Susie Weinacht, Elizabeth Wilson running to represent parts of Cedar Rapids, Marion in Iowa House

Susie Weinacht, Republican

Elizabeth Wilson, Democrat

Two former elected officials are vying for the House District 73 seat to represent a portion of Cedar Rapids and much of the north and eastern sides of Marion.

The race pits Republican Susie Weinacht, a former Cedar Rapids City Council member, against Democrat Elizabeth Wilson, a former Linn-Mar school board member, in the Nov. 8 midterm elections.

The district has 6,955 registered Democrats, 6,685 registered Republicans and 6,733 registered no-party voters.

Susie Weinacht

Weinacht, 59, has served on a number of statewide, regional and local boards and commissions, as well as several nonprofit panels.

“I’ve often been asked why I do what I do for the community,” she said on her website. “Not many folks know how my experiences in foster care and as a free-lunch student shaped my passion for helping create a future where we can responsibly care for the most vulnerable amongst us.”

In a Gazette candidate survey, Weinacht said she considers workforce, economic growth and education to be her top priorities that require a multipronged approach to address and attract people to move to Iowa. She favors considering investments in quality-of-life infrastructure.

Weinacht said she supports “simplifying the property tax structure” but did not elaborate on her approach.

Additionally, Weinacht said Iowans’ access to abortion, “upon settling of time limitation” for the procedure, should include exceptions in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the woman.

Regarding Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds’ proposal to divert public funds toward a voucher program to help students attend private schools, Weinacht said, “The public, teachers, parents and students deserve to be included in a robust conversation regarding public education that addresses the root cause of the support for vouchers.” She did not say whether she backed the proposal.

Weinacht did not respond to multiple requests from The Gazette to clarify her stances.

Elizabeth Wilson

Wilson, 58, a small-business owner, said her parents didn’t have a high school education and her dad was disabled when she was young, and her family was on welfare for many years. Her upbringing, though, “didn’t curtail my opportunity to pursue the American dream,” she said.

Wilson moved out west from 1999 until shortly after the flood of 2008, when she returned to Iowa to raise her two children in a state with a quality education system.

“I got tired of the polarization between the two parties and feeling like nothing’s getting done because people don’t know how to talk to each other anymore,” Wilson said. “ … I want to make this place better for my kids and for their kids.”

Wilson said she supports protecting reproductive rights so that health care decisions remain between a woman and her doctor.

Additionally, she wants to lower costs for Iowans by making child care and health care, including mental health care, affordable to access.

To attract and retain the workforce, Wilson said she wants to provide a world-class educational experience by providing schools with sufficient resources. She opposes the school voucher proposal.

Wilson said she fully supports LGBTQ rights, including the inclusive policy the Linn-Mar school board adopted to protect the privacy of transgender students, if that’s the student’s wish.

“I think when kids are in school, we've got to do what's right for kids,” Wilson said. “And, of course, parents should always be involved in terms of what's right in the schools, but I fully support what the school board did in that transaction.”