Meet the 6 Republicans vying for Iowa and Johnson County's new House District 91

Six candidates have filed to run in the Republican Party primary for House District 91, covering all of Iowa County and portions of Johnson County.

John George of Marengo, Adam Grier of Williamsburg, Devon Hodgeman of Oxford, Skylar Limkemann of Tiffin, Matt McAreavy of Cosgrove, and Brad Sherman of Williamsburg all filed before the March 18 deadline. One Democrat, Elle Wyant of Marengo, filed to run in this race.

This seat has no incumbent since it is a new district created after redistricting following the 2020 U.S. Census. The district includes the communities of Tiffin, Oxford, Swisher and Shueyville in Johnson County.

The primary will take place June 7 and the general election on Nov. 8.

Here's what to know about each candidate:

John George

John George is a Republican from Marengo and has planned to run since Brad Sherman, the first candidate, announced in November so the race would not be uncontested. He said he thinks he's learned to be good at politics and campaigning, which he views as both a "curse and a blessing."

George, 48, told the Press-Citizen he "caught the bug" to get into politics in 2008 when he worked for former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul's presidential campaign. He also worked on U.S. Sen. Rand Paul's 2016 presidential campaign.

He worked at Wasserbahn Waterpark in Williamsburg before it shut down, and has a degree in political science, paralegal studies and information technology from three schools, including Kirkwood Community College.

George is a former Libertarian Party candidate for Iowa Senate in 2016 and Iowa House in 2018. He did not win either race. He said he grew up a Democrat, but is running as a Republican in hopes of finding more success than in the past and because the party aligns more with his views.

"It was frustrating as a Libertarian because there is not much support. People are receptive to it, but when it comes to the ballot it's either Republican or Democrat," he said.

George said, as a state representative, he hopes to push for the deconstruction of the administrative state by tearing down the government to rebuild it in a better way.

"I'm not a fan of bureaucracy, and I think it is self-serving and contrary to how we should run our government," he said.

Also on George's agenda is helping the state improve access to broadband in rural areas such as Iowa County.

"(Rural Iowans) are out on an island here, and even if they do have some type of an Internet it is sketchy at best. One of the first steps to economic development in rural areas is getting them hooked up and able to get new businesses going," he said.

George was pictured in a photo posted by the Iowa Secretary of State's office on Facebook wearing a QAnon T-shirt. QAnon is a right-wing Internet movement that espouses a range of conspiracy theories.

George said he tends to not believe some of the more radical false beliefs that many QAnon believers hold — such as that John F. Kennedy Jr. is alive and supporting former President Donald Trump.

George said he has never come across people who fully believe in QAnon and the "fringe elements" of it.

"To me, it is more like a study group on these theories that I never got into hardcore," he said. "The way that Democrats and the media have portrayed it is absolutely crazy."

More: Gov. Kim Reynolds uses $200 million in federal COVID recovery funding for broadband grants

Adam Grier

Adam Grier, 47, was appointed Williamsburg mayor in March 2021 and elected in November. He has been on the Williamsburg City Council since 2008.

He also served in the U.S. Marine Corps, gaining the rank of corporal, during Operation Desert Storm until 1999, and as a member of the Compass Memorial Hospital Board of Trustees from 2012-18.

Grier said he worked in road construction, served in the Cedar Rapids Police Department and is now Johnson County's risk management coordinator.

"When I was 17, I took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, and there was no expiration on that. I have had a calling to serve our country and communities my whole adult life," he said.

If he gets elected, Grier said he would want to advocate for maintaining "Home Rule," or the ability of cities, school boards and county governments to determine their own laws rather than adhering to state statutes.

Despite this view, Grier said he has supported statutes from Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds establishing a flat income tax at 3.9%; the governor's efforts to reduce workforce shortages; and recent legislation addressing what he called "educational freedom."

Among the more recent education bills the governor signed into law are one that gives families taxpayer-funded scholarships to pay for private school expenses; one banning transgender women and girls from participating in women's sports; and a law passed in 2021 aimed at limiting the teaching of critical race theory and other concepts in government diversity trainings and classroom curriculum.

"I don't think it's right for a representative in southwest Iowa to tell us what to do in Iowa County or Johnson County, and vice versa. Whenever possible, local leaders need to be empowered to govern and ultimately be held accountable by their local communities," Grier said.

