Afton man challenging Wood in the primaries

Though incumbents often run unopposed in the primaries, Shaun Kelley of Afton thinks a little competition is a good thing.

“I always like the fact that a democracy ought to have more than one person running for an office,” he said. “I believe that I have a little bit more history, a little bit more to bring to the office.”

Kelley will be on the Republican ticket facing incumbent Devon Wood for the District 21 position in the Iowa House. With a rich history in rural Southwest Iowa, Kelley believes he will be able to bring a broader perception to the role.

“I always thought that no matter who elected you, you need to represent everyone,” Kelley said. “I was raised around here. I’ve grown up around here. I know a lot of people. I know a lot of the history, and I hope that it can benefit me in making decisions that would be beneficial to today’s generation.”

Current issues

Water pollution from nitrate and phosphorus as well as climbing cancer rates in Iowa have compounded to create a major public concern. While Gov. Kim Reynolds announced a water quality funding package last month, it’s just the start of a long process to address the issue.

“We definitely have a problem, and of course nobody really wants to address it because they’re afraid to point fingers,” Kelley said. “Well, I think you can solve it without pointing fingers or putting blame or putting penalties on people.”

Kelley recommends a program that encourages citizens to help maintain high water quality by using information available on stopping pollutants from entering water sources.

“We can’t just keep ignoring it, kicking the can down the road,” he said. “We’ve got to address it or we’re going to continue to have this cancer problem. The science is there. We just need to apply it.”

When it comes to Iowa’s education ranking, Kelley said a big portion of the slipping ranking is due to an increase in competition from other states.

“We have other states that are doing better than they were,” he said. “So we’re ranking somewhere in 15 to 25 depending on how they rank. We’re still at the top of the basic skills. Some of these other tests that we take, standardized testing, we’re really always up in the top level of that. Is there room for improvement in education? Oh, definitely.”

U.S. News Rankings lists Iowa as No. 20 in education.

In a topic that has caused divisions even among party lines, Kelley is not a proponent of the School Choice Bill.

“The voucher system is killing state after state after state. And a lot of these communities, their only anchor to the community is their school. That’s our whole social center. That is what makes their town rock. And unfortunately, as money is taken out of the budget, out of these schools, or even in a local area where the budget money is divided and put into another school, it creates a system which is already having a hard time being funded to where they don’t have the ability to do the teaching they need to do. They don’t have the facilities; they just don’t have enough to make it work.”

The 2026 legislative session focused a lot on reducing the tax burden, but Kelley wonders where the money for infrastructure and other vital programs will come from if not from taxes.

“‘We’re going to decrease your property taxes. We’re going to get rid of the gas tax,’ and I keep thinking, ‘OK, so what is left?’ Well, the only thing that is left would be consumer taxes, which would be for food and cars and other items, and of course who’s going to pay the brunt of that? That would be consumers,” he said. “And I know I’m a little biased here, but I don’t believe that the poorest people in the country and the state should pay the brunt of the taxes. So I believe that at some point we’re going to have to go back to a progressive tax.”

Political history

This isn’t Kelley’s first political campaign. In 2020, Kelley ran as a Democrat for District 21. He was defeated in the general election by Republican Tom Moore by a margin of 70% to 29.8%.

In 2022, Kelley ran as a Democrat for Union County Supervisor after Ron Riley announced he would not re-run for the spot. Kelley fell to current Supervisor Dennis Hopkins by a margin of 58.63% to 22.26%.

This marks Kelley’s first race as a Republican, though he believes the line between moderates is minimal. He hopes to bring around a different type of partnership within the government.

“We pay legislators pretty good money and they shouldn’t be career politicians. Nobody should be in an office more than eight years. And first of all, they shouldn’t have any better benefit package than you and I get,” Kelleye said. “I just think that we just need a more representative government because I think a lot of people’s voices are just never heard. We need a better democracy and we’ve got a good one. We just need to fix it. That’s all. We need to make it a little bit better for people.”