J.D. Scholten

J.D. Scholten

Democratic Party

Iowa House of Representatives District 1

Tenure

2023 - Present

Term ends

2027

Years in position

2

Predecessor

John Wills

Compensation

Base salary

$25,000/year

Per diem

$178/day for legislators who live outside of Polk County. $133.50/day for legislators who live within Polk County.

Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 5, 2024

Education

Bachelor's

University of Nebraska, Lincoln, 2003

Personal

Profession

Writer

Contact

Official website

Official Facebook

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign X

Campaign Instagram

Campaign YouTube

Campaign TikTok

Personal Facebook

Personal LinkedIn

J.D. Scholten (Democratic Party) is a member of the Iowa House of Representatives, representing District 1. He assumed office on January 1, 2023. His current term ends on January 1, 2027.

Scholten (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. Senate to represent Iowa. He will not appear on the ballot for the general election on November 3, 2026.

Biography

J.D. Scholten earned a B.A. in history from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln in 2003. Scholten's career experience includes working as the creator and writer of a newsletter, the political director of Franken for Iowa, and a freelance paralegal and consultant. He has served on the board of the One Country Project.

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.

Committee assignments

2025-2026

Scholten was assigned to the following committees:

• Economic Growth Committee
• House Agriculture Committee
• Natural Resources Committee
• House Transportation Committee

2023-2024

Scholten was assigned to the following committees:

• House Agriculture Committee
• House Commerce Committee
• Economic Growth Committee
• Natural Resources Committee

Elections

2026

See also: United States Senate election in Iowa, 2026

Note: At this time, Ballotpedia is combining all declared candidates for this election into one list under a general election heading. As primary election dates are published, this information will be updated to separate general election candidates from primary candidates as appropriate.

General election

The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.

General election for U.S. Senate Iowa

The following candidates are running in the general election for U.S. Senate Iowa on November 3, 2026.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Chris Henry (D)
		Nathan Sage (D)
		Josh Turek (D)
		Zach Wahls (D)
		John Berman (R)
		Jim Carlin (R)
		Ashley Hinson (R)
		Joshua Smith (R)

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Joni Ernst (R)
• J.D. Scholten (D)
• Jackie Norris (D)

Endorsements

Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.

2024

See also: Iowa House of Representatives elections, 2024

General election

General election for Iowa House of Representatives District 1

Incumbent J.D. Scholten defeated Josh Steinhoff in the general election for Iowa House of Representatives District 1 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		J.D. Scholten (D)	53.4	4,615
	Submit photo	Josh Steinhoff (R)	46.5	4,017
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	11

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 8,643
= 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 House of Representatives District 1

Incumbent J.D. Scholten advanced from the Democratic primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 1 on June 4, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		J.D. Scholten	98.6	288
		Other/Write-in votes	1.4	4

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 292
= 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 1

Josh Steinhoff advanced from the Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 1 on June 4, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Josh Steinhoff	98.9	375
		Other/Write-in votes	1.1	4

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 379
= 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.

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Scholten in this election.

2022

See also: Iowa House of Representatives elections, 2022

General election

General election for Iowa House of Representatives District 1

J.D. Scholten won election in the general election for Iowa House of Representatives District 1 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		J.D. Scholten (D)	93.2	3,593
		Other/Write-in votes	6.8	263

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 3,856
= 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 1

J.D. Scholten advanced from the Democratic primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 1 on June 7, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		J.D. Scholten	99.7	692
		Other/Write-in votes	0.3	2

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 694
= 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's 4th Congressional District election, 2020

Iowa's 4th Congressional District election, 2020 (June 2 Republican primary)

Iowa's 4th Congressional District election, 2020 (June 2 Democratic primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Iowa District 4

Randy Feenstra defeated J.D. Scholten in the general election for U.S. House Iowa District 4 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Randy Feenstra (R)	62.0	237,369
		J.D. Scholten (D)	37.8	144,761
		Other/Write-in votes	0.2	892

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 383,022
= 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 U.S. House Iowa District 4

J.D. Scholten advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Iowa District 4 on June 2, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		J.D. Scholten	99.6	46,370
		Other/Write-in votes	0.4	166

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 46,536
= 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 U.S. House Iowa District 4

Randy Feenstra defeated incumbent Steve King, Jeremy Taylor, Bret Richards, and Steve Reeder in the Republican primary for U.S. House Iowa District 4 on June 2, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Randy Feenstra	45.5	37,329
		Steve King	35.8	29,366
		Jeremy Taylor	7.8	6,418
		Bret Richards	7.5	6,140
		Steve Reeder	3.1	2,528
		Other/Write-in votes	0.2	176

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 81,957
= 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Aaron Thomas Krull (R)

2018

General election

General election for U.S. House Iowa District 4

Incumbent Steve King defeated J.D. Scholten, Charles Aldrich, and Edward Peterson in the general election for U.S. House Iowa District 4 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Steve King (R)	50.3	157,676
		J.D. Scholten (D)	47.0	147,246
		Charles Aldrich (L)	2.0	6,161
		Edward Peterson (Independent)	0.6	1,962
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	206

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 313,251 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= 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 U.S. House Iowa District 4

J.D. Scholten defeated Leann Jacobsen and John Paschen in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Iowa District 4 on June 5, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		J.D. Scholten	51.3	14,733
	Submit photo	Leann Jacobsen	32.0	9,176
		John Paschen	16.7	4,806

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 28,715
= 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Paul Dahl (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Iowa District 4

Incumbent Steve King defeated Cyndi Hanson in the Republican primary for U.S. House Iowa District 4 on June 5, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Steve King	74.8	28,053
		Cyndi Hanson	25.2	9,437

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 37,490
= 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

2026

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

J.D. Scholten did not complete Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.

