The District 83 seat in the Iowa House of Representatives is open following the announcement that State Representative Jerry Kearns (D-Keokuk) will retire at the end of the current term. Jeff Kurtz (D-Fort Madison) is one of two men vying to replace Kearns.
About
Jeff Kurtz said he’s lived in southeast Iowa almost his entire life. He’s married and has three adult children. Kurtz said he retired in 2014 after a 40+ year career as a locomotive engineer with BNSF.
Why Running
Kurtz said people reached out to him after learning of Rep. Kearns' retirement. He said he decided to run after talking it over with his family.
Kurtz said part of his decision was based on his experience in Des Moines. He served for about a decade as Legislative and Safety Director for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainsmen.
“I know how things work up there,” said Kurtz. “I am not going to say I am going to go up there and know how things work right away. But I’m not going to exactly be a rookie either. I think I am going to be able to represent the area right off the bat.”
Top Priorities
Kurtz said his top priorities are education and reversing the decision to strip public employee unions of their bargaining rights.
“We are shortchanging [students] as far as what we spend on education and how we are training them,” said Kurtz, who believes reversing recent tax cuts for individuals and businesses.
“We are going to have to look at that in a way that we don’t affect small business. We can’t just say we don’t like this because Apple is getting $20 million so we are going to get rid of this piece of legislation that provided this tax cut when it might hurt a business down in Keokuk. We might look at a partial rollback, we might look at a new revenue source.”
District
Iowa House District 83 includes Keokuk, Fort Madison, and south Lee County
Opponent
Jeff Reichman is the Republican Nominee in Iowa House District 83
