Capitol Notebook: Iowa legislator Staed speaks about Parkinson’s disease

DES MOINES — Iowa Sen. Art Staed, D-Cedar Rapids, will propose legislation banning a Chinese-manufactured pesticide, saying he believes it could be linked to Parkinson’s disease, which he is battling.

Staed, 76, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s last year. When he publicly revealed his diagnosis, he announced his intention to remain serving in the Iowa Legislature.

Staed spoke on the Senate floor about his health during the opening day of the 2026 session of the Iowa Legislature on Monday at the Iowa Capitol. He praised and thanked his doctors at the University of Iowa.

“My neurologist has been terrific at helping me manage the symptoms with medication and explaining things slowly enough that even a legislator can understand them,” Staed said in jest.

Staed said the disease should not affect his work in the Legislature. He expressed gratitude for the ramp that was installed on the Senate floor to help him get to his seat on the floor, and said most of the time he is fine moving around, although his legs will occasionally lock up. And he said tests thus far have shown no dementia, which is common in Parkinson’s patients.

“Parkinson’s is different for everyone. For me, I can walk until suddenly I can’t. My legs occasionally hold caucuses on their own and decide not to cooperate,” Staed said, joking again. “I’m pleased to say my mind is still fully intact. Some of you may disagree, but the doctors have it on paper.”

Staed said the disease may also sometimes be visible by slowing his speech or freezing his thoughts.

Staed said he plans to introduce legislation to ban the pesticide Paraquat. It is already banned in multiple other countries, including the United Kingdom, Switzerland and China, where it is made.

Multiple lawsuits have alleged a link between Paraquat and Parkinson’s, and a manufacturer of the pesticide has settled some such lawsuits for a combined $187.5 million.

Staed is serving his first, four-year term in the Iowa Senate. He previously served seven non-consecutive two-year terms in the Iowa House.

Special election winners sworn into Iowa Legislature

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The Iowa Statehouse officially gained two new members on the first day of the 2026 legislative session, following December special elections.

Republican Rep. Wendy Larson of Odebolt won a Dec. 11 Iowa House District 7 special election for former state lawmaker Mike Sexton’s seat after he resigned in September to take a job with the Iowa U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development. Iowa House District 7 includes the counties of Calhoun, Pocahontas and Sac as well as part of Webster County.

She will join the 67-member Republican supermajority in the Iowa House.

Democrats blocked Republicans from regaining their Senate supermajority when Democrat Sen. Renee Hardman of West Des Moines was elected in a Dec. 30 special election for the seat of Democrat Claire Celsi, who died in October after an undisclosed illness.

Hardman, who is the first Black woman elected to the Iowa Senate, represents Iowa Senate District 16, encompassing West Des Moines and part of Clive.

Iowa Senate Democrats broke the chamber’s supermajority in August when state Sen. Catelin Drey of Sioux City won a special election to represent Iowa Senate District 1. The seat was previously held by Republican Sen. Rocky De Witt of Lawton, who died in June of pancreatic cancer.

Larson and Hardman’s elections were the last of six special elections for the Iowa Legislature in 2025.

Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau

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