Meet David Maier, Cedar Rapids’ new City Council member

CEDAR RAPIDS — After entering the race for a Cedar Rapids City Council seat last summer, David Maier considered what type of campaign he wanted to run: Should he focus on those with similar backgrounds, the same education and income levels? Would he be best served by sticking to the winning policy points of roads and flood protection?

Friends and political strategists suggested Maier take those approaches to securing local office — ones that assume it’s unlikely to bring new voices into the process, to bring disparate groups together to work toward a common cause.

But Maier’s “aha” moment came when Rachel Cohen, who works for the Catherine McAuley Center, looked him in the eye and said: “I challenge you to be your authentic self to the entire community. Don’t just focus on people who you perceive to be like you. You need to outreach to everyone in the community.”

“It really stuck with me, and as a result, I made sure that I campaigned throughout the city,” Maier said.

So, Maier set out to successfully unseat an incumbent and secure an at-large seat on the nine-member council by knocking doors in neighborhoods where he didn’t know people, where the residents didn’t all look like him. Lacking the typical network of the business and development community, he initially leaned on his own resources to fuel his campaign with a $10,000 loan. He advertised through billboards, yard signs and text messages to voters.

Considering Maier prevailed as the second top vote-getter in the three-way race for an at-large seat, defeating incumbent Pat Loeffler, his strategy worked. He received 24.43 percent of 30,529 votes cast in the race.

Maier’s campaign reflected his identity as a Cedar Rapidian who promotes small businesses and is involved with community nonprofits and the arts. He’s a gay man from Chicago who chose to move to Cedar Rapids in 2018. And he’s looking to represent the entire city, not just the southeast side he calls home.

His campaign outreach “framed my going into City Council to be a representative of the people,” said Maier, 56, finance and control manager for Transamerica.

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‘Clear and honest perspective’

When Maier launched his bid for council, he said he encountered local officials and political strategists who discouraged him from entering the race, or said he would need to criticize his opponents or existing policies to win as a nonincumbent.

“For a first-time candidate who had demonstrated his love and passion for the city and especially for underserved in the community and the performing arts, was trying to make the city better for everyone — I would have thought that there would have been more appreciation for a new person getting into politics,” Maier said.

Seeing a need to attract new voices into the process, Maier said he intends to mentor prospective candidates to run for and hold public office. Council members haven’t indicated plans for seeking another term, but Maier said it’s important to build the bench of future city policymakers — even if that means he has an opponent.

Ruth White, founder and director of the Academy for Scholastic and Personal Success, said she hopes to see Maier bring a fresh perspective to the council but remain the community-oriented person of integrity he is today.

“I believe that a person with his heart and his expertise can do a lot of good,” White said. “I would hate to see him turned into something other than what he is now, and I know politics can do that. I think he’s above that.“

While it may be some time before the council weighs in again on school resource officers, White said, she hopes he can influence such issues that have typically been contentious or “an amalgamation of seemingly separate entities that can work together and often don’t.” Maier hopes to offer momentum on other pressing issues facing Cedar Rapids, including homelessness and the shortage of quality affordable housing.

“He’s a rare kind of person to put his hat into a political ring, but I think that he probably believes … that if not him, who? If not now, when in terms of providing a clear and honest perspective on things that’s not sullied by other motivations,” White said.

Historic first for LGBTQ community

On the campaign trail, Maier shared with voters that he lived with his husband, Matt McGrane, and their senior rescue dog in a historic home — three authentic details of his life.

“I never defined myself solely as a gay person, but it is absolutely a part of who I am, just like my opponents highlighted their families and we’re all proud of our families,” Maier said.

Maier made history as the Cedar Rapids council’s first openly gay member. In an election where LGBTQ rights were top of mind for some voters with new anti-LGBTQ state laws enacted last year, Maier’s identity seemed to resonate with supporters.

“To have diversity and representation matters,” Maier said. “ … It’s wonderful that our city — from policy perspective as well as the residents, emphasized by the mayor — is we are welcoming to all.”

He was proud that his sexual orientation was a “non-issue” on the campaign, but encountered more of a stigma around discussions of mental health.

As a young adult, Maier was isolated and depressed, made to feel unworthy largely because of his sexuality. Lacking support from family, friends, teachers and politicians, he was hospitalized after attempting to take his own life.

He hasn’t always been forthcoming about these challenges, but with his platform, he wants to chip away at this stigma so people can seek the help they need and to offer living proof that it’s possible to thrive.

“Having gone through those experiences makes me better at understanding those issues and helping to solve those issues,” Maier said. “Hopefully to the extent that I can reach out to people that have struggled with mental health … I hope I can do that, show people that things do get better. You need support systems, you need health care, you need lack of hate coming from your government and your church.”

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Consensus builder

A “general connector,” Clint Twedt-Ball, executive director and founder of nonprofit Matthew 25, said Maier is intentional with listening to people and uplifting their work.

He knows Maier as a supporter of the organization’s initiatives, including financially supporting the establishment of its nonprofit Cultivate Hope Corner Store. Twedt-Ball said he sees Maier bring in immigrants or groups of people from The Arc and buy them lunch at the Groundswell Café.

“He seeks out people who maybe aren’t traditionally seen as power players in the community and tries to raise them up,” Twedt-Ball said.

Instead of rallying people together through anger or frustration, he said Maier looks to research best practices and develop thoughtful solutions. Maier is a “bridge builder and fence mender” who Twedt-Ball said he could see calling upon council colleagues to work toward mutually agreeable solutions on issues affecting Cedar Rapids.

“It’s a very organic relational way of talking to people together, finding common interests, seeing if there are issues or projects that they’re willing to work on together,” Twedt-Ball said. “It’s always done from a place of kindness and gentleness.”

Now in office, Maier said he looks forward to working with his council colleagues “for the best for everyone in the community,” while attending neighborhood association meetings to understand how the city can serve residents on the ground.

“We have outstanding and super talented people on the city who are doing an effective job and an effective city council,” Maier said. “I view all nine of us on council as peers.”

Comments: (319) 398-8494; marissa.payne@thegazette.com