Eric Giddens
Eric Giddens (Democratic Party) was a member of the Iowa State Senate, representing District 38. He assumed office on January 3, 2023. He left office on January 2, 2025.
Giddens (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Iowa State Senate to represent District 38. He lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Giddens completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Eric Giddens was born in Cairo, Georgia. He earned a bachelor's degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1997.[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
Giddens was assigned to the following committees:
- Senate Agriculture Committee
- Senate Appropriations Committee
- Senate Commerce Committee, Ranking Member
- Senate Education Committee
- Senate State Government Committee
- Senate Transportation Committee
2021-2022
Giddens was assigned to the following committees:
- Senate Education Committee
- Senate State Government Committee
- Senate Transportation Committee, Ranking member
- Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, Ranking member
2019-2020
Giddens was assigned to the following committees:
- Senate Education Committee
- Senate State Government Committee
- Senate Transportation Committee, Ranking Member
- Senate Veterans Affairs Committee
- Senate Ways and Means Committee
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
See also: Iowa State Senate elections, 2024
General election
General election for Iowa State Senate District 38
Dave Sires defeated incumbent Eric Giddens in the general election for Iowa State Senate District 38 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Dave Sires (R)  | 50.5 | 17,232 |
 | Eric Giddens (D) | 49.4 | 16,846 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 38 | ||
| Total votes: 34,116 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Iowa State Senate District 38
Incumbent Eric Giddens advanced from the Democratic primary for Iowa State Senate District 38 on June 4, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Eric Giddens | 99.8 | 1,388 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 3 | ||
| Total votes: 1,391 | |||
| = 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 38
Dave Sires defeated Steve Schmitt and James McCullagh in the Republican primary for Iowa State Senate District 38 on June 4, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Dave Sires | 58.9 | 1,365 |
| Steve Schmitt | 26.9 | 622 | ||
 | James McCullagh | 13.9 | 322 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.3 | 7 | ||
| Total votes: 2,316 | |||
| = 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 finance
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Giddens in this election.
2020
See also: Iowa State Senate elections, 2020
General election
General election for Iowa State Senate District 30
Incumbent Eric Giddens defeated Harold Youngblut in the general election for Iowa State Senate District 30 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Eric Giddens (D) | 51.4 | 17,543 |
| Harold Youngblut (R) | 48.4 | 16,516 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 41 | ||
| Total votes: 34,100 | |||
| = 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 30
Incumbent Eric Giddens advanced from the Democratic primary for Iowa State Senate District 30 on June 2, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Eric Giddens | 99.7 | 5,908 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.3 | 20 | ||
| Total votes: 5,928 | |||
| = 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 30
Harold Youngblut advanced from the Republican primary for Iowa State Senate District 30 on June 2, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Harold Youngblut | 99.5 | 3,161 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.5 | 16 | ||
| Total votes: 3,177 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
2019
See also: Iowa state legislative special elections, 2019
General election
Special general election for Iowa State Senate District 30
Eric Giddens defeated Walt Rogers and Fred Perryman in the special general election for Iowa State Senate District 30 on March 19, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Eric Giddens (D) | 56.8 | 7,611 |
 | Walt Rogers (R) | 42.1 | 5,635 | |
 | Fred Perryman (L) | 1.1 | 143 | |
| Total votes: 13,389 | |||
| = 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
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Eric Giddens completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Giddens' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Eric was a math teacher at Peet Junior High School, and a member of the Cedar Falls Board of Education. After teaching, he worked at the Center for Energy and Environmental Education at the University of Northern Iowa to help local governments increase sustainability and resilience practices.
In the Cedar Valley, Eric serves on the Goodwill Industries of Northeast Iowa Board of Directors, the Dry Run Creek Advisory Board, and is active in the Cedar Valley Economic Inclusion Network and the Resilient Iowa Communities Advisory Committee.
In the Senate, he is an Assistant Democratic Leader, and is the ranking democratic member of the Commerce Committee and the Agriculture and Natural Resources Budget Subcommittee. He also sits on the Education, Agriculture, Transportation, State Government, and Appropriations Committees.- Opportunity: Senator Giddens will ensure every family, child and worker has opportunity in Iowa. Every family within their community deserves a fair shot at success, comfort, and the opportunity to get ahead. Every child should have access to high-quality public education that prepares them for life’s experiences. Every worker deserves a chance to earn an income that is necessary to support their family and meet their basic needs.
- Freedom: Senator Giddens supports Iowans having the freedom to make their own decisions without government restriction or interference. He also trusts local leaders’ decisions and opposes the state restricting a local government’s ability to govern in the best interest of their community.
- Accountability: Senator Giddens believes politicians, government, and big corporations must be held accountable. Government must act in the best interest of Iowans, not special interests or out-of-state corporations. In recent years, most changes to Iowa’s tax code have been corporate handouts and financial relief for the very wealthy. Senator Giddens will continue to work for middle-class tax relief that benefits Iowa families rather than big corporations or partisan special interests.
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.
2020
Eric Giddens did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
2019
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Eric Giddens did not complete Ballotpedia's 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.
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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.
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2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
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In 2021, the Iowa State Legislature was in session from January 11 to May 19.
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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.
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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.
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See also
2024 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on July 29, 2024
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by - |
Iowa State Senate District 38 2023-2025 |
Succeeded by Dave Sires (R) |
| Preceded by - |
Iowa State Senate District 30 2019-2023 |
Succeeded by - |
