Swati Dandekar Announces Bid for Iowa Senate

Iowa Rep. Swati Dandekar, D-Marion, made it official this morning by announcing she will seek the state Senate seat currently held by Mary Lundby. Lundby announced Wednesday that she would seek a position on the Linn County Board of Supervisors instead of running for re-election.

“I know that I have some big shoes to fill,” Dandekar said in a telephone interview this morning. “Mary Lundby is readily accessible. People could always call and email her their problems or their issues and she was always on top of things. She always made sure that the district’s constituents and citizens were taken care of. I have learned from her that our job is to take care of our district and our constituents.”

Dandekar currently serves House District 36, which includes Marion and extends to the edge of Central City. She will be seeking election in Senate District 18 which includes Marion as well as Robins, Hiawatha, Walker, Coggon, Prairieburg, Center Point, Alburnett, Palo and Fairfax. Because Dandekar, a former member of Linn-Mar Community School District Board of Directors, has continually shown interest in education and school-related issues, it is worth noting that, if elected, her new district will serve Marion Independent, Linn-Mar Community, Springville, Central City and Alburnett school districts.

“I have always worked hard in the Iowa House and I will do the same for District 18 in the Iowa Senate,” she said. “It will be an extension of what I’ve been focusing on and I’m looking forward to the opportunity. Education will remain as one of my key focuses because in order to have a great economy, you have to have a great work force. I have always felt that education and economic growth go hand-in-hand.”

Dandekar is running for the Senate, she says, so that she can continue and expand work she began in the House for education, the economy, and the environment. She also believes the new role would allow her to do more for health care, government reform and fiscal responsibility.

“We need a fiscally responsible government that not only consistently meets its obligations for public safety, children, seniors, the environment and health care, but also invests wisely in education and growing the economy for Iowa’s future,” she said.

Speaker of the House Pat Murphy, D-Dubuque, says there is little doubt Dandekar will be missed but that he is also optimistic the seat can be retained for the Democrats.

“Swati is a good legislator and she’s done a very good job in the House,” he said by phone Friday morning. “She’s done a very good job of helping us, especially on issues involving economic development and she will be missed. We will be proceeding forward and seeking out a candidate. The one thing we’ve done in the house is pick candidates that listen to people. We pick candidates that are reflective of their district.”

Murphy added that Dandekar would have a voice during the selection of the next Democratic candidate for her current House district.

Dandekar was the first Indian-born U.S. citizen to win a state legislature seat in the United States. Before serving in the Iowa legislature and in addition to the Linn-Mar School Board, she served on the Iowa Association of School Board’s Board of Directors and the Vision Iowa Board. She is active with the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation, Iowa Math & Science Coalition, Junior League of Cedar Rapids, Belin-Blank International Center for Gifted and Talented, and the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy.