Become part of the movement for unbiased, accessible election information. Donate today.
Molly Donahue
2023 - Present
2027
2
Molly Donahue (Democratic Party) is a member of the Iowa State Senate, representing District 37. She assumed office on January 3, 2023. Her current term ends on January 2, 2027.
Donahue (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Iowa State Senate to represent District 37. She won in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Biography
Molly Donahue was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.[1] Donahue graduated from Washington High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She earned a bachelor's degree in elementary education and teaching from Iowa State University in 1989, a master's degree in secondary behavior disabilities from the University of Northern Iowa in 1996, and an associate degree in secondary school administration from the University of Northern Iowa in 2000. Donahue's career experience includes working as a behavior specialist and teacher with the Cedar Rapids Community School District.[1][2]
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
Donahue was assigned to the following committees:
- Senate Appropriations Committee
- Senate Education Committee
- Health and Human Services
- Senate Workforce Committee, Ranking Member
- Health Policy Oversight Committee
2021-2022
Donahue was assigned to the following committees:
- House Education Committee
- Environmental Protection Committee
- Labor Committee
- House State Government Committee
2019-2020
Donahue was assigned to the following committees:
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
2022
State Senate
See also: Iowa State Senate elections, 2022
General election
General election for Iowa State Senate District 37
Molly Donahue defeated Kurt Bendixen in the general election for Iowa State Senate District 37 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Molly Donahue (D) | 56.0 | 15,038 |
| Kurt Bendixen (R) | 43.9 | 11,797 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 22 | ||
| Total votes: 26,857 | |||
 = 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 37
Molly Donahue defeated Austin Frerick in the Democratic primary for Iowa State Senate District 37 on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Molly Donahue | 51.5 | 2,351 |
 | Austin Frerick | 48.4 | 2,208 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 4 | ||
| Total votes: 4,563 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
State House
Molly Donahue did not file to run for re-election.
2020
See also: Iowa House of Representatives elections, 2020
General election
General election for Iowa House of Representatives District 68
Incumbent Molly Donahue defeated Lou Rogers in the general election for Iowa House of Representatives District 68 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Molly Donahue (D) | 54.5 | 10,201 |
 | Lou Rogers (R) | 45.4 | 8,484 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 20 | ||
| Total votes: 18,705 | |||
| = 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 68
Incumbent Molly Donahue advanced from the Democratic primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 68 on June 2, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Molly Donahue | 99.6 | 3,835 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.4 | 14 | ||
| Total votes: 3,849 | |||
| = 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 68
Lou Rogers advanced from the Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 68 on June 2, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Lou Rogers | 99.2 | 1,883 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.8 | 15 | ||
| Total votes: 1,898 | |||
| = 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 68
Molly Donahue defeated Randy Ray in the general election for Iowa House of Representatives District 68 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Molly Donahue (D) | 55.2 | 8,608 |
 | Randy Ray (R) | 44.7 | 6,979 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 15 | ||
| Total votes: 15,602 | |||
| = 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 68
Molly Donahue defeated Scott Foens in the Democratic primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 68 on June 5, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Molly Donahue | 70.1 | 1,552 |
| Scott Foens | 29.9 | 662 | ||
| Total votes: 2,214 | |||
| = 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 68
Randy Ray advanced from the Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 68 on June 5, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Randy Ray | 100.0 | 560 |
| Total votes: 560 | |||
| = 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 Ken Rizer defeated Molly Donahue in the Iowa House of Representatives District 68 general election.[3][4]
| Iowa House of Representatives, District 68 General Election, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican |  Ken Rizer Incumbent |
54.05% | 9,317 | |
| Democratic | Molly Donahue | 45.95% | 7,921 | |
| Total Votes | 17,238 | |||
| Source: Iowa Secretary of State | ||||
Molly Donahue defeated Sam Gray in the Iowa House of Representatives District 68 Democratic primary.[5][6]
| Iowa House of Representatives, District 68 Democratic Primary, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Molly Donahue |
56.57% | 908 | |
| Democratic | Sam Gray | 43.43% | 697 | |
| Total Votes | 1,605 | |||
Incumbent Ken Rizer ran unopposed in the Iowa House of Representatives District 68 Republican primary.[5][6]
| Iowa House of Representatives, District 68 Republican Primary, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | |
| Republican | Ken Rizer Incumbent (unopposed) | |
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Molly Donahue did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
Molly Donahue did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
2016
Donahue's website highlighted the following campaign themes:[7]
| “ | As State Representative, I will:
|
” |
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.
Endorsements
2016
In 2016, Donahue's endorsements included the following:[9]
- AFSCME
- ISEA
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
| 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.
|
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.
|
2022
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show]. |
|---|
|
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]. |
|---|
|
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]. |
|---|
|
In 2019, the Iowa State Legislature was in session from January 14 through April 27.
|
See also
2022 Elections
External links
|
Candidate Iowa State Senate District 37 |
Officeholder Iowa State Senate District 37 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Iowa Legislature, "Molly Donahue," accessed May 17, 2023
- ↑ LinkedIn, "Molly Donahue," accessed May 17, 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
- ↑ donahueforiowa.com, "Meet Molly," accessed May 4, 2016
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ donahueforiowa.com, "Endorsements," accessed May 4, 2016
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by - |
Iowa State Senate District 37 2023-Present |
Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by - |
Iowa House of Representatives District 68 2019-2023 |
Succeeded by Chad Ingels (R) |
