Iowa House District 27’s incumbent representative is running unopposed for re-election in the June 2 primary and Nov. 3 election.
Democrat Rep. Kenan Judge will continue serving residents of Waukee and portions of Clive.
To help voters, the Des Moines Register sent questions to all federal and Des Moines area legislative candidates running for political office this year. Their answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Who is incumbent Kenan Judge?
What would be your top issue if elected?
Judge: After listening to the folks in my district, I learn what we need to focus on. Support our Waukee public schools and give them the resources they need to thrive. Support our teachers in the classroom. Affordable and accessible health care is also important. Affordability is also an issue I hear about. We need to focus on water quality. I hear this a lot. Civility in politics is important to get things done. My life experience in raising a family with my wife, Kathi, and having a successful business career at Hy-Vee gives me the experience I need to serve the folks of Waukee and Clive.
What policies would you support to improve Iowa’s education system?
Judge: We owe it to the kids of Iowa that each child gets a quality education no matter what ZIP code they have. The education budget should get the first bite of the apple. A well educated work force is our economic growth engine for the next several decades. I am also a believer we should fund universal pre-school. Supporting community colleges and apprenticeship programs is also important. There are a lot of very high paying jobs that we are short of workers and can be filled by supporting these programs.
Do you support Iowa’s recent tax policy changes, including lowering income taxes, and what additional tax law changes would you support?
Judge: I have supported every tax cut that has been proposed. The key to sustaining these tax cuts is we need to grow Iowa’s economy. We need more focus in the Legislature on growing our population and the economy as a whole. If we do this we can make up for these cuts to pay for the services that Iowans want.
What actions would you support to address Iowa’s high cancer rates?
Judge: I think this has to start with cleaning up our water in Iowa. We can do this without penalizing farmers. In many ways we need to incentivize for these best practices. We know the science. I worked together with my colleagues on a five point plan that would do just that. Clean water is essential to grow our economy and getting people to live here.
When do you believe it is appropriate to use eminent domain, and should it be used to build carbon capture pipelines?
Judge: Let me start by saying I believe we can do both. We need the carbon capture pipeline. We are the biofuels capital of the world. Iowa needs to remain the world leader in biofuels. Our agriculture economy depends on this. The new frontier is in aviation jet fuel. We need to have the low carbon alternative to be in the game. We need to figure this out and come to a compromise that can do both.
How would you remedy Iowa’s budget deficits driven by lost revenue? Are there certain services you would prioritize for cuts?
Judge: It is all about growing our economy. We also need to welcome more population growth. That is how you make up for this loss. With 73% of our budget in education and Medicaid, it is hard to cut either one of those programs. They will actually grow every year. Filling the high paying jobs in the trades, biofuels and clean water is a start. We have a very low tax rate at 3.8% so we need to have a bipartisan approach to looking at every tax loophole and credit to see if they are actually growing our economy.
Read more about the candidates at https://www.desmoinesregister.com/.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Meet the candidate for Iowa House District 27 serving Waukee and Clive
Reporting by Phillip Sitter, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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