Name: Brooke Boden
District: House District 26
City: Indianola
Age: 47
Background: Small Business Owner
Family: Husband Adam and 3 children
Committees: State Government (Vice-Chair), Ways & Means, Veterans Affairs, Human Resources, Transportation/Infrastructure/Capitals Appropriations Subcommittee
State Representative Brooke Boden, a small business owner from Indianola, defeated incumbent Scott Ourth in her Warren County district by 7 points in November – and she’s already hard at work delivering on her campaign promises.
“We’re putting in the work on the things we heard about again and again in our districts at home — childcare, mental health,” said Boden.
In fact, House Republicans have already passed bills covering a number of childcare issues, from attracting more child care providers to the state to making child care tax credits available to more Iowa families — and just last week, creating incentives for more child care centers to be built.
Boden herself is running several bills that expand access to mental health services, including one that would create telehealth options for mental health visits.
“Making mental health care more readily available to Iowans is a top priority for me, and I’m looking forward to seeing more progress this session,” Boden shared.
Representative Brooke Boden
Boden was named Vice-Chair of the State Government Committee for her first term, where she has helped work on several bills already to improve security and transparency in Iowa’s elections.
“I think it’s always important that we make sure our elections are safe and secure, and that we have triggers put in place to make sure that we don’t see any of the antics that we saw in other states,” Boden said. “We’re also trying to run a bill that improves transparency on where political contributions are coming from,” she added. “I think that’s very important – we should know if California or New York are paying for Iowa elections.”
Boden is also proud to have been a part of the progress that the state legislature made this session in expanding parental choice in their child’s education. Her family’s own experiences informed her support for a law that the legislature passed to ensure that parents are able to “enroll out” of any school district across the state.
“One of my kids was at an elementary school that ultimately failed to meet No Child Left Behind,” Boden said. “And actually, because [my daughter] Emily had Lyme Disease, at one point Indianola was just too big for her to handle – it has several sets of stairs and multiple different wings – so we talked to our doctor and decided to transfer her to a smaller school where she wouldn’t have to exert herself so much. We were fortunate to be able to transfer out in those cases because of the district we were in, but not all parents are so lucky. We need to have the option to do what’s best for our children, no matter what school district they’re in.”
At the end of the day, Boden says that she’s more grateful than ever to have the chance to represent the 26th district.
“I’m proud that the legislature has stepped up, even through COVID,” Boden said. “We’re going to work, doing our job, making sure the state of Iowa is moving forward.”
