What to know about Urbandale Democrat Matt Blake, running for Iowa's Senate District 22 seat

Urbandale City Council member Matt Blake is running for Iowa Senate District 22, setting up a potential challenge to longtime Republican Sen. Brad Zaun.

Blake, a Democrat, announced his candidacy on Aug. 17. He is a captain in the Iowa Army National Guard, where he serves as a judge advocate and deployed to Iraq and Kuwait in 2021. He was elected to the Urbandale City Council in 2019.

Why is Matt Blake running for Iowa Legislature?

In an interview with the Des Moines Register, Blake said he's running to hold Republicans accountable and stop GOP policies on issues like education and abortion.

"There are a lot of policies that are not what many Iowans believe in," Blake said. "And I want to make sure that I can be a voice to keep them from trying to pass some of this bad legislation."

What is Matt Blake's position on Iowa's new education laws?

One of those is Senate File 496, a sweeping education law that requires schools to remove books with depictions of sex acts from their libraries and classrooms. The law also bans instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity through sixth grade.

Blake said he was "flabbergasted" when Urbandale schools released a list of nearly 400 books that the district believed would be banned from its classrooms under the law. The district later backtracked and released a revised list of more than 60 books.

He also criticized the sweeping "school choice" legislation that Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law in January, which provides families with about $7,600 per student to pay private school costs, like tuition and fees.

The state announced this month that it has approved more than 18,600 applications, including more than 3,100 in Polk County. Those students must still enroll in a private school before they can receive any money from the state.

"At a time when we need more resources into our public schools we are taking resources out, not funding them at levels that are keeping up with inflation, and we are taking hundreds of millions of dollars out of money that could be going to public schools and giving those to private schools," Blake said.

Where does Matt Blake stand on Iowa's 'fetal heartbeat' law?

Blake criticized the restrictive abortion law passed by Republicans in a special session this summer, which would ban the procedure after about six weeks, once cardiac activity is detected in the embryo. The law is temporarily blocked until a court challenge is decided.

"I will be a voice in support of a woman's right to choose when I get up to the Capitol," he said.

Blake, an attorney, is a graduate of Drake University Law School. He lives in Urbandale with his wife, Alaina, and their 3-year-old son and 4-month-old daughter.

Who is District 22's current senator?

Zaun has not said whether he will seek reelection. He is the president pro tempore of the Iowa Senate and the chamber's longest-serving Republican, having been first elected in 2004. Zaun previously served as mayor of Urbandale.

He was narrowly reelected in 2020. Since then, the boundaries of his Senate district have changed because of redistricting, and Democrats are hopeful they stand a chance of picking up the seat next year.

Iowa Senate District 22 includes Johnston, parts of Urbandale and Des Moines and Saylorville.

Democrats hold 16 seats in the Iowa Senate, less than half the 34 seats Republicans hold.

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Urbandale City Council member Matt Blake running for Iowa Senate