Iowa House District 81 (redistricted in 2023) covers part of Northwest Davenport.
Incumbent Democrat Representative Dan Gosa is seeking re-election. He faces Republican Dillon Fillion, a pizza-delivery and warehouse worker.
Listen to their interviews at the bottom of the page or read their answers transcribed below.
Introductions:
Rep. Gosa: Yeah. So my name's Dan Gosa. I've had the pleasure of serving my first term in the Iowa legislature. For two years now. I kind of got involved because I served on the local school board for about 9 years, and then just seeing how much our hands were tied at the local level, thought I could make a difference at the state level. Got up there, I got a good, pretty good reputation with being willing to work with anybody to try to get things done that are going to better things for our constituents and for our state. So that's been a good thing. You know, I've been very active and involved in the community. So I felt that I would be a good voice to represent our community up in the Iowa legislature and advocate for the everyday people just like myself.
Fillion: Sure, Brady, and thank you for having me here. So my name is Dillon Fillion. I was born and raised here in, in northwest Davenport, Iowa. I've lived here for over 10 years of my life. My, my mom, my mom works in the dental industry or used to. My dad worked at John Deere for over 22 years. I played hockey all my life. I have worked as a pizza delivery driver for 5 years, and I currently now have a warehouse job. I've been doing that for a little bit, almost over a month now. I've also been involved in politics for over 5 years actively, and I've paid attention for a very long time. I believe our community deserves somebody who's actually gonna go work for them and represent them. And I believe that Northwest Davenport needs representation. I'm here to give that to them today.
And what policy ideas would you bring to the table in Des Moines if elected?
Rep. Gosa: So one of the big things that we were able to work on was some funding for pediatric cancer. Obviously, everyone knows that Iowa is very high in cancer rates, and anything we can do for things like that helps out tremendously. One of the things for me this last session, I actually was able to put forward a bill about autonomous vehicles. Specifically, like semis needing to have a driver in the vehicle rather than just running on its own. I was able to actually chair that on our Subcommittee for Transportation. And then I got to chair it in our full-on Transportation Committee, where it passed unanimously. Ultimately, though, it never made it to the committee for debate on the House floor. But I think I was one of the only Democrats in several years that was able to get to chair my own bill and work across the aisle with the other folks on that. I'm trying to think of some other legislation that we had come through. I mean, so much stuff. You get so many people in there that comes in, a lot of it doesn't come to the House floor. We were able to do some property tax relief. Trying to think of some other things.
Fillion: Well, I want to keep our taxes low. I want to make sure parents and teachers are empowered in our kids' education. I think it's very important. I think educational choice is a very important thing, especially in these days. I believe that our police should have the tools that they need to stop crime on the street, and we should do everything in our power to make their jobs easy so that we can have safe communities.
Follow-up to Rep. Gosa: All good. You mentioned a few. I was curious, as you said, not every single bill that's, you know, proposed actually ends up receiving a vote or moving to the other chamber. So I was curious if there was any legislation that did not pass that you would like to try a second chance in proposing to the legislature in the next term?
Rep. Gosa: Yeah, I actually had one that I worked with Representative Brett Barker up out of Nevada. Him being a former mayor up there, we kind of worked together on trying to do a responsible bidder dashboard. And I don't know if a lot of people realize this, but any public project in the state of Iowa, there's no requirement for background checks. And we wanted to work together on bipartisanly on this to figure out a way to make sure people working on our schools as well as any of our city or county buildings have the proper folks working on there that have been background checked and they're safe to be around our constituents. So that was a big thing I'd like to really try to get that one going again. I also worked with Representative Gary Moore out of the Quad Cities there on that bill as well. So hopefully we can revive that and bring that up in the next legislative session and try to get some movement on that because we definitely want to, especially our schoolhouses and things like that, protect our kiddos, make sure that the folks that are working on those have background checks and things like that.
And the cost of living is rising faster than wages, causing economic hardship for many Iowan families. What type of legislation would you support that could help alleviate this strife?
Rep. Gosa: Oh gosh, there's a lot of different things that we need. We need to look at everything. Everything should be on the table to look at it. I feel this will be in my personal opinion, this will probably be the session to be able to do some stuff. It seemed like we did a lot of culture war bills and things like that rather than trying to lower the everyday cost for folks. We need to look at doing some things just to lower your cost for fuel, groceries. I mean— We need to look at ways to help with healthcare also, because that's an added burden if you're going to pick between your prescriptions and putting gas in the car or groceries for that week and things like that. We need to definitely really roll up our sleeves and get to work on that, on what's going to make things a lot better for our constituents, make— things more affordable while, you know, attracting businesses and things like that so we can get more jobs coming to the area and the state, as a matter of fact.
