Youth vs. experience in House 68 Democratic race

DES MOINES - A late-developing primary race in a Linn County Iowa legislative district will pit one candidate's fresh perspective against another's life experience.

Sam Gray, 21, of Marion and Molly Donahue, 48, of Cedar Rapids are seeking the Democratic nomination n House 69, which includes Marion, Bertram, Ely and Putnam. The winner will face first-term Republican Rep. Ken Rizer, 51, of Cedar Rapids.

Both candidates call education their priority.

'Education is the last place we should be skimping,” said Gray, a Marion High School graduate who will graduate from Kirkwood Community College this spring. Gray, who owns and operates Hawkeye Ag Services, a corn and soybean seed dealership in Linn and Johnson counties, was a delegate to the party's national convention in 2012.

Iowans 'cannot allow Republicans at the state Capitol to dismantle public education with constant delays and inadequate funding,” said Donahue, who began teaching in the Cedar Rapids schools in 1990.

'I will invest in our kids to prepare them for the jobs of the future and guarantee education or training after high school is affordable for every kid,” she said.

Donahue is a graduate of Cedar Rapids Washington High School and has degrees from Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa. She also holds a certification in secondary school administration. She has worked in a variety of schools as a behavior disabilities teacher, was the first teacher at Harambee House, an alternative program for students who had brought weapons to school, and was an at-risk facilitator at McKinley Middle School. She is a behavior disorders teacher at Harding Middle School.

Both are critical of what Donahue calls 'the governor's Medicaid privatization mess that is disrupting life for too many families in our community who can't even get answers to their basic questions.”

Donahue wants to make child care more affordable.

Gray criticized Rizer for letting a Medicaid bill the Democratic-controlled Senate sent to the House die in Commerce Committee.

'He hasn't been putting people first,” Gray said.

Both candidates want to raise the minimum wage, and Gray is calling for tax breaks for the middle class - 'not just the folks at the very top.” He's also calling for policies to that to further foster development of Iowa's wind and solar infrastructure.

Gray jumped into the race early last year before Rizer took his seat in the Iowa House. Donahue, who filed March 18, the last day for candidates to turn in nomination papers, said she's 'one of the new recruits” of House Minority Leader Mark Smith, D-Marshalltown.

'The best way to beat Ken Rizer is to draw deep contrasts,” Gray said. 'I think I offer the best contrast.”

Donahue said she's the better challenger because of her knowledge of state issues, especially education, and 'very vocal, very active” participation in other campaigns.

'I have more life experience,” she said.

House members are paid $25,000 a year and serve two-year terms.

For more about Gray's campaign, visit www.grayforia.com

Donahue's website is under construction.