2026 Voter Guide: Iowa House District 33
Updated: 15 hours ago
Election: November 3, 2026 | Live. Work. Thrive.: Economic Opportunity, Education, Public Safety and Essential Needs
Iowa House District 33 includes neighborhoods in northeastern and central Des Moines, including parts of the East Village, Union Park and Highland Park. Voters will choose between Lynn Hammel (Republican) and Ivette Muhammad (Democrat) for the seat being vacated by Representative Ruth Ann Gaines.
What does a State Representative do?
An Iowa state representative serves a two-year term, participates in legislative committees, proposes and votes on laws and helps determine the state budget. State decisions affect school funding, taxation, public safety, healthcare, workforce development and other services.
Meet the candidates
Lynn Hammel | Republican
Hammel is a network engineer and small-business owner who has lived in Des Moines since the 1990s. He describes growing up on a dairy farm in northeastern Iowa and working in agriculture and other jobs before establishing a career in information technology.
His education includes a bachelor's degree in Bible with a youth-ministry minor and professional training and certifications in information technology.
His community and political experience includes neighborhood-association service, participation in Republican Party activities and small-business operation.
His campaign emphasizes property-tax reduction, protection of crime victims, public safety, employment opportunities and limiting government spending.
Ivette Muhammad | Democrat
Muhammad serves as chief operations officer of Creative Visions, a Des Moines nonprofit organization. She describes years of work supporting community programs, neighborhood development, families and local economic opportunity.
Her public-service and political experience includes community organizing, precinct and caucus activities, and policy engagement with Iowa lawmakers and community leaders.
Her campaign emphasizes education, youth financial literacy, workforce development, small-business support, neighborhood safety and access to public services.
Neither candidate currently serves in the Iowa Legislature.
Compare their documented positions and proposals
1. Property taxes and affordability
Lynn Hammel: Proposes lowering property taxes and limiting increases associated with rising property assessments. He also supports reviewing local government spending and using zero-based budgeting.
Ivette Muhammad: Supports tax relief directed toward working families and small businesses while preserving resources for education, public safety and economic opportunity. She emphasizes avoiding additional financial burdens on middle-income households.
Hammel emphasizes lowering property-tax liabilities and reducing government costs. Muhammad emphasizes targeted relief while maintaining public investments. Neither candidate provides a complete replacement property-tax formula.
2. Public education and student preparation
Hammel: Proposes examining how much education funding reaches students directly, reviewing administrative spending and considering teacher bonuses connected to student growth.
Muhammad: Proposes financial literacy as a graduation requirement, expanding apprenticeships and career pathways, improving teacher pay and retention, supporting early childhood education and strengthening student mental-health services.
Both discuss improving student outcomes, but with different proposed tools. Hammel emphasizes expenditure efficiency and performance-based incentives. Muhammad identifies curriculum requirements, student services and career-preparation investments.
3. Economic opportunity and employment
Hammel: Supports policies intended to expand good-paying employment and workforce development. He emphasizes reducing government costs and allowing households and employers to retain more of their income.
Muhammad: Supports job training, entrepreneurship, small-business growth and economic investment in neighborhoods. She also proposes financial education to help young people prepare for employment and financial independence.
Both describe economic opportunity as important. Their reviewed materials do not provide a comprehensive new wage law, job-creation appropriation or estimate of new jobs resulting from their proposals.
4. Public safety
Hammel: Emphasizes supporting crime victims, accountability for criminal conduct and policies intended to strengthen neighborhood safety.
Muhammad: Identifies safer neighborhoods and stronger communities as priorities, linking public safety with youth opportunities, community support and access to services.
Both discuss neighborhood safety, but the reviewed statements do not provide matching proposals for sentencing changes, police staffing levels or new county and city law-enforcement appropriations.
5. Cancer prevention and environmental protection
Hammel: Supports investment in cancer research to better understand the factors contributing to Iowa's cancer rates before selecting particular interventions.
Muhammad: Supports prevention and early detection, expanded cancer screening, public-health education and research partnerships. She also supports reducing harmful environmental exposures involving water, soil and air.
Both identify cancer research as relevant. Muhammad additionally specifies screening access and environmental prevention measures. Neither provides a complete funding package for all proposed activities.
6. Eminent domain and carbon-capture pipelines
Hammel: Opposes compelled easements for privately developed carbon-capture pipelines and supports voluntary agreements and strong landowner protections.
Muhammad: Opposes use of eminent domain for private carbon-capture pipelines. She says eminent domain should be reserved for clear public purposes, with fair compensation, transparency and local input.
Both oppose compulsory land acquisition for the proposed privately developed pipeline. Their statements emphasize similar concerns about landowner rights.
7. State spending and budget priorities
Hammel: Proposes government expenditure reviews, greater use of technology to reduce administrative costs and cutting inefficient or unnecessary programs.
Muhammad: Proposes examining waste and tax-policy sustainability while protecting core services such as education, public safety, health and workforce development.
The candidates describe different budget priorities but have not provided complete alternative state budgets.
Existing public-service records
Neither candidate has held a seat in the Iowa Legislature, so neither has a state legislative voting record to compare.
Hammel's community and political experience includes neighborhood and party-related roles. Muhammad's includes nonprofit operational leadership and community involvement. Those experiences are relevant biographical facts, but they should not be presented as equivalent to enacted legislation or legislative votes.
Evidence limitations
The main issue-by-issue questionnaire used for this guide was collected before the June 2026 primary. Both candidates subsequently became their parties' general-election nominees. Their statements are attributable to them, but a spring proposal should not be described as a new October announcement without additional evidence.
The reviewed sources do not establish every proposal's cost, statutory text or implementation timetable.
Original sources and further reading
Research and editorial note
This NAACP Des Moines Branch guide is provided for nonpartisan voter education. It does not endorse, oppose, grade or rank candidates. Descriptions distinguish candidate statements from verified official actions.
Research review updated: October 31, 2026.
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