Fillion: Well, keeping our taxes low and continuing to lower our taxes is one. Obviously, great fiscal responsibility is another thing, which we've had greatly over the past 10 years. Our income tax rate used to be at 8.98% before Republicans took power. And because of our governor and our state legislature, we've cut that down to 3.8% flat rate. So that's very important so Iowans can keep more of what they earn. And we've also lowered some other taxes as well. But however, I think due to the federal government spending and a lot of things that have really affected not only just Iowa, but nationwide, that's really impacted a lot of families, especially mine. The average median household used to be about $75,000 before Joe Biden took office, and now it is about $125,000. So that's a huge jump. But however, not all these problems are just on the Iowa state government in general. Some of these are national implications of which our federal government needs to get a hold of.
And earlier this month, the legislature came back for a special session to pass some financial incentives for a proposed steel plant in southeast Iowa. //For Rep. Gosa: I was wondering if you could inform your constituents how you voted and why.// For Fillion: If you were in the legislature at that time, would you have voted to approve the financial package? Why or why not?//
Rep. Gosa: I voted for it. I mean, at any point when you can bring more jobs, especially to an area like that, that's Southeast Iowa down in the Wever area, and you just had that CNH, that Case New Holland plant closed down in Burlington, and that was probably 400 to 500 jobs right there. And in an area that often gets neglected in Southeast Iowa, it was great to see that there's going to be a company coming in there as well as bringing jobs back to America with a steel plant to work in coordination with the Minnesota mine. I just thought that that would be a huge thing and really help boost the economy. I know it's— I wish it was a quicker turnaround, but obviously you got to break ground and then get things built and stuff. I just hope that it doesn't wind up being a political thing and we really do get that going and get jobs back here, putting our people to work so they can afford again this high cost of living we're in right now.
Fillion: I would have because I would, in that specific part of Iowa, we need jobs. And especially here in Davenport, we need jobs. And I think it's very important that we continue to bring business here to the state of Iowa. Not only that's going to sustain a lot of good-paying jobs, but also have people working. Iowans want to work, and I think we should continue to bring obviously big business here so our people can have jobs. But also empower our small businesses so that we can continue to have our economy strong and obviously continue to grow in that aspect.
And why should voters elect you instead of your opponent?
Rep. Gosa: Yes. Yeah, I do. I don't really know a lot about him. I don't think he's been a constituent for very long. But always welcome the competition. For me, I guess everybody in the district, I feel I know the majority of the folks from whether I'm out coaching baseball, football, or whatever, just out and about in the community. I do shop at the same grocery stores as everybody else. I go into Menards and things like that. So, I mean, you can actively see me out and about in the community, and I'm always willing to have conversations with folks and listen. And I— the biggest thing I tell people all the time, I'm a construction worker by trade, and the more I learn about things and from constituents helps me be a better legislator. So I'm always willing to sit down with folks to kind of learn about their issues. So— can advocate and be a voice for them in the Iowa legislature.
Fillion: Well, I'm the only candidate in this race that actually has realistic policy to keep our taxes low. I got to criticize my opponent on one of his policies. Raising the minimum wage does not create prosperity. California has already tried that. California raised their minimum wage from $15 to $20 and businesses closed and left. We do not need that here in Iowa. We need to keep our minimum wage where it's at and we need to continue to empower small business and continue to keep our taxes low. If you want to raise the minimum wage, that will increase inflation and that will increase everything bad in which you don't want here in Iowa. So I think that's very important we keep — We have people keep money in their pocket, and the government cannot create prosperity. You have to empower people in your community to create prosperity and keep taxes low and give them the playing field to make sure that they can actually go create prosperity.
And at this point, what is your main message for voters as they head to the polls, either for early voting or planning to vote on Election Day?
Rep. Gosa: Biggest thing, do your research on the candidates, vote for those that you feel are going to best represent you. Don't believe all the political attack ads on TV. Do your own research. It's — you want to elect people that relate to you, actually live in your area, and are going to have your best interests at heart and not just do the political partisan stuff. You need people that are going to work together, whether it's a D or an R, and willing to work across the aisle to get things done for constituents and the lower cost.
Fillion: Sure. I would say, I would say go look at my policies. You can go to dillonfillion.com to take a look at what I stand for. And I just want to let you know that whether you're a Republican, whether you're a Democrat, whether you're an independent, I want to hear what you have to say. Because at the end of the day, I'm running to represent all of you. We may not agree on everything, but I think it's very important we have a representative that listens. I have been all around the district talking to everybody, and I think it's very important we have an actual representative who actually talks to everybody instead of one side.
Rep. Gosa asked to expand on his response regarding why voters should select him over his opponent: Okay. And then the one thing I want to leave with, why folks should elect me, I grew up in Northwest Davenport my entire life. My wife and I have raised our kids in Northwest Davenport. We both attended Fillmore Elementary, and so have all 4 of our kids, and went to Wood Junior High, and then ultimately ended up at North High School. Two kiddos graduating from there, or have graduated from there. One will be a freshman next year there, and we still have one in elementary at Fillmore. So we're— deeply invested in Northwest Davenport and have been my entire life.
Early voting begins in Iowa on October 14. Election Day is November 3. Links to the Auditor's website for more election information: Scott.