2024

J.D. Scholten did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2022

J.D. Scholten did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

J.D. Scholten 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.

---

J.D. Scholten campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2026*	U.S. Senate Iowa	Withdrew general	$210,415	$195,182
2024*	Iowa House of Representatives District 1	Won general	$106,316	$103,886
2022	Iowa House of Representatives District 1	Won general	$126,998	$92,613
2020	U.S. House Iowa District 4	Lost general	$2,913,539	$2,929,626
2018	U.S. House Iowa District 4	Lost general	$3,309,882	$3,240,682
Grand total			$6,667,150	$6,561,989
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in Iowa

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

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show].

In 2024, the Iowa State Legislature was in session from January 8 to April 20. Club for Growth Foundation Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to economic issues. Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to labor issues. National Federation of Independent Business 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].
In 2023, the Iowa State Legislature was in session from January 9 to May 4. Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to labor issues.

See also

2026 Elections

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Government

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Newsletters

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External links

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Candidate

U.S. Senate Iowa

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Iowa House of Representatives District 1

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Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by John Wills (R)	Iowa House of Representatives District 1 2023-Present	Succeeded by -

[show]

Iowa's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Joni Ernst (R)

Chuck Grassley (R)

Representatives

District 1

Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R)

District 2

Ashley Hinson (R)

District 3

Zach Nunn (R)

District 4

Randy Feenstra (R)

Republican Party (6)

[show]

Current members of the Iowa House of Representatives

Leadership

Majority Leader:Bobby Kaufmann

Representatives

District 1

J.D. Scholten (D)

District 2

Robert Henderson (R)

District 3

Thomas Jeneary (R)

District 4

Skyler Wheeler (R)

District 5

Zach Dieken (R)

District 6

Megan Jones (R)

District 7

Vacant

District 8

Ann Meyer (R)

District 9

Henry Stone (R)

District 10

John Wills (R)

District 11

Craig Williams (R)

District 12

Steven Holt (R)

District 13

Travis Sitzmann (R)

District 14

Jacob Bossman (R)

District 15

Matt Windschitl (R)

District 16

David Sieck (R)

District 17

Devon Wood (R)

District 18

Tom Moore (R)

District 19

Brent Siegrist (R)

District 20

Josh Turek (D)

District 21

Brooke Boden (R)

District 22

Samantha Fett (R)

District 23

Ray Sorensen (R)

District 24

Sam Wengryn (R)

District 25

Hans Wilz (R)

District 26

Austin Harris (R)

District 27

Kenan Judge (D)

District 28

David Young (R)

District 29

Brian Meyer (D)

District 30

Megan Srinivas (D)

District 31

Mary Madison (D)

District 32

Jennifer Konfrst (D)

District 33

Ruth Gaines (D)

District 34

Rob Johnson (D)

District 35

Sean Bagniewski (D)

District 36

Austin Baeth (D)

District 37

Barb McCulla (R)

District 38

Jon Dunwell (R)

District 39

Rick Olson (D)

District 40

Bill Gustoff (R)

District 41

Ryan Weldon (R)

District 42

Heather Matson (D)

District 43

Eddie Andrews (R)

District 44

Larry McBurney (D)

District 45

Brian Lohse (R)

District 46

Dan Gehlbach (R)

District 47

Carter Nordman (R)

District 48

Chad Behn (R)

District 49

Beth Wessel-Kroeschell (D)

District 50

Ross Wilburn (D)

District 51

Brett Barker (R)

District 52

David Blom (R)

District 53

Dean Fisher (R)

District 54

Joshua Meggers (R)

District 55

Shannon Latham (R)

District 56

Mark Thompson (R)

District 57

Pat Grassley (R)

District 58

Charley Thomson (R)

District 59

Christian Hermanson (R)

District 60

Jane Bloomingdale (R)

District 61

Timi Brown-Powers (D)

District 62

Jerome Amos (D)

District 63

Michael Bergan (R)

District 64

Jason Gearhart (R)

District 65

Shannon Lundgren (R)

District 66

Steven Bradley (R)

District 67

Craig Johnson (R)

District 68

Chad Ingels (R)

District 69

Tom Determann (R)

District 70

Norlin Mommsen (R)

District 71

Lindsay James (D)

District 72

Jennifer Smith (R)

District 73

Elizabeth Wilson (D)

District 74

Eric Gjerde (D)

District 75

Bob Kressig (D)

District 76

Derek Wulf (R)

District 77

Jeff Cooling (D)

District 78

Angel Ramirez (D)

District 79

Tracy Ehlert (D)

District 80

Aime Wichtendahl (D)

District 81

Daniel Gosa (D)

District 82

Bobby Kaufmann (R)

District 83

Cindy Golding (R)

District 84

Thomas Gerhold (R)

District 85

Amy Nielsen (D)

District 86

David Jacoby (D)

District 87

Jeff Shipley (R)

District 88

Helena Hayes (R)

District 89

Elinor Levin (D)

District 90

Adam Zabner (D)

District 91

Judd Lawler (R)

District 92

Heather Hora (R)

District 93

Gary Mohr (R)

District 94

Mike Vondran (R)

District 95

Taylor Collins (R)

District 96

Mark Cisneros (R)

District 97

Ken Croken (D)

District 98

Monica Kurth (D)

District 99

Matthew Rinker (R)

District 100

Blaine Watkins (R)

Republican Party (66)

Democratic Party (33)

Vacancies (1)