Liz Mathis

Liz Mathis
Iowa State Senate District 34
Incumbent
In office
2011 - Present
Term ends
January 8, 2017
Years in position	2
Party	Democratic
Compensation
Base salary	$25,000/year
Per diem	$135/day
Personal
Profession	Communications

Liz Mathis is a Democratic member of the Iowa State Senate, representing District 34 since 2013. She previously represented District 18 since winning a special election on November 8, 2011 until 2013.

Liz Mathis is a former television news anchor, reporter and producer. She is currently the Chief Information Officer at Four Oaks, an agency that promotes child welfare and juvenile justice. She also works as a Board Director for Ohnward Bank. She is married to her husband, Mark. They have two children.

2013-2014

At the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, Mathis served on the following committees:

Issues

Campaign themes

On her 2011 campaign site, Mathis details her policy goals:

• Jobs--5 Point Plan:

• "Give Iowa companies the first crack at state and local contracts"
• "Cut property taxes by $300 million for small businesses"
• "Support companies that hire Iowans" (via a tax credit)
• "Putting more Iowans to work" (through worker retraining)
• "Recruit high-tech jobs to Iowa"

Mathis discusses her candidacy.

• Education plan:

• "Increase the number of children who can read at a third-grade level" (in third grade)
• "Focus on job skills and worker training"
• "Stop cuts to classrooms"
• "Expand access to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math"

Debates

• On October 26, KCRG-TV9 hosted a candidate forum. The debate will also air at 1pm on October 31 and at 8pm on November 1. Highlights from the forum can be found here.

• On October 27, the League of Women Voters will hold a candidate forum. The debate will be held at 7 p.m. in the Kirkwood Training and Outreach Center.

Elections

2014

See also: Iowa gubernatorial election, 2014

Mathis is considered a potential Democratic candidate for Governor of Iowa in 2014.

2012

See also: Iowa State Senate elections, 2012

Mathis ran for re-election to the Iowa State Senate in 2012. Due to redistricting, she ran in district 34. Mathis ran unopposed in the Democratic primary on June 5, 2012, and defeated Ryan Flood (R) in the general election which took place on November 6, 2012.

Iowa State Senate, District 34, General Election, 2012
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Liz Mathis Incumbent	61.2%	21,178
	Republican	Ryan Flood	38.8%	13,401
Total Votes				34,579

2011

See also: State legislative special elections, 2011; Iowa state legislative special elections, 2011

Mathis defeated Cindy Golding (R) in the November 8 special election.

Partisan Balance

Prior to Dandekar's resignation, the partisan balance of the Senate favored Democrats 26-24. If Republicans can flip District 18, the Senate will be tied 25-25.

Pre-election polling

According to a poll of 878 likely voters, 52% favor Mathis while 46% favor Golding--the poll had a 3.3 margin of error. Mathis also leads in absentee ballots and fundraising. Gov. Terry Branstad (R) acknowledged that the race was an "uphill battle," attributing the disadvantage to Mathis' name recognition as a former television anchor. The poll was conducted by Public Policy Polling between November 4 and November 6. Details of the poll can be found here.

Campaign donors

2012

Campaign donor information is not yet available for this year.

Recent news

This section displays the most recent stories in a google news search for the term Liz + Mathis + Iowa + Senate

All stories may not be relevant to this page due to the nature of the search engine.

Liz Mathis News Feed

• Dandekar Forming Committee to Explore Iowa US House 1st District Campaign - KCRG
• Marion, Cedar Rapids Nurses Honored on '100 Great Iowa Nurses' List - Patch.com
• Open government - The Gazette: Eastern Iowa Breaking News and Headlines
• Handful of Democrats eyeing Braley seat in northeast Iowa - DesMoinesRegister.com
• Fissures break out over tax reform deal - Shreveport Times
• A chance to transform child welfare - The Gazette: Eastern Iowa Breaking News and Headlines
• It's A Puzzle: Why Isn't Iowa Electing Women? - NPR
• State Sen. Jack Hatch opens gubernatorial campaign committee (UPDATED) - DesMoinesRegister.com
• Status of women in Iowa conferences planned - Marion Today.org
• Legislature considering greater appropriations for Iowa food banks - UI The Daily Iowan

Additional reading

• New York Times, "Special Election in Iowa Will, G.O.P. Hopes, Cement Grip on Power," November 1, 2011
• Des Moines Register, "Special Iowa Senate race debates scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday," October 25, 2011
• Eastern Iowa Government, "Iowa Senate 18 special election candidates spend $400,000-plus," October 19, 2011
• Radio Iowa, "Race for open state Senate seat is heating up," October 18, 2011

External links

Suggest a link

• Official campaign website
• Official Facebook page

References

Political offices
Preceded by Dick Dearden (D)	Iowa State Senate District 34 2013-present	Succeeded by NA
Preceded by Swati Dandekar	Iowa State Senate District 18 2011–2013	Succeeded by Janet Petersen (D)