Democratic nominee for Iowa House District 76 Calvin Horn speaks during a town hall held Thursday, Aug. 27, at Veterans Memorial Hall in La Porte City. Horn is running against Republican Matt Reisetter. The seat is currently held by Republican Derek Wulf, who is not running for reelection following his selection as gubernatorial nominee Zach Lahn’s running mate. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

LA PORTE CITY – Calvin Horn has deep concerns about the future of Iowa and how the state’s next generations will fare on the landscape.

“I have grandchildren, and their future is important to me and the future of all kids everywhere in Iowa,” Horn, the Democratic nominee running in the open race for Iowa House District 76, said as part of his opening remarks during a town hall hosted by local Stephanie Berry at La Porte City’s Veterans Memorial Hall on Thursday, Aug. 27.

Some 20 people attended the event to hear both Horn and his special guest, Democrat Will Overstreet, who is running for Black Hawk County Supervisor District 1, explain their platforms before taking questions.

“It seems like our state’s legislature is not concerned with our futures. It seems like our state legislators are more concerned with the big corporations that make them wealthy,” Horn continued. “I’m concerned about my grandchildren’s education … I’m concerned about their future employment, what kinds of jobs are going to be there. … I’m concerned for their health – the cancer rates. The nitrates in the water. I’m concerned for their environment. They’re the ones we need to be working for because it’s going to be their world.”

After explaining how such concerns provided the foundation for his decision to run for office – a decision made prior to incumbent Derek Wulf’s decision to run for lieutenant governor alongside Zach Lahn as part of the Republican ticket – Horn, a retired 68-year-old Cedar Falls native who has lived in Elk Run Heights since 1999, then listed his “core values.”

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

“I believe people are good,” he said while standing near the Veterans Hall bar, the audience peppering the tables in front of him. “I believe that everyone should have the same rights as me. I believe in God and the teachings of Jesus. But I believe everyone should get to choose what they believe, not have to believe what I believe. I believe in democracy. I believe children are our future and we need to do everything we can for them.”

House District 76

House District 76 has been represented by Wulf, a rancher from rural Hudson, since 2022 following the 2020 redistricting cycle. The district encompasses the northeast corner of Tama County – including Dysart, Traer and Buckingham – as well as three rural townships in northwest Benton County, including Mount Auburn. The bulk of the urban-rural district’s voters reside in Black Hawk County, including much of Cedar Falls proper as well as areas in and around La Porte City, Hudson, Gilbertville, Evansdale and Elk Run Heights.

Prior to redistricting, House District 76 was held by longtime Rep. Dean Fisher (R-Montour), who now represents the adjacent District 53.

Wulf comfortably won reelection in 2024, defeating former Dysart resident and educator Jarred Johnston by more than 60% after Johnston moved to Centerville prior to the election.

Campaign literature arranged on a table during Horn's La Porte City town hall. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

Following Wulf’s decision earlier this summer to run for lieutenant governor, Republicans selected Hudson Mayor Pro Tem Matt Reisetter to replace Wulf on the ballot.

Q&A

After retaking the floor from Overstreet Thursday evening, Horn said he’s “probably knocked a thousand doors” in the district, many of those doors belonging to registered Republicans.

While knocking doors in La Porte City, Horn said one topic that came up again and again was the state’s rising cancer rates. He described those interactions as “tough conversations.”

He also encountered “people very discouraged with both parties” who felt “neither party represented them, neither party helped them, no one cared about them.” Many of those folks, he said, had either never voted or were not planning to vote this November.

Horn listens as a town hall attendee asks a question Thursday evening in La Porte City. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

“We need to encourage those people to vote,” Horn implored his town hall audience, “because they’re the people that are going to decide this election, or at least have a big part in it.”

“I enjoy talking to Republicans,” Horn added. “None of them were mean to me or rude to me. … I could talk to them and that’s what we really need – civil [discourse].”

One of the first questions Horn was asked during the Q&A portion centered on his plans for private schools in light of the state’s education savings account legislation – the private school voucher program – which was signed into law in 2023 by Gov. Kim Reynolds.

“I’m a proponent of public schools. I don’t like the voucher program,” he replied. “But now that this has been [enacted] … we need to set income limits because the vast majority of the people using it were (already) sending (their children) to private schools.”

When further pressed about public money going to ESAs, Horn responded, “I don’t like it. I think the money that they do get, they need to be accountable for. But I think … income limits will take away probably 80% of the vouchers. And that whole program running the vouchers (needs to be accountable). … If I had got to vote (in 2023), my vote would have been no.”

A town hall attendee, who said he has always voted Republican but heard about Horn's La Porte City event while picking up a Rob Sand yard sign, speaks during Horn's town hall Thursday, Aug. 27. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

“Private schools don’t have to accept everybody. They can pick and choose who they want,” another questioner said before adding that the state has a “brain drain” and “isn’t a safe place for everybody to live.”

