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Brian Best
Brian Best (Republican Party) was a member of the Iowa House of Representatives, representing District 11. He assumed office on January 1, 2023. He left office on January 1, 2025.
Best (Republican Party) ran for re-election to the Iowa House of Representatives to represent District 11. He won in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Biography
Brian Best graduated from Glidden-Ralston High School. Best earned a bachelor's degree in social science from the University of Northern Iowa.[1] His career experience includes owning Bestmed Respiratory and Western Iowa Sleep and working as the president of Sleep Lab.[1][2] Best served on the board of Glidden Planning and Zoning.[1]
Committee assignments
Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.
2023-2024
Best was assigned to the following committees:
- House Commerce Committee
- House Human Resources Committee
- Labor Committee
- House Transportation Committee, Chair
- House Ways and Means Committee
2021-2022
Best was assigned to the following committees:
- House Agriculture Committee
- House Commerce Committee
- Labor Committee
- House Transportation Committee, Chair
2019-2020
Best was assigned to the following committees:
- House Appropriations Committee
- House Commerce Committee
- House Human Resources Committee
- House Transportation Committee
2017 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:
| Iowa committee assignments, 2017 |
|---|
| • Appropriations |
| • Commerce |
| • Human Resources |
| • Transportation |
2015 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Best served on the following committees:
| Iowa committee assignments, 2015 |
|---|
| • Economic Growth |
| • Human Resources |
| • Natural Resources |
| • Transportation, Vice chair |
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2024
Brian Best did not file to run for re-election.
2022
See also: Iowa House of Representatives elections, 2022
General election
General election for Iowa House of Representatives District 11
Incumbent Brian Best won election in the general election for Iowa House of Representatives District 11 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Brian Best (R) | 98.7 | 10,550 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 1.3 | 138 | ||
| Total votes: 10,688 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 11
Incumbent Brian Best advanced from the Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 11 on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Brian Best | 99.6 | 1,965 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.4 | 7 | ||
| Total votes: 1,972 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2020
See also: Iowa House of Representatives elections, 2020
General election
General election for Iowa House of Representatives District 12
Incumbent Brian Best defeated Sam Muhr and Blake Johannes in the general election for Iowa House of Representatives District 12 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Brian Best (R) | 75.8 | 11,702 |
 | Sam Muhr (D) | 21.2 | 3,280 | |
| Blake Johannes (L) | 2.8 | 440 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 17 | ||
| Total votes: 15,439 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 12
Sam Muhr advanced from the Democratic primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 12 on June 2, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Sam Muhr | 99.3 | 1,606 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.7 | 12 | ||
| Total votes: 1,618 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 12
Incumbent Brian Best advanced from the Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 12 on June 2, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Brian Best | 99.5 | 2,618 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.5 | 14 | ||
| Total votes: 2,632 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2018
General election
General election for Iowa House of Representatives District 12
Incumbent Brian Best defeated Peter Leo in the general election for Iowa House of Representatives District 12 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Brian Best (R) | 65.7 | 8,458 |
| Peter Leo (D) | 34.2 | 4,402 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.0 | 5 | ||
| Total votes: 12,865 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 12
Peter Leo advanced from the Democratic primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 12 on June 5, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Peter Leo | 100.0 | 837 | |
| Total votes: 837 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 12
Incumbent Brian Best advanced from the Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 12 on June 5, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Brian Best | 100.0 | 866 |
| Total votes: 866 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2016
Elections for the Iowa House of Representatives took place in 2016. The primary election took place on June 7, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was March 18, 2016.
Incumbent Brian Best defeated Ken Myers in the Iowa House of Representatives District 12 general election.[3][4]
| Iowa House of Representatives, District 12 General Election, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican |  Brian Best Incumbent |
70.32% | 10,349 | |
| Democratic | Ken Myers | 29.68% | 4,369 | |
| Total Votes | 14,718 | |||
| Source: Iowa Secretary of State | ||||
Ken Myers ran unopposed in the Iowa House of Representatives District 12 Democratic primary.[5][6]
| Iowa House of Representatives, District 12 Democratic Primary, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | |
| Democratic | Ken Myers (unopposed) | |
Incumbent Brian Best ran unopposed in the Iowa House of Representatives District 12 Republican primary.[5][6]
| Iowa House of Representatives, District 12 Republican Primary, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | |
| Republican | Brian Best Incumbent (unopposed) | |
2014
Elections for the Iowa House of Representatives took place in 2014. A primary election took place on June 3, 2014. The general election was held on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was March 14, 2014. Incumbent Dan Muhlbauer was unopposed in the Democratic primary, while Brian Best was unopposed in the Republican primary. Muhlbauer faced Best in the general election.[7][8][9] Challenger Best defeated incumbent Muhlbauer in the general election.[10]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Brian Best |
54.6% | 6,445 | |
| Democratic | Dan Muhlbauer Incumbent | 45.4% | 5,349 | |
| Total Votes | 11,794 | |||
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Brian Best did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
Brian Best did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Iowa scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2024
In 2024, the Iowa State Legislature was in session from January 8 to April 20.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to economic issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to labor issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.
2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the Iowa State Legislature was in session from January 9 to May 4.
|
2022
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show]. |
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In 2022, the Iowa State Legislature was in session from January 10 to May 24.
|
2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2021, the Iowa State Legislature was in session from January 11 to May 19.
|
2020
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show]. |
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In 2020, the Iowa State Legislature was in session from January 13 to June 14. The session was suspended from March 16 through June 3.
|
2019
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show]. |
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In 2019, the Iowa State Legislature was in session from January 14 through April 27.
|
2018
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2018, click [show]. |
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In 2018, the Iowa State Legislature was in session from January 8 through May 5.
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2017
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2017, click [show]. |
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In 2017, the Iowa State Legislature was in session from January 9 through April 22.
|
2016
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2016, click [show]. |
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In 2016, the Iowa State Legislature was in session from January 11 through April 29.
|
2015
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2015, click [show]. |
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In 2015, the Iowa State Legislature was in session from January 12 through June 5.
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See also
2022 Elections
External links
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Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Iowa House Republicans, “Brian Best,” accessed December 13, 2019
- ↑ The Iowa Legislature, "Representative Brian Best," accessed May 12, 2023
- ↑ Iowa Secretary of State, "General Candidate List, 2016," accessed August 24, 2016
- ↑ Iowa Secretary of State, "2016 General Election Canvass Summary," accessed December 16, 2016
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Iowa Secretary of State, "Candidate Listing by Office," March 21, 2016
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Iowa Secretary of State, "2016 Primary Election Canvass Summary," accessed August 22, 2016
- ↑ Iowa Secretary of State, "Official primary election candidate list," accessed March 18, 2014
- ↑ Iowa Secretary of State, "Official primary election results," accessed June 30, 2014
- ↑ Iowa Secretary of State, "Official general election candidate list," accessed July 7, 2014
- ↑ Iowa Secretary of State, "Official general election results," accessed December 1, 2014
- ↑ ACLU Iowa, "Legislative Report & Civil Liberties Scorecard," accessed July 11, 2017
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Gary Worthan (R) |
Iowa House of Representatives District 11 2023-2025 |
Succeeded by Craig Williams (R) |
| Preceded by Dan Muhlbauer (D) |
Iowa House of Representatives District 12 2015-2023 |
Succeeded by Steven Holt (R) |
