Help us improve in just 2 minutes—share your thoughts in our reader survey.

Deb VanderGaast

From Ballotpedia
Jump to: navigation, search
BP-Initials-UPDATED.png
This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.
Deb VanderGaast
Image of Deb VanderGaast
Elections and appointments
Last election

November 8, 2022

Education

Associate

Southeastern Community College, 2000

Bachelor's

University of Iowa, 2011

Personal
Birthplace
Concord, Calif.
Contact

Deb VanderGaast (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Iowa State Senate to represent District 41. She lost in the general election on November 8, 2022.

VanderGaast completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Deb VanderGaast was born in Concord, California. She earned an associate degree from Southeastern Community College in 2000 and a bachelor's degree from the University of Iowa in 2011.[1]

Elections

2022

See also: Iowa State Senate elections, 2022

General election

General election for Iowa State Senate District 41

Kerry Gruenhagen defeated Deb VanderGaast in the general election for Iowa State Senate District 41 on November 8, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Kerry Gruenhagen
Kerry Gruenhagen (R)
 
58.1
 
13,179
Image of Deb VanderGaast
Deb VanderGaast (D) Candidate Connection
 
41.8
 
9,480
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.1
 
15

Total votes: 22,674
Candidate Connection = 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 State Senate District 41

Deb VanderGaast defeated Nikole Tutton in the Democratic primary for Iowa State Senate District 41 on June 7, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Deb VanderGaast
Deb VanderGaast Candidate Connection
 
74.1
 
1,739
Nikole Tutton
 
25.8
 
606
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.1
 
2

Total votes: 2,347
Candidate Connection = 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 State Senate District 41

Kerry Gruenhagen defeated Alan Weets in the Republican primary for Iowa State Senate District 41 on June 7, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Kerry Gruenhagen
Kerry Gruenhagen
 
59.0
 
2,068
Alan Weets
 
41.0
 
1,437
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.1
 
2

Total votes: 3,507
Candidate Connection = 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.

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Deb VanderGaast completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by VanderGaast's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Deb VanderGaast, 54. Married for 21 years with 8 children (blended family), 2 teens living at home. Registered nurse and owner/director of a child care center for children with special needs. Iowan by choice. Born in California. Moved to Iowa in 1988.

In addition to being the CEO and Director of Tipton Adaptive Daycare, I am chairperson of the Tipton Zoning Board of Adjustments since 2018, substitute Respite Nurse and volunteer at Camp Courageous of Iowa, Central Committee member and Social Media Administrator for the Cedar County Democrats since 2017, member of the Tipton School District School Improvement Advisory Committee, former volunteer EMT for the Olin Ambulance, volunteer nurse for Cedar County Public Health mass vaccination clinics and am a frequent volunteer for school and community activities and events. I also write and publish the Cedar County COVID Report, which was daily for the 2020-21 school year, and is currently published weekly. I am also the creator and administrator for the two largest social media groups in the county, with a combined membership of 5,429.

I have long been involved in public policy and politics and had been encouraged for years to run for office. I have been a childcare and family advocate for about 15 years both locally and nationally, and have been a speaker at the U.S. Capital for the Child Care Aware of America childcare day on the hill. I have written close to two dozen policy proposals for childcare, poverty, healthcare, d
  • Everybody deserves to have a voice in our government, and I strive to ensure their voices are heard.
  • I pledg to serve all the people of Iowa, regardless of gender, race, sexual identity, socioeconomic status, creed, abilities or political affiliation.
  • I want to make Iowa a great place to live, work and raise a family, and make Iowa public schools #1 in the nation again.
In addition to childcare, poverty, healthcare, disability, equality and equity for all Iowans, and small business issues, I am passionate about making Iowa’s public schools the best in the nation again and strengthening our middle class. No one working full-time should be living in poverty, and our young adults should not be saddled with massive student loan debt in order to gain the skills needed to meet our economy’s workforce needs.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also


External links

Footnotes

  1. Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on June 5, 2022


Current members of the Iowa State Senate
Leadership
Senate President:Amy Sinclair
Minority Leader:Janice Weiner
Senators
District 1
Vacant
District 2
District 3
District 4
District 5
District 6
District 7
District 8
District 9
District 10
District 11
District 12
District 13
District 14
District 15
District 16
District 17
District 18
District 19
District 20
Mike Pike (R)
District 21
District 22
District 23
District 24
District 25
District 26
District 27
District 28
District 29
District 30
District 31
District 32
District 33
District 34
District 35
District 36
District 37
District 38
District 39
District 40
Art Staed (D)
District 41
District 42
District 43
District 44
District 45
District 46
District 47
District 48
District 49
District 50
Republican Party (33)
Democratic Party (16)
Vacancies (1)