“A lot of that is because of the actions of our state legislature and our governor,” Horn responded. “They’re pushing the kids out. … We want people to come and people to stay. No one wants their children to move away.”

That same audience member later asked Horn to address the separation of church and state, telling Horn, “Your opponent is one who has a very narrow-minded perspective in terms of religion – it’s his way or no way.”

“This is what I hear,” Horn calmly replied.

“So I think we need to make sure that people understand that his Christian values may not be everyone’s Christian values. We need to make sure Iowa is a welcoming place for everybody.”

Retiring longtime Democratic state Sen. Bill Dotzler of Waterloo, right, endorses Horn, seated, for Iowa House District 76 during the Thursday evening town hall held in La Porte City. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

“Everyone deserves to be valued,” Horn said, “have dignity, and be treated the same way I am.”

When addressing a question about gay rights, Horn responded, “Everyone deserves the same rights as me. No more, no less. Anyone committing a crime should go to jail. Just as I should. It should be the same for all of us. We all matter.”

Horn also addressed the need for first responders in rural areas.

“They don’t have the people,” Horn stated. “They’re volunteers. … We’ve got a lot of health care gaps that need to be (addressed).” He then admitted he doesn’t know how to deal with the issue yet, but that it is something he wants to work on if elected.

When asked about water quality, Horn said he supports Chris Jones’ platform. Jones is running as the Democratic candidate for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture and Land Stewardship against Republican incumbent Mike Naig.

Jones’ vision, according to campaign literature, includes four points:

1. A more diverse agriculture system: That means more farmers, growing more crops other than just corn and soy.

2. Off-ramps and regulations: Public assistance for farmers wanting to recapitalize to farm more sustainably, and pollution regulations for those that don’t.

3. A strategic retreat from growing corn for fuel ethanol: Ethanol is a mature industry that shouldn’t rely on taxpayer assistance.

4. A healthier and more livable Iowa: Iowa should not be importing over 90% of our food. Let’s support farmers growing and selling food to Iowans.

Dotzler’s endorsement

One of the audience members Thursday evening was none other than longtime Democratic state Sen. Bill Dotzler of Waterloo, a fervent labor advocate who is retiring at the end of the year after three decades of service beginning in the Iowa House in 1996. He is now running for the Black Hawk County Board of Supervisors.

“I really didn’t know Calvin at all,” Dotzler said, addressing the room, Horn seated to his right. “But he’s been coming to Black Hawk County Democrats’ (meetings) and listening to what’s going on. And the people who do know him always say, ‘He’s a good guy, he really cares, and I know he’s going to work hard.’ … That’s the kind of person that we need in the legislature.”

Dotzler went on to call Iowa’s private school voucher program “one of the biggest travesties that this state’s seen” with “no accountability.”

“I went to Catholic school,” Dotzler said. “I’m OK with Catholic schools receiving the money because they follow the state’s standards on education. … But with these pop-up schools, there’s no accountability. … They’re ripping us off endlessly. And it’s got to get changed. We need accountability. We need to make sure they have a board of education. … We’ve got to make sure they’re upholding education standards and the educators that they hire are (licensed) educators. This battle is serious.”

Dotzler also spoke about the state’s budget.

“We are in such a budget deficit that they’re way over a billion dollars and they’re taking money out of the emergency cash reserves … The amount of tax cuts that they’ve done – especially for the upper brackets – they’re really hurting us. … We’re headed for some very scary times in the next two years,” he said.

“Everyone’s getting squeezed except big corporations, I think,” Horn added. “The farmers are all getting squeezed by Big Ag. It’s too much concentration of wealth and too much favor of wealth. Somehow, that has to change.” His comments were followed by some of the biggest applause of the evening.

To end his remarks, Dotzler, currently the longest-serving member of the Iowa Senate, said, “Calvin’s one of those good-hearted people that will do a great job for us down in the legislature.”

A local endorsement

Also in attendance Thursday evening was a familiar face to many in the area – longtime industrial technology teacher Bob Burkgren of La Porte City, who retired in 1995 following more than three decades in public education.

Burkgren told the newspaper he met Horn for the first time only recently while Horn was knocking doors. Asked if he was a registered Republican, Democrat or no-party voter, Burkgren declined to answer, instead replying, “I’m for the person.”

“I think he’s the right person,” Burkgren said when asked why he was supporting Horn. “We’ve got to get the Republicans out of control in Des Moines. There’s no voice down there. There’s no use for Democrats to propose anything. I mean, it’s sad. I was in education for 36 years. I’ve been around. It’s just pathetic what they’ve done to education.”

Horn, right, pictured following the Thursday town hall alongside the event’s host, Stephanie Berry of La Porte City, center, and supporter Bob Burkgren, left, a retired public school teacher also from La Porte City. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER