IA · Officeholder
RState Representative · District 7
On the ballot Nov 3, 2026: Iowa House District 7
Wendy Larson is a Republican state representative from Iowa House District 7 who took office in January 2026 after winning a December 2025 special election, and she is seeking a full term on November 3, 2026.[1][2] Ballotpedia lists her career experience as stay-at-home mother and corporate sales.[1]
Wendy Larson was born in Wray, Colorado, and earned a bachelor's degree from Colorado State University in 1993.[1] Her career experience includes working as a stay-at-home mom and in corporate sales.[1] Larson has served as a member, deaconess and youth leader at Kiron Baptist Church, and has also served at the Mobile Food Pantry and on the Sac County Central Committee.[1]
Larson ran for the Republican nomination for Iowa House District 7 in 2024 and lost to incumbent Mike Sexton, 1,320 votes to 1,373.[1] She won the December 9, 2025 special general election, defeating Democrat Rachel Burns, succeeding Mike Sexton, and assumed office on January 12, 2026.[1] Ballotpedia lists her committee assignments for 2025-2026 as Economic Growth, Technology and House Education.[1] In a 2024 Ballotpedia survey, she listed her key campaign messages as pro-life, the Second Amendment, and protecting children from the damaging effects of technology, along with focusing on education fundamentals and addressing the mental health crisis in children.[3] She advanced from the June 2, 2026 Republican primary and faces Rachel Burns in the general election.[1]
Researched from the cited sources on 2026-10-21. Not yet independently fact-checked.
Wendy Larson is on the Nov 3, 2026 ballot for Iowa House District 7 as R. Not researched in depth — candidate list only.
Their recorded votes on bills that divided the chamber (unanimous votes left out), grouped by topic. A bill can sit under more than one topic. "With" and "against" compare each vote with how most Republicans voted. How topics are assigned
Most contested
Bars private colleges in the Iowa tuition grant program from operating a diversity, equity and inclusion office; violations are reported to the attorney general, and colleges that neither correct nor rebut a report within 30 days lose tuition grant eligibility.
Feb 24, 2026 · Passed 57–34 · with most RepublicansOfficial record ↗
On the version voted Feb 23, 2026: Sets the school funding growth percent at 2 percent for the budget year starting July 1, 2026, caps transportation equity aid at $1 million per district, appropriates $7 million for education support personnel pay, and adds a January adjusted-enrollment count.
Feb 19, 2026 · Passed 58–35 · with most RepublicansOfficial record ↗
On the version voted Apr 27, 2026: Changes charter school approval, funding and operations, covers charter school employees under IPERS, creates a charter school facilities loan program, adds a semester application window for education savings accounts, lets charter and nonpublic students join public school activities, and changes preschool and accreditation rules.
Apr 16, 2026 · Passed 53–34 · with most RepublicansOfficial record ↗
Most contested
Bars licensing boards from requiring continuing education unrelated to the licensed profession, and directs the Iowa Supreme Court to do the same for attorneys and to drop the requirement of an ABA-accredited law school to sit for the bar exam.
Feb 24, 2026 · Passed 53–38 · with most RepublicansOfficial record ↗
On the version voted Mar 24, 2026: Replaces the premium tax on health maintenance organizations with a new health care-related tax, transfers about $347 million from the taxpayer relief fund to the general fund, and adds $89 million to Medicaid for the fiscal year ending June 2026.
Mar 19, 2026 · Passed 53–40 · with most RepublicansOfficial record ↗
Defines "major rules" (including those costing $1 million or more a year), expands the Administrative Rules Review Committee from 10 to 16 members and lets it delay rules for legislative approval, requires legislative ratification of Clean Air Act plan amendments, and changes some board terms.
Apr 20, 2026 · Passed 60–32 · with most RepublicansOfficial record ↗
Most contested
Designating kratom as a schedule I controlled substance, and making penalties applicable
Adds kratom, including its plant parts, synthetic equivalents and compounds such as mitragynine, to the state's list of schedule I controlled substances, making possession a serious misdemeanor for a first offense, with harsher penalties for repeat offenses.
Mar 17, 2026 · Failed 44–51 · with most RepublicansOfficial record ↗
Bars private colleges in the Iowa tuition grant program from operating a diversity, equity and inclusion office; violations are reported to the attorney general, and colleges that neither correct nor rebut a report within 30 days lose tuition grant eligibility.
Feb 24, 2026 · Passed 57–34 · with most RepublicansOfficial record ↗
Relating to and making appropriations to the justice system
Funds justice, corrections, public defense, public safety and homeland security agencies for the year starting July 1, 2026, raises court-appointed lawyers' pay by $4 an hour, creates up to $10,000-a-year loan repayment for attorneys doing indigent defense, and raises court filing fees.
May 2, 2026 · Failed 29–56 · with most RepublicansOfficial record ↗
Most contested
Designating kratom as a schedule I controlled substance, and making penalties applicable
Adds kratom, including its plant parts, synthetic equivalents and compounds such as mitragynine, to the state's list of schedule I controlled substances, making possession a serious misdemeanor for a first offense, with harsher penalties for repeat offenses.
Mar 17, 2026 · Failed 44–51 · with most RepublicansOfficial record ↗
On the version voted Mar 24, 2026: Replaces the premium tax on health maintenance organizations with a new health care-related tax, transfers about $347 million from the taxpayer relief fund to the general fund, and adds $89 million to Medicaid for the fiscal year ending June 2026.
Mar 19, 2026 · Passed 53–40 · with most RepublicansOfficial record ↗
On the version voted Apr 27, 2026: Requires nutrition continuing education for certain physicians and, from 2028, 40 hours of nutrition coursework in medical school; allows over-the-counter ivermectin; bans listed dyes and additives in school meals; limits K-5 digital instruction to 60 minutes daily; changes school physical activity and SNAP rules.
Apr 20, 2026 · Passed 61–31 · with most RepublicansOfficial record ↗
Most contested
Prohibits releasing chemicals, substances, or apparatus into the atmosphere to affect temperature, weather, climate, or sunlight, or for any purpose not otherwise regulated by law. Makes it a class D felony, each day a separate offense, and exempts licensed aerial application of agricultural inputs.
Mar 5, 2026 · Passed 59–26 · with most RepublicansOfficial record ↗
On the version voted May 2, 2026: Sets fiscal 2027 budgets for the state agriculture and natural resources departments and related programs, adds $18 million from the infrastructure fund for water treatment aid and a new rural infrastructure bank loan fund, and raises the maximum water treatment grant to $1 million.
May 1, 2026 · Failed 27–59 · with most RepublicansOfficial record ↗
Imposes a 6% severance tax on oil and gas extracted in Iowa, mostly for the taxpayer relief fund and partly for counties, roads and water quality; requires surface owners' written permission before operators enter pooled or exploratory sites; and limits local regulation of oil and gas.
May 2, 2026 · Failed 25–61 · with most RepublicansOfficial record ↗
Most contested
On the version voted Apr 15, 2026: Requires commercial driver's license applicants to pass a state English proficiency test starting by March 2027, makes driving a commercial vehicle without sufficient English a serious misdemeanor with a $1,000 fine, and fines carriers $10,000 per such driver they use.
Mar 31, 2026 · Passed 63–28 · with most RepublicansOfficial record ↗
Prohibiting the use of a language other than English for driver’s license examinations
Bars the Department of Transportation and third-party testers from using any language other than English to examine driver's license applicants, and removes driver's license examinations from the exceptions to Iowa's English-only rule for official documents.
Feb 26, 2026 · Passed 58–30 · with most RepublicansOfficial record ↗
On the version voted Mar 31, 2026: Creates a statewide urban design and specifications board, coordinated by the Department of Transportation and Iowa State University, to publish design and specifications manuals. Requires a report on added costs before a city council approves a street project that departs from state standards.
Mar 4, 2026 · Passed 61–36 · with most RepublicansOfficial record ↗
Most contested
Appropriates FY 2026-27 money to the Economic Development Authority, Finance Authority, Workforce Development, and regents universities, and codifies the housing renewal program, with repayments retained by the nonprofit Iowa affiliate for new awards.
Apr 28, 2026 · Passed 57–32 · with most RepublicansOfficial record ↗
Establishing drug-free homeless service zones, and providing penalties
Creates a crime of selling or transferring controlled substances within 300 feet of a homeless shelter or housing facility, adding a year to the sentence and barring probation. Makes it an aggravated misdemeanor for an operator to knowingly allow drug possession or use there.
Feb 25, 2026 · Passed 70–21 · with most RepublicansOfficial record ↗
As introduced, repeals the Iowa smart planning principles and the requirement that cities and counties consider them when developing or amending comprehensive plans and land development regulations.
Mar 4, 2026 · Passed 72–25 · with most RepublicansOfficial record ↗
Most contested
Lets members of Congress, statewide elected officials and state legislators ask county assessors and recorders to redact their names from public documents, and directs the secretary of state to recommend by November 1, 2026, how to protect candidates' home addresses.
Feb 26, 2026 · Failed 30–56 · with most RepublicansOfficial record ↗
On the version voted Apr 30, 2026: Requires a local ordinance before automatic license plate readers are used, limits use to state-approved readers, bans facial recognition with them, requires logged searches tied to a case number, limits data sharing, and requires deleting images within 30 days unless relevant to a criminal case.
Apr 16, 2026 · Passed 77–11 · with most RepublicansOfficial record ↗
Requires websites and apps where a third or more of content is pornographic for minors to verify users' ages, bars keeping or sharing verification data, and lets the attorney general seek fines of up to $1,000 per violation, capped at $10,000 a day.
Apr 30, 2026 · Passed 82–2 · with most RepublicansOfficial record ↗
Most contested
Requires community college boards and the Board of Regents to adopt policies barring, and bars other Iowa degree-granting colleges from, new employment contracts starting July 1, 2026, with H-1B visa holders who are citizens of federally designated foreign adversary nations or state sponsors of terrorism.
Mar 3, 2026 · Failed 29–65 · with most RepublicansOfficial record ↗
Lets Iowa residents who are current or former members of the Iowa National Guard or an Iowa reserve unit, with satisfactory or honorable service, serve on county veteran affairs commissions; executive directors must still be veterans.
Apr 13, 2026 · Passed 89–1 · with most RepublicansOfficial record ↗
Voted against most of their party on 3 of 179 party-divided votes on file.
Relating to oil and gas production, including filing requirements, the authority of the department of natural resources, confidential information, pooling orders, negotiation of surface damage, imposition and distribution of a tax, and jurisdiction, and providing civil penalties
What it does: Imposes a 6% severance tax on oil and gas extracted in Iowa, mostly for the taxpayer relief fund and partly for counties, roads and water quality; requires surface owners' written permission before operators enter poo…
Voted no · most Republicans voted yes · Democrats 10–15, Republicans 55–6
May 2, 2026Official record ↗
Relating to and making appropriations for state government administration and regulation, including the department of administrative services, auditor of state, ethics and campaign disclosure board, offices of governor and lieutenant governor, department of inspections, appeals, and licensing, department of insurance and financial services, department of management, Iowa public employees’ retirement system, public information board, department of revenue, secretary of state, treasurer of stat...
What it does: On the version voted Apr 28, 2026: Appropriates FY 2026-27 general fund money to administrative, financial, and regulatory agencies, including administrative services, the auditor, revenue, the secretary of state, and…
Voted no · most Republicans voted yes · Democrats 0–25, Republicans 56–8
Apr 27, 2026Official record ↗
Relating to agriculture, including by providing for the powers and duties of the department of agriculture and land stewardship, including the promotion and regulation of commodities and products; the regulation of the transportation of agricultural commodities; the use of agricultural land; and taxation, including property taxes, excise and sales taxes, and income taxes; making penalties applicable; and including effective date and applicability provisions
Amends the bill to add rules for proprietary onsite wastewater treatment systems: maintenance contracts with certified technicians renewed annually or biannually, annual or twice-yearly inspections, reports to the DNR with a public database, and a DNR study with a report due January 10, 2028. (AI-written)
What it does: Makes broad changes to agriculture law: creates dollar-for-dollar matching funds for schools buying Iowa farm products and grants for small meat processors, allows permitted milk trucks up to 136,000 pounds, repeals t…
Voted no · most Republicans voted yes · Democrats 5–19, Republicans 36–29
Apr 8, 2026Official record ↗
The votes in their chamber that came out closest and most divided by party, among those they voted on. How we rank
Designating kratom as a schedule I controlled substance, and making penalties applicable
With most of their party · Failed 44–51 · Yes 44–No 51 · Democrats 30–0, Republicans 14–51
Mar 17, 2026Official record ↗
With most of their party · Passed 53–38 · Yes 53–No 38 · Democrats 0–30, Republicans 53–8
Feb 24, 2026Official record ↗
With most of their party · Passed 53–40 · Yes 53–No 40 · Democrats 0–30, Republicans 53–10
Mar 19, 2026Official record ↗
With most of their party · Passed 57–34 · Yes 57–No 34 · Democrats 0–30, Republicans 57–4
Feb 24, 2026Official record ↗
With most of their party · Passed 60–32 · Yes 60–No 32 · Democrats 0–31, Republicans 60–1
Apr 20, 2026Official record ↗
With most of their party · Passed 58–35 · Yes 58–No 35 · Democrats 0–30, Republicans 58–5
Feb 19, 2026Official record ↗
With most of their party · Passed 53–34 · Yes 53–No 34 · Democrats 0–27, Republicans 53–7
Apr 16, 2026Official record ↗
With most of their party · Passed 60–36 · Yes 60–No 36 · Democrats 0–30, Republicans 60–6
Mar 3, 2026Official record ↗
Substantive votes concern legislation or nominations; procedural votes concern how the chamber considers them. A Yes vote applies to the motion shown, which may not be final passage.