If elected, Grier said he thinks his experience working with elected officials as both an elected official himself and an employee of Johnson County will serve him well as a state representative

Grier said he also wants to help maintain the First and Second Amendment rights in the U.S. Constitution if he gets elected.

Election 2022:Mallory Hellman withdraws from Johnson County Supervisor race

Devon Hodgeman

Devon Hodgeman has experience in education and construction and is a soon-to-be small business owner. He said he grew up in California and Hawaii, but moved to Iowa in 2000, living near Kalona, Tiffin, North Liberty and now Oxford.

Hodgeman told the Press-Citizen that he plans to open Oxford Woodworks on Main Street across from the post office in Oxford, but he has to finish filing the correct paperwork with the state and cleaning up the space.

Hodgeman said that, while he wouldn't trade away his experiences growing up in California and Hawaii, he is concerned that the politics of those states are finding their way to Iowa.

"Absolutely under no circumstances do I want to see a lot of the failed policies from there show up here, especially with the education. That really became the genesis (for my campaign)," he said.

Hodgeman, 41, said one of his focuses if he gets elected would be pushing for more vocational and on-the-job training in Iowa rather than pushing children and young adults toward pursuing four-year college degrees. He said that as a kid one of the things that helped him the most was learning industrial arts in shop class.

"That's something I really want to see brought back because there's now an entire generation a kids who weren't getting that opportunity and don't understand the value of learning those life skills or pursuing a trade," he said.

Hodgeman said he also wants to address critical race theory in schools. While Iowa has already passed a law aimed at addressing critical race theory in classrooms, Hodgeman said he would like to see it strengthened and wants to reform how schools talk about sexual orientation and gender in classrooms. He said the Clear Creek Amana School District could be a model for the rest of the state on how to run schools.

Hodgeman said he would also like to see the state resume talks on a bill that would ban vaccination and mask mandates at businesses, government entities and schools, arguing it would increase Iowans' "medical freedoms" and individual rights.

"We're going to defend individual liberty and our state's motto is literally that we're going to maintain our rights and liberties," he said.

More: Clear Creek Amana student enrollment has risen 142% since 2000. How will the district keep up?

Skylar Limkemann

Limkemann is an attorney, firefighter and current Tiffin City Councilor.

Limkemann is a senior attorney with Smith Mills Schrock Blades P.C. and usually represents emergency responders and writes public safety legislation that he said included part of the historic 2021 “Back the Blue” bill. He served as fire captain and an EMT in West Burlington and as volunteer firefighter for Coralville. He is still active in firefighting as a volunteer fire captain and EMT in Tiffin.

"I feel like I have a lot of strengths to contribute to the legislative process because I'm coming at this from two different perspectives that aren't well-represented in the Iowa Legislature," he said. "I want to make the community better."

Limkemann said if he gets elected he would like to use his firefighter experience to "extinguish the flames of extremism that have been fanned by leftists," that he thinks is growing in Iowa and across the country.

He said he would like to help Iowa recover as the state's economy climbs back from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, some of which are still causing pain for businesses through inflation and supply-and-demand issues. He said electing a new representative that knows the unique challenges faced by rapidly growing communities like Tiffin is important to have in Des Moines.

Limkemann said he wants to also focus his efforts on improving services, especially public safety, in rural areas of the state and his district.

"Rural Iowa is really struggling. Tiffin is in a good position because we have growth, but then you go into Oxford and you get further west where we have a problem recruiting volunteer firefighters or EMTs," he said.

Limkemann said he would also like the state to focus on economic development for smaller towns, like those found in House District 91. He said a way to do this would be to help lower property taxes that he said burden rural residents and hinder growth.

He said increasing access to high-speed internet by improving broadband access is also a priority for him.

"While there's more people who live in the cities, the rural area is huge compared to the cities. I want to be the voice for everyone, not just city residents," he said.

More: Ashley Bermel wins North Liberty City Council special election with 108 votes

Matt McAreavy

Matt McAreavy is a Clear Creek Amana School Board member from Cosgrove.

McAreavy, who was born and raised in Oxford, got his associate's degree from Kirkwood Community College and works in housing at the University of Iowa. He is also the financial officer for the Oxford branch of the Sons of the American Legion.

