Government : Iowa House District 84 Candidate Profile: Tom Gerhold

My name is Tom Gerhold, and I'm the incumbent running for re-election for the new House District 84 which is mostly the same except instead of including four townships in Iowa County, it now includes 4 townships in Linn County and dropped the three northwest townships in Benton County.

I am asking to be re-elected because the people of the state of Iowa need the tremendous progress made thus far to be continued, and I'm proud of the accomplishments made that I've been a part of.

We Republicans have balanced the budgets and now the state has almost a $2 billion surplus and I voted to lower state income taxes to a flat rate of 3.9%, I voted to eliminate the heinous inheritance taxes. I voted for making retirement income tax free! The state has taken too much money from Iowans and we are correcting it.

I voted this past session to increase biofuels availability so Iowans can have the option of buying cheaper and cleaner E15 at gas stations statewide. This will help farmers and the Iowa economy, since 30% of the economy is ag related.

Republicans passed bills, which I voted in favor of, to increase mental health care workforce, passed bills to help with the childcare providers, and increased the education budget every year for over 10 years. Democrats were the last to cut the education budget, fyi. Republicans improved the bottle bill to make it more financially stable and help keep Iowa clean and employing about 900 people.

There are several areas that Iowans are concerned about, including mental health care, property taxes, and what children are being taught in some schools. I'm not aware of any objections to schools in this district, however. Also, eminent domain is a topic being discussed about the CO2 pipelines, which I'm not in favor of private companies using.

Most of what currently is very concerning originated in Washington, D.C. Mind-boggling spending, crime, wide open borders, fentanyl, and other disastrous policies being forced on us by the Democrats caused massive inflation, high energy costs, high food costs, and now almost assuredly in a recession that's affecting EVERYONE. The best thing we can do is go vote in November and kick the ones out of office that are exclusively responsible - democrats.

On a much less political note, I live near Atkins and work in a research lab studying the effects of hypertension on cerebral blood vessels in the Dept. of Internal Medicine at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. My wife Julia is a data integrity analyst for Brillio/Ruffalo Noel Levitz in Cedar Rapids. We enjoy traveling but are finding it very challenging to find the time this year.

We are trying hard in the legislature to do our best and what's best for Iowans, and with the good Lord's and your help, we will continue making the best better - Iowa! I would very much appreciate your vote!