Motion: Shall the bill pass?
Lets the state award one business a tax credit of up to 10% of its investment, paid over ten years, for a major project in a county of 50,000 people or fewer, instead of up to 5% credits for two businesses; credits are refundable and transferable.
Motion: Shall the bill pass?
On the version voted May 3, 2026: Replaces most homeowners' homestead property tax credit with an exemption of 10% of taxable value, from $5,500 to $20,000, starting in 2026, limits county and city general levies and other rate-limited levies to 2% yearly growth, and creates FirstHome Iowa savings accounts.
Motion: Shall the bill pass?
On the version voted May 3, 2026: Makes wide-ranging changes to state law and budgets, including corrections to 2026 acts, limits on standing appropriations, an insurer tax credit for health care access, a civil litigation abuse lawsuit, required American history and government courses at state universities, and judicial salary changes.
Motion: Shall amendment H–8494, to amendment H–8491, be adopted?
Amends the bill to remove its division that changes the 2023 National Electrical Code for Iowa homes (such as dropping arc-fault interrupter requirements) and bars local electrical codes stricter than the national code. (AI-written)
On the version voted May 3, 2026: Makes wide-ranging changes to state law and budgets, including corrections to 2026 acts, limits on standing appropriations, an insurer tax credit for health care access, a civil litigation abuse lawsuit, required American history and government courses at state universities, and judicial salary changes.
Motion: Shall amendment H–8490 be adopted?
On the version voted Apr 15, 2025: Proposes a state constitutional amendment requiring a two-thirds vote of each legislative chamber to raise income tax rates or create a new state income-based tax; it goes to voters in November 2026.
Motion: Shall the rules be suspended to consider amendment H–8488?
On the version voted Apr 15, 2025: Proposes a state constitutional amendment requiring a two-thirds vote of each legislative chamber to raise income tax rates or create a new state income-based tax; it goes to voters in November 2026.
Motion: Shall amendment H–8487 be adopted?
On the version voted Apr 15, 2025: Proposes a state constitutional amendment requiring a two-thirds vote of each legislative chamber to raise income tax rates or create a new state income-based tax; it goes to voters in November 2026.
Motion: Shall the rules be suspended to consider amendment H–8486?
On the version voted Apr 15, 2025: Proposes a state constitutional amendment requiring a two-thirds vote of each legislative chamber to raise income tax rates or create a new state income-based tax; it goes to voters in November 2026.
Motion: Shall the rules be suspended to consider amendment H–8485?
On the version voted Apr 15, 2025: Proposes a state constitutional amendment requiring a two-thirds vote of each legislative chamber to raise income tax rates or create a new state income-based tax; it goes to voters in November 2026.
Motion: Shall the rules be suspended to consider amendment H–8484?
On the version voted Apr 15, 2025: Proposes a state constitutional amendment requiring a two-thirds vote of each legislative chamber to raise income tax rates or create a new state income-based tax; it goes to voters in November 2026.
Showing 10 of 294 votes in this collection. Coverage may be incomplete; each entry links to the official record.