Clinton County

His family includes his wife, Denise, and a combined five children.

Occupation, he's a farmer in Clinton County.

Mommsen was first elected to the Iowa House in November 2014 while taking office in January 2015.

Longtime resident of Clinton County, Mommsen decided to run for legislative office the first time following the retirement of former Republican legislator Stephen Olson.

He was a friend of mine, and nobody was stepping up to take his place," Mommsen said.

Mommsen said he decided to run for re-election this year because there is some unfinished business I want to see completed.

You know, we ran that and our voters wanted it too.

And so I've always viewed this position as how do I bring people together? How does the school connect with our communities, our community leaders, our businesses to help grow? The last project that we did, we put in a $22 million facility we call the Regional Innovation Center, and that was all about skilled labor, skilled labor that we desperately need right here in eastern Iowa, not only Scott County, Clinton County, and Jackson County.

So that has everything from vet tech, health services, EMT, diesel mechanics, construction, electric, plumbing, the whole works.

Now, is

Right.

And so that means, what does that mean? We have to grow our population.

We can't continue to allow areas like the Bettendorf's, Waukee's, and Ankeny's to grow at the expense of rural Iowa, grow at the expense of Clinton County.

We're down over 10,000 people in what, over 20 years.

[laughs] I see what you did.

The, the current Clinton County, Iowa attorney.

Are you excited, my friend?

I am excited.

[laughs]

I think you're a shoo-in, my friend.

12 years of experience working in the Clinton County Attorney's Office.

Those years with current Clinton County attorney Mike Wolfe.

And that was a lot of the things that we've talked.

Uh, we did a site visit down in Clinton, Iowa.

Um-

Oh

...

Clinton, Iowa, just, uh, received five down there.

Ah.

Uh, four of them in Clinton and another one in Elkhorn.

Two candidates are vying to represent Iowa's 35th Senate district in November's election in what's become a target race for both the state's Democratic and Republican parties.

The district, which encompasses Clinton County and parts of Jackson and Scott Counties, including Maquoketa, is sought by Democratic incumbent Mike Zimmer and Republican challenger Joe Studding.

Zimmer broke the Republican supermajority in the Senate when he won the seat in a 2025 special election.

Currently, Republicans outnumber Democrats 33 to 17 in that chamber.

And look in particular here at, at how Obama got that win in 2008 here, the eastern half of the state.

This is the Mississippi River, those old industrial sort of Mississippi River cities there, Davenport, Dubuque, Clinton, Burlington.

He swept the Mississippi River, uh, really eastern Iowa here.

Heavy, heavy Obama country.

So if the Democrats are actually going to flip Iowa here, um, obviously they need massive margins here, but what they need to do is they need to win back that demographic, that blue-collar demographic, older blue-collar voters.

That's where the bottom fell out for them in Iowa and in places like it around the country.

It, it means, pay attention to a place like this, Clinton County.

This is one of those Mississippi River counties here.

One of the first people I met after moving to the Quad Cities remarked on how, unlike other places she had lived, there were so many do-gooders in the region As I spoke to non-profit leaders, joined volunteer groups, and met ordinary people, I learned the truth of her words.

Angela Bolens, the founder of Iowa NICE, has worked tirelessly to help Ukrainian families fleeing war settle and become financially independent in Clinton County.

I admire Anne McGlynn, the executive director of Tapestry Farms, for her ingenuity in founding a non-profit that helps produce nutrient-rich foods while also helping America's newcomers fleeing war and violence.

Other do-gooders I want to note, Mr. Thanksgiving, Aubrey Barnes, and his work at Young Lions Roar, Nana Oro Agora and her work to help thousands of immigrants and refugees, Christy Adaminson and Chloe Miller of the Third Place QC.