James McCullagh

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

James McCullagh

Republican Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

June 4, 2024

Education

Bachelor's

Carleton College, 1998

Ph.D

University of Michigan, 2014

Personal

Profession

Electrical engineer

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Personal LinkedIn

James McCullagh (Republican Party) ran for election to the Iowa State Senate to represent District 38. He lost in the Republican primary on June 4, 2024.

McCullagh completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

James McCullagh attended the University of Northern Iowa. He earned a bachelor's degree from Carleton College in 1998 and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 2014. His career experience includes working as an electrical engineer.

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

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	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

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	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
	Submit photo	Steve Schmitt	26.9	622
		James McCullagh	13.9	322
		Other/Write-in votes	0.3	7

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	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.

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for McCullagh in this election.

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

James McCullagh completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by McCullagh's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

James J. McCullagh is an experienced entrepreneur, engineer, inventor, and academic who grew up in Cedar Falls and is inspired to represent the people of Iowa in district 38 as State Senator. His parents, Cheryl and Jim, made James the man he is today. His father James (Jim) G. McCullagh, was the son of Irish immigrants from the north of Ireland and served in the US Army. Following his military service, he earned a doctorate and taught thousands of students at the University of Northern Iowa for 40 years. After growing up in Cedar Falls, James embarked on his academic and professional career. Beginning coursework at the University of Northern Iowa, he graduated with a Bachelor of Physics from Carleton College. He then earned a Master of Electrical and Computer Engineering from Purdue University. Using this knowledge, he designed sophisticated integrated circuits for hard drives and communication devices working for companies such as IBM and Hitachi. Due to his exceptional work, he was awarded a prestigious national fellowship which led to earning a PhD in Electrical Engineering at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. This provided him the insights to invent novel vibrational energy circuits, win major awards from the National Science Foundation and start his own energy company.Using his extensive experience and education, he decided he can best serve Iowa as a State Senator, where he’ll reform education, protect Iowa farmers, and stimulate business development.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• I will protect our farmers from intrusive government overreach and protect family-owned farms from greedy government hands. I will fight against any anti-agriculture agenda at a state level to support our local farmers.
• The people of Iowa manage their hard-earned money better than the government. I will protect your income, work to cut taxes, and slash red tape that limits your ability to work.
• Using my experience in academia, I plan to reform universities from a woke indoctrination factory to a place where students can receive a traditional education while reducing tuition by eliminating wasteful spending.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am personally passionate about policy surrounding education. Being someone who has spent many years learning, instructing, and growing up with parents who were both educators at the University of Northern Iowa, I feel I have a wealth of experience with the intricacies of our educational system, and I can really help to affect a real change for students and educators alike.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

I think one of the most important characteristics for an elected official is being able to listen. It may sound cliche, but it is something that has been often forgotten in politics these days. Americans are more unsatisfied with the two major parties than ever, and I believe it is because our parties are just out for themselves, rather than their constituents. We need more public servants step up to serve who have good intentions at heart.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

I believe that my ability to listen to and analyze opinions and information sets me up to be a productive and successful officeholder. Having spent many years achieving academic degrees in search of knowledge and understanding, I feel I am extremely well-prepared to listen to and represent my constituents effectively in Des Moines.

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.

Campaign finance summary

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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.

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James McCullagh campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	Iowa State Senate District 38	Lost primary	$50,168	$50,064
Grand total			$50,168	$50,064
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

See also

2024 Elections

What's on the ballot? U.S. President U.S. Congress U.S. Congress special elections State executives State legislatures State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards Election analysis hub

Government

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Newsletters

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External links

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Candidate

Iowa State Senate District 38

Website

Facebook

Personal

LinkedIn

Footnotes

[show]

Current members of the Iowa State Senate

Leadership

Senate President:Amy Sinclair

Minority Leader:Janice Weiner

Senators

District 1

Vacant

District 2

Jeff Taylor (R)

District 3

Lynn Evans (R)

District 4

Tim Kraayenbrink (R)

District 5

Dave Rowley (R)

District 6

Jason Schultz (R)

District 7

Kevin Alons (R)

District 8

Mark Costello (R)

District 9

Tom Shipley (R)

District 10

Dan Dawson (R)

District 11

Julian Garrett (R)

District 12

Amy Sinclair (R)

District 13

Cherielynn Westrich (R)

District 14

Sarah Trone Garriott (D)

District 15

Tony Bisignano (D)

District 16

Claire Celsi (D)

District 17

Izaah Knox (D)

District 18

Janet Petersen (D)

District 19

Ken Rozenboom (R)

District 20

Mike Pike (R)

District 21

Mike Bousselot (R)

District 22

Matt Blake (D)

District 23

Jack Whitver (R)

District 24

Jesse Green (R)

District 25

Herman Quirmbach (D)

District 26

Kara Warme (R)

District 27

Annette Sweeney (R)

District 28

Dennis Guth (R)

District 29

Sandy Salmon (R)

District 30

Doug Campbell (R)

District 31

William Dotzler (D)

District 32

Michael Klimesh (R)

District 33

Carrie Koelker (R)

District 34

Dan Zumbach (R)

District 35

Mike Zimmer (D)

District 36

Thomas Townsend (D)

District 37

Molly Donahue (D)

District 38

Dave Sires (R)

District 39

Liz Bennett (D)

District 40

Art Staed (D)

District 41

Kerry Gruenhagen (R)

District 42

Charlie McClintock (R)

District 43

Zach Wahls (D)

District 44

Adrian Dickey (R)

District 45

Janice Weiner (D)

District 46

Dawn Driscoll (R)

District 47

Scott Webster (R)

District 48

Mark Lofgren (R)

District 49

Cindy Winckler (D)

District 50

Jeffrey Reichman (R)

Republican Party (33)

Democratic Party (16)

Vacancies (1)