"The district lends to a Republican representative and I think there is a pretty decent chance a Republican can be elected," he said. "Growing up where I have, that opportunity has never really been there because we've been tied with Iowa City and Coralville in Democratic strongholds."

McAreavy recently left his position as vice president of the CCA school board to make time to run for this seat. He remains on the board.

If elected, McAreavy said public education would be a top priority for him along with veterans' affairs. McAreavy said he would focus on cleaning up what he calls the "most complicated" financial structures of public schools of any state in the U.S.

He said simplifying how schools can use money allocated to them would help them spend it in the right place.

McAreavy said he'd like to see Iowa improve its quality of education and become a leader in the country again. He said it will be complicated to get back to this because of shrinking populations in small towns, but increasing starting teacher salaries and adding an emphasis on education would be a start.

"It used to be that teachers were respected. They didn't make a lot of money, but they were respected," he said. "I don't know if its necessarily anything schools are doing wrong or that they're failing ... but I think where we need to focus on is reaching kids and focusing on individual kids instead of broadly as a group."

McAreavy said he is not a fan of how recent bills have been structured when it comes to providing vouchers to charter schools. He said taxes meant for public education should go to public education, but there should be an avenue for families who find themselves in a failing school district to enroll their children in a school that isn't failing.

McAreavy said he wants the state to take a bigger role in providing for the unique needs of veterans that are coming back from the last three American wars. He said since veterans now include women and a more diverse population of Americans, the state and federal government need to step up.

"I think a lot of (veterans) are having trouble melding back into society and I think there are ways Iowa can take initiative to reach out to them and give them the support that they need," he said.

McAreavy said he is also an advocate for rural economic development and expanding and improving broadband in the state.

"Being a freshman representative, I don't think I'm going to change the world right away, but I'd want to be somebody in Des Moines who can give a voice to these issues," he said.

More: Christy Wolfe, sister of state Rep. Mary Wolfe, to run for House District 90 in Iowa City

Brad Sherman

Brad Sherman of Williamsburg was the first candidate to announce plans to run for this seat in November. Before moving to Iowa County 12 years ago, Sherman lived in Johnson County for nearly 30 years, according to his news release. He is both the chair for the Iowa County Republicans and a pastor at Solid Rock Church in Coralville.

In a press release emailed to the Press-Citizen, Sherman, 67, said he is concerned about the future of Iowa and the country because of his four children and 13 grandchildren.

While Sherman's release outlines his concerns for the United States and a broad range of what he considers national issues, including Marxism, abortion, government transparency, and religion's role in government. He didn't address issues specific to Iowa and the district he is running in.

In an interview on Friday before deadline, Sherman said he does hope to help address smaller issues affecting residents of House District 91 like expanding broadband. He said he was happy to see that Governor Reynolds is using federal funds to improve broadband access in Iowa because he has firsthand experience seeing how bad connections affect people.

Sherman said he is focused on decentralizing government power from the federal level, back to the states and would like to see Iowa take a more active role in condemning legislation that he views as government overreach.

"The corrupt condition of Washington, D.C., is accurately described as a swamp and it seems to be swallowing us up,” Sherman said.

Sherman's campaign website also focuses on national issues, including arguing against the separation of church and state and against limits on the Second Amendment.

Sherman's church, which is non-denominational, has a website that links to his teachings about the "Kingdom Paradigm," which includes study questions alleging abortion, socialism and same-sex marriage are "satanic sacraments."

Sherman also wrote and copyrighted a manifesto of his beliefs on American government called "The American Catechism" in which he argues against democracy in favor of an American republic, the system this country already functions under.

Sherman said religion should have a bigger role in American government and thinks if that mindset was included in more decision-making, the country would be better off than it is now.

He said he views himself as a blue-collar person because he worked in farm drainage and land improvement, as a heavy equipment operator and mechanic, in the construction trade, and in real estate development.

"There is a serious disconnect between politicians and the real hard-working people who actually get things done," he said.

George Shillcock is the Press-Citizen's local government and development reporter covering Iowa City and Johnson County. He can be reached at (515) 350-6307, GShillcock@press-citizen.com and on Twitter @ShillcockGeorge

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Who's running in the House District 91 Republican primary election?