Heather Matson

Heather Matson

Democratic Party

Iowa House of Representatives District 42

Tenure

2023 - Present

Term ends

2027

Years in position

2

Predecessor

Kristin Sunde

Prior offices

Iowa House of Representatives District 38

Successor: Garrett Gobble

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Compensation

Base salary

$25,000/year

Per diem

$178/day for legislators who live outside of Polk County. $133.50/day for legislators who live within Polk County.

Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 5, 2024

Contact

Official website

Campaign website

Campaign Twitter

Personal Facebook

Personal Twitter

Personal LinkedIn

Heather Matson (Democratic Party) is a member of the Iowa House of Representatives, representing District 42. She assumed office on January 1, 2023. Her current term ends on January 1, 2027.

Matson (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Iowa House of Representatives to represent District 42. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Committee assignments

Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes yearly updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org

2023-2024

Matson was assigned to the following committees:

• Administration and Rules Committee
• House Appropriations Committee
• House Education Committee
• House Human Resources Committee
• House State Government Committee
• Capital Projects Committee
• Legislative Council

2019-2020

Matson was assigned to the following committees:

• House Education Committee
• Economic Growth Committee
• House Human Resources Committee
• Environmental Protection Committee

Sponsored legislation

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.

Elections

2024

See also: Iowa House of Representatives elections, 2024

General election

General election for Iowa House of Representatives District 42

Incumbent Heather Matson defeated Heather Stephenson in the general election for Iowa House of Representatives District 42 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Heather Matson (D)	50.3	9,108
	Submit photo	Heather Stephenson (R)	49.5	8,959
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	27

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 18,094
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 42

Incumbent Heather Matson advanced from the Democratic primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 42 on June 4, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Heather Matson	99.8	652
		Other/Write-in votes	0.2	1

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 653
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 42

Heather Stephenson advanced from the Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 42 on June 4, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Heather Stephenson	99.3	699
		Other/Write-in votes	0.7	5

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 704
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Matson in this election.

2022

See also: Iowa House of Representatives elections, 2022

General election

General election for Iowa House of Representatives District 42

Heather Matson defeated incumbent Garrett Gobble in the general election for Iowa House of Representatives District 42 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Heather Matson (D)	50.0	6,991
		Garrett Gobble (R)	49.8	6,968
		Other/Write-in votes	0.2	21

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 13,980
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 42

Heather Matson advanced from the Democratic primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 42 on June 7, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Heather Matson	99.7	1,776
		Other/Write-in votes	0.3	5

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,781
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 42

Incumbent Garrett Gobble advanced from the Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 42 on June 7, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Garrett Gobble	99.4	1,569
		Other/Write-in votes	0.6	9

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,578
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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2020

See also: Iowa House of Representatives elections, 2020

General election

General election for Iowa House of Representatives District 38

Garrett Gobble defeated incumbent Heather Matson in the general election for Iowa House of Representatives District 38 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Garrett Gobble (R)	50.3	10,084
		Heather Matson (D)	49.6	9,927
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	22

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 20,033
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 38

Incumbent Heather Matson advanced from the Democratic primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 38 on June 2, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Heather Matson	99.7	3,385
		Other/Write-in votes	0.3	11

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 3,396
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 38

Garrett Gobble defeated Brett Nelson in the Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 38 on June 2, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Garrett Gobble	51.2	988
		Brett Nelson	48.3	933
		Other/Write-in votes	0.5	9

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,930
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2018

See also: Iowa House of Representatives elections, 2018

General election

General election for Iowa House of Representatives District 38

Heather Matson defeated incumbent Kevin Koester in the general election for Iowa House of Representatives District 38 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Heather Matson (D)	51.5	8,216
		Kevin Koester (R)	48.4	7,710
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	15

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 15,941
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 38

Heather Matson defeated Reyma McCoy McDeid in the Democratic primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 38 on June 5, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Heather Matson	79.8	1,914
	Submit photo	Reyma McCoy McDeid	20.2	485

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 2,399
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 38

Incumbent Kevin Koester advanced from the Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 38 on June 5, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Kevin Koester	100.0	681

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 681
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2016

See also: Iowa House of Representatives elections, 2016

Elections for the Iowa House of Representatives took place in 2016. The primary election took place on June 7, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was March 18, 2016.

