elected in 2020 to represent Senate District 38 — which included her home community of Williamsburg, along with Marengo, Keystone and Vinton. After the state in November 2021 approved revised legislative maps, Williamsburg fell into District 46, which newly included Wellman, Kalona and Washington.

Driscoll won her first general election to represent Senate District 38 by a nearly 10,000-vote margin at 64 percent to 36 percent. In 2022 for the revised District 46 seat, Driscoll won by a more narrow 2,200-vote margin at 54 percent to 46 percent.

Fundraising

As far as fundraising goes, Driscoll has a much more financially-robust support system — reporting $118,259 in cash on hand at the end of her most recently-filed disclosure Monday.

Driscoll’s biggest financial contributors include the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation Political Action Committee, which has given her $18,500 this cycle, and political action committees affiliated with manufactured housing, the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, and Deere & Company.

Chabal’s most recent filing from July showed his cash on hand at $10,967.

His largest contributors include the Washington County and Iowa County Democratic committees.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com