2026 Voter Guide: Iowa House District 39
Updated: 11 hours ago
Election: November 3, 2026 | Live. Work. Thrive.: Economic Opportunity, Education, Essential Needs and Justice
Voters in Iowa House District 39, covering portions of eastern Polk County, will choose between Nate Boulton (Democrat) and Troy Clark (Republican). The candidates are competing for the seat held by retiring Representative Rick Olson.
What does an Iowa State Representative do?
Members of the Iowa House introduce, debate and vote on state laws, budgets, taxes and funding for schools, healthcare, transportation, public safety and other services. Representatives serve two-year terms. Changing state law generally requires both legislative chambers and the governor, or a constitutionally authorized override of a veto.
Meet the candidates
Nate Boulton | Democrat
Boulton is an attorney practicing in employment and labor law. He holds a bachelor's degree from Simpson College and a law degree and a master's degree in public administration from Drake University.
He represented portions of eastern Polk County in the Iowa Senate beginning in 2017 and continuing through early 2025. His committee work included labor and judiciary matters, and he served in Senate Democratic leadership.
His 2026 campaign emphasizes wages, public education, affordable healthcare, tax policy, water quality and paid family leave.
Troy Clark | Republican
Clark is an insurance adviser and small-business owner living in Pleasant Hill. He holds an associate degree in commercial art from Des Moines Area Community College.
He is a member of the Polk County Republican Central Committee and ran for an Iowa House seat in 2024. He has not previously held elected office.
His campaign emphasizes reducing taxes and regulations, education choice, parental authority, property-tax reform, individual freedoms and limits on eminent domain.
Compare their documented 2026 proposals
1. Affordability and family economic security
Nate Boulton: Proposes addressing affordability through wage growth, healthcare access, stronger schools and tax changes. He also identifies paid family leave as a policy goal.
Troy Clark: Emphasizes reducing the costs of housing, fuel, groceries and healthcare through economic growth and lower taxes and regulations.
Boulton focuses on household earnings, public services and targeted tax changes. Clark emphasizes tax and regulatory conditions affecting households and businesses. The October questionnaire does not provide complete calculations of household savings from either set of proposals.
2. Public education and education savings accounts
Boulton: Supports greater investment in public schools, manageable class sizes, safe learning environments, teacher recruitment and retention, and workforce preparation. He raises concerns about shifting resources away from public schools.
Clark: Supports education savings accounts and parental school choice. He proposes examining administrative staffing costs and emphasizing core subjects and vocational training. His April questionnaire also identifies music and fine arts education as important.
Their approaches differ on education savings accounts and how state education resources should be directed.
3. Property taxes and state revenue
Boulton: Proposes reviewing corporate tax credits, exemptions and incentives to allow tax relief directed toward working families while protecting local government services.
Clark: Proposes a broader restructuring of property taxes, developed with local governments, schools and businesses. He says the system should eventually be replaced rather than repeatedly adjusted, and raises concerns about taxes threatening homeownership, especially for older residents and people with disabilities.
Neither candidate provided a complete replacement property-tax formula in the October questionnaire.
4. State spending and budgeting
Boulton: Proposes reducing corporate tax incentives and prioritizing public services such as education, healthcare and public safety. He argues that tax decisions should account for the revenue needs of local governments.
Clark: Proposes reviewing government expenditures for inefficiency, waste and misuse, reducing spending where possible and returning excess revenue to taxpayers.
Both discuss public costs, but identify different spending and tax-policy mechanisms.
5. Water quality and cancer concerns
Boulton: Emphasizes cleaner water, reducing environmental risks, and accountability for companies whose products cause harm where legal responsibility can be established.
Clark: Emphasizes cleaner water, environmental conditions, food quality and greater flexibility for patients seeking particular medical treatments.
Both identify cancer and environmental health as concerns. Their campaign statements are not scientific evidence that any single factor caused an individual cancer case.
6. Eminent domain and carbon-capture pipelines
Boulton: Says eminent domain should be a last resort and require clear public benefit, enforceable standards and protections for landowners. He identifies categories of public projects where a public purpose may exist.
Clark: Says eminent domain should be restricted to limited public purposes such as roads and necessary utility easements and explicitly opposes using it for private-profit carbon-capture pipelines.
Both express limits on eminent domain. Clark states explicit opposition to using it for carbon-capture pipelines. Boulton describes a public-benefit standard rather than an across-the-board position for every pipeline project.
Boulton's previous legislative record
Minimum wage, 2017
Boulton was among the sponsors of Senate File 156, which proposed staged increases in Iowa's minimum wage followed by adjustments linked to increases in Social Security benefits. The bill was introduced and referred to committee. The reviewed legislative history does not show its enactment.
Paid family and medical leave, 2023
Boulton was among the sponsors of Senate File 95, proposing a paid, job-protected family and medical leave insurance program for eligible workers. It was introduced in 2023. The reviewed record does not establish that it became law.
These bills document past legislative actions. They are not laws currently in force, and the older bill language should not automatically be treated as Boulton's exact proposal for 2027.
Clark has no prior state legislative voting or bill-sponsorship record. His 2026 questionnaires and campaign materials provide the basis for describing his prospective agenda.
What the evidence does not establish
The reviewed statements do not establish a specific new minimum-wage amount proposed by Boulton, a complete financing plan for his paid-leave goals, a detailed replacement property-tax formula from Clark, or final fiscal estimates for either candidate's broader economic proposals.
A previously introduced bill demonstrates a past proposal, not that it passed, produced outcomes or will be reintroduced in the same form.
Original sources and further reading
Research and editorial note
The NAACP Des Moines Branch provides this guide for nonpartisan voter education. We do not endorse or oppose candidates. Past legislative proposals are distinguished from enacted laws and from current campaign commitments.
Research review updated: October 31, 2026.
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