Incumbent Kevin Koester defeated Heather Matson, Jeff Meyers and Brett Nelson in the Iowa House of Representatives District 38 general election.

Iowa House of Representatives, District 38 General Election, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Kevin Koester Incumbent	52.18%	8,793
	Democratic	Heather Matson	43.11%	7,264
	Libertarian	Jeff Meyers	3.62%	610
	Unaffiliated	Brett Nelson	1.09%	183
Total Votes				16,850
Source: Iowa Secretary of State

Heather Matson ran unopposed in the Iowa House of Representatives District 38 Democratic primary.

Iowa House of Representatives, District 38 Democratic Primary, 2016
Party		Candidate
	Democratic	Heather Matson  (unopposed)

Incumbent Kevin Koester defeated Brett Nelson in the Iowa House of Representatives District 38 Republican primary.

Iowa House of Representatives, District 38 Republican Primary, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Kevin Koester Incumbent	86.86%	476
	Republican	Brett Nelson	13.14%	72
Total Votes				548

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Heather Matson did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2022

Heather Matson did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

Heather Matson did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

2016

Matson's campaign website highlighted the following issues:

Education

• Excerpt: "Invest in our children and schools by providing timely, adequate and equitable funding for public education. House leadership has broken the law by refusing to pass school funding bills in the mandated time frame."

Clean water and conservation

• Excerpt: "Invest in our communities with a commitment to clean water, conservation, renewable energy and infrastructure. Clean water and conservation are not rural vs. urban issues; they are “all Iowa” issues and must be treated as such in the Legislature."

Economic security for women and working families

• Excerpt: "Invest in Iowans with a commitment to economic security for women and working families. As a mom of twins, I understand the struggle families face when the reality of the high cost of childcare hits home."

Mental health

• Excerpt: "This is one of our greatest human services challenges and it is going to take heavy lifting on both short and long term solutions. Iowa ranks 50th in the nation when it comes to the number of available beds, per percentage of population."

Campaign finance summary

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Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

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Heather Matson campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	Iowa House of Representatives District 42	Won general	$348,360	$143,803
2022	Iowa House of Representatives District 42	Won general	$259,409	$93,334
2020	Iowa House of Representatives District 38	Lost general	$218,676	N/A**
2018	Iowa House of Representatives District 38	Won general	$618,414	N/A**
Grand total			$1,444,860	$237,136
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in Iowa

A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states.  To contribute to the list of Iowa scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.

2024

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show].

In 2024, the Iowa State Legislature was in session from January 8 to April 20. Club for Growth Foundation Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to economic issues. Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to labor issues. National Federation of Independent Business Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.

2023

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show].
In 2023, the Iowa State Legislature was in session from January 9 to May 4. Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to labor issues.

2020

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show].

In 2020, the Iowa State Legislature was in session from January 13 to June 14. The session was suspended from March 16 through June 3. Club for Growth Foundation Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to economic issues. Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to labor issues. National Federation of Independent Business Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2019

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show].
In 2019, the Iowa State Legislature was in session from January 14 through April 27. Club for Growth Foundation Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to economic issues. Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to labor issues. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

See also

2024 Elections

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Government

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Newsletters

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External links

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Candidate

Iowa House of Representatives District 42

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Officeholder

Iowa House of Representatives District 42

Website

Personal

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Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by Kristin Sunde (D)	Iowa House of Representatives District 42 2023-Present	Succeeded by -
Preceded by -	Iowa House of Representatives District 38 2019-2021	Succeeded by Garrett Gobble (R)

[show]

Current members of the Iowa House of Representatives

Leadership

Majority Leader:Matt Windschitl

Representatives

District 1

J.D. Scholten (D)

District 2

Robert Henderson (R)

District 3

Thomas Jeneary (R)

District 4

Skyler Wheeler (R)

District 5

Zach Dieken (R)

District 6

Megan Jones (R)

District 7

Mike Sexton (R)

District 8

Ann Meyer (R)

District 9

Henry Stone (R)

District 10

John Wills (R)

District 11

Craig Williams (R)

District 12

Steven Holt (R)

District 13

Travis Sitzmann (R)

District 14

Jacob Bossman (R)

District 15

Matt Windschitl (R)

District 16

David Sieck (R)

District 17

Devon Wood (R)

District 18

Tom Moore (R)

District 19

Brent Siegrist (R)

District 20

Josh Turek (D)

District 21

Brooke Boden (R)

District 22

Samantha Fett (R)

District 23

Ray Sorensen (R)

District 24

Sam Wengryn (R)

District 25

Hans Wilz (R)

District 26

Austin Harris (R)

District 27

Kenan Judge (D)

District 28

David Young (R)

District 29

Brian Meyer (D)

District 30

Megan Srinivas (D)

District 31

Mary Madison (D)

District 32

Jennifer Konfrst (D)

District 33

Ruth Gaines (D)

District 34

Rob Johnson (D)

District 35

Sean Bagniewski (D)

District 36

Austin Baeth (D)

District 37

Barb McCulla (R)

District 38

Jon Dunwell (R)

District 39

Rick Olson (D)

District 40

Bill Gustoff (R)

District 41

Ryan Weldon (R)

District 42

Heather Matson (D)

District 43

Eddie Andrews (R)

District 44

Larry McBurney (D)

District 45

Brian Lohse (R)

District 46

Dan Gehlbach (R)

District 47

Carter Nordman (R)

District 48

Chad Behn (R)

District 49

Beth Wessel-Kroeschell (D)

District 50

Ross Wilburn (D)

District 51

Brett Barker (R)

District 52

David Blom (R)

District 53

Dean Fisher (R)

District 54

Joshua Meggers (R)

District 55

Shannon Latham (R)

District 56

Mark Thompson (R)

District 57

Pat Grassley (R)

District 58

Charley Thomson (R)

District 59

Christian Hermanson (R)

District 60

Jane Bloomingdale (R)

District 61

Timi Brown-Powers (D)

District 62

Jerome Amos (D)

District 63

Michael Bergan (R)

District 64

Jason Gearhart (R)

District 65

Shannon Lundgren (R)

District 66

Steven Bradley (R)

District 67

Craig Johnson (R)

District 68

Chad Ingels (R)

District 69

Tom Determann (R)

District 70

Norlin Mommsen (R)

District 71

Lindsay James (D)

District 72

Jennifer Smith (R)

District 73

Elizabeth Wilson (D)

District 74

Eric Gjerde (D)

District 75

Bob Kressig (D)

District 76

Derek Wulf (R)

District 77

Jeff Cooling (D)

District 78

Sami Scheetz (D)

District 79

Tracy Ehlert (D)

District 80

Aime Wichtendahl (D)

District 81

Daniel Gosa (D)

District 82

Bobby Kaufmann (R)

District 83

Cindy Golding (R)

District 84

Thomas Gerhold (R)

District 85

Amy Nielsen (D)

District 86

David Jacoby (D)

District 87

Jeff Shipley (R)

District 88

Helena Hayes (R)

District 89

Elinor Levin (D)

District 90

Adam Zabner (D)

District 91

Judd Lawler (R)

District 92

Heather Hora (R)

District 93

Gary Mohr (R)

District 94

Mike Vondran (R)

District 95

Taylor Collins (R)

District 96

Mark Cisneros (R)

District 97

Ken Croken (D)

District 98

Monica Kurth (D)

District 99

Matthew Rinker (R)

District 100

Vacant

Republican Party (66)

Democratic Party (33)

Vacancies (1)