Republicans are looking to defend their current majority in the Iowa House while Democrats hope to protect the seats they hold and regain others. In House District 42, which covers parts of the Des Moines suburb of Ankeny, Democratic incumbent Rep. Heather Matson faces Republican challenger Heather Stephenson.
Matson, 48, is seeking her second straight term representing District 42, and her third term overall in the Iowa House. The public policy advocate from Ankeny also serves on the board of the Ankeny Service Center and Ankeny Kiwanis Foundation.
IPR News has been reaching out to candidates in some key Statehouse races to ask them about their positions on important issues. Here is what Matson had to say. Stephenson did not agree to an interview with IPR News before Election Day. Matson’s answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.
Jump to a specific topic:
- Top legislative priority
- Eliminating the income tax
- Abortion rights
- Fertility treatments and contraception
- Education Savings Accounts (ESAs)
- Growing the state's workforce
If you were elected, what would be the most important thing that you would want to try to accomplish in the Legislature?
Matson: I think next session, the Legislature should really be focused on economic security and economic opportunity for all Iowans. So that includes, for me, strong public schools — making sure that our kids are getting off to a great start, that our schools have the resources they need to be successful, that our teachers are treated with respect and are able to teach and not become political pawns. I think, in a way, that unfortunately has happened over the last several years.
For me, it's also access to health care — both physical and mental health care — doing more to support Iowans and making sure that they can get the care that they deserve no matter where they live in this state. And of course, part of health care is reproductive freedom, so that's always going to be a top of mind thing for me, as well.
And then, I think we also need to do a whole lot more around the economy in a way that is actually about lowering costs and recognizing how we can better lift people up when they have more money in their pockets, but they're also getting services that they need. So, for example, doing more on child care and doing more on affordable housing are always top of mind. For me, you are not truly secure unless you have affordable housing.
Gov. Kim Reynolds has said it is her goal to eliminate the income tax in Iowa within her term. Do you support eliminating the state income tax?
Matson: I've been very clear that I don't support getting rid of the income tax, and I have a lot of concerns even about the flat tax that we have right now. My biggest concern, honestly, about getting rid of an income tax entirely is that that is a huge, huge portion of our state budget and how we fund our priorities. We fund corrections with that money. We fund public education with that money. So, if we take out the income tax, we have to wonder where that money is going to come from. And if we are also advocating for continuing to decrease property taxes — which, believe me, I certainly understand that desire — we either have to have an exceptionally high sales tax, or we will just continue to see nickel and diming of other fees for service on just about everything that people do in the state.
In a 2023 special session, the Legislature passed — and the Iowa Supreme Court later upheld — new abortion restrictions. The law prohibits an abortion once the presence of cardiac activity is detected by ultrasound. That can happen as early as six weeks, when some people are still unaware of their pregnancy.
What action, if any, should the Legislature take to change Iowa's abortion restrictions?
Matson: As I mentioned before, I do think that reproductive health care is intensely personal, just like every other health care decision, and I was a strong opponent of that ban and continue to be opposed to it. I believe that it is incredibly important that we codify Roe v. Wade into our state to make sure that women have access to basic health care, including abortion. I think we also have to do more on just maternal health. We've done some good work of expanding postpartum care under Medicaid from two months to 12 months. But unfortunately, the — in my opinion — unnecessary compromise of that was making it harder to be eligible for it to begin with. So I would like to see us get the eligibility back up so that we are taking better care of new moms.
And then we also need to make sure that we are protecting access to IVF and to contraception. You know, last session we saw a bill that was an attempt at a back door creation of fetal personhood, and we argued on the Iowa House floor that that would impact IVF, and we were told that was ridiculous. And yet, when it went over to the Senate, there was an agreement that this was probably a bad idea. And so, I am constantly on the lookout for attempts to take away those basic reproductive freedoms and rights and make sure that all Iowans are able to do what they want with their own body.
Should the Legislature take any steps to ensure access to fertility treatments or contraception?
Matson: I think that we can do a number of things. We can pass a number of laws guaranteeing reproductive freedom. Iowa House Democrats have proposed a constitutional amendment around reproductive freedom and making sure that Iowans have access. So that is certainly one place to go with it. But more than anything, we just need to stop attempting to pass laws that would take these freedoms away.
Next year, the state’s Education Savings Accounts that families can use to send students to private schools will be available to anyone, regardless of income. Should there be a cap on what the state is willing to spend on that ESA program?
Matson: I would start by saying I believe that we should not be having ESAs or vouchers to begin with, right? I do not think that that's a good use of taxpayer dollars, and that money would be better allocated towards our public schools, because I do believe that public dollars belong in public schools. That being said, one of my biggest concerns with the current voucher program that we have is that it is an unlimited line item, and regardless of the number of families that apply for it, if you qualify, you will get the money. And that money has to come from somewhere, and so certainly if we can make an incremental change in having that cap, that would be a good place to start. But I think it's also important to recognize that about 66% of the families that are currently receiving vouchers already have their kids in private school. As a result, private schools are also raising tuition because they see this additional resource coming in.
What should the Legislature be doing to grow and improve the state's workforce?
Matson: You almost have to ask, well, which part of the workforce are we talking about? If we're talking about education and teachers, well, then what we need to be doing is making sure that teachers can teach and raising teacher pay even more than we voted to in the last session.
One of our biggest challenges in workforce is around direct support professionals. We're talking about elder care all the way down to child care. And one of the challenges there is that these are incredibly difficult jobs and they are unfortunately some of the lowest paying jobs.
We need to make sure that these are safe workplaces and that we can continue investing in the careers of folks that are going into these professions. I see on a regular basis, because I have members of my family who have home health care, and I see the incredibly challenging but very rewarding work of helping people in their homes. And I want to make sure that they are getting the pay that they deserve to do that work because it's not easy but it makes a tremendous difference in people's lives.
