For Carolyn Wiezorek, a stronger Iowa starts with making sure people have what they need to thrive: a good education, opportunities close to home, and a healthy community.
A lifelong educator and active