David Weaver, a 1988 East Greene graduate, on Wednesday announced his candidacy for the Iowa House, District 47. Weaver, a Democrat, is the first to announce his candidacy for the seat now held by Chip Baltimore of Boone.
Weaver lives in the southwest corner of Boone County in the Ogden school district. His mailing address is Rippey. He is a fulltime farmer with a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in library science. Prior to returning to the family farm 12 years ago, he worked at the Augustana College and Grinnell College libraries. He also spent two years teaching English in Japan.
“I’m incredibly proud to have been born and raised in Iowa and I’m running for the Iowa House to bring positive change to our state and get us moving in the right direction again,” Weaver said in his announcement of candidacy. “I’m running to fund our public schools, raise wages in our local communities, and to help fix our broken healthcare system.”
He and his wife Emily have one daughter, a kindergartner. He is a member of both the Iowa Farm Bureau and the Practical Farmers of Iowa. He farms row crops only on the Weaver family farm.
Weaver met with GreeneCountyNewsOnline editor Tori Riley Friday morning to discuss his candidacy.
According to him, one of his personal strengths is his ability to talk with and listen to others. “I want to listen to Iowans, to learn their concerns,” he said.
He has identified problems he would work toward fixing – the increasing cost of health care, equitable funding for rural schools, and racism, which he explains as a reluctance to accept newer Iowans – but he does not yet have solutions to suggest. “I know the direction we need to go. I don’t know how big the steps should be to get there,” he said.
He has considered running for the Iowa legislature for several years. It was actions during the 2017 legislative session, including changes in collective bargaining and the “stand your ground” changes to the use of force, that created “an Iowa that doesn’t feel like the Iowa I know. I want my daughter to grow up in the same kind of Iowa I grew up in, the Iowa I know,” he said.
That’s what moved him to candidacy.
Weaver’s first official appearance as a candidate will be the Democratic Tri-County Rally in Templeton Saturday evening. More about his candidacy can be found at www.weaverforiowa.com
Weaver plans to run a positive campaign. He said that would say nothing negative about Rep Baltimore, “but,I will talk about how he votes,” he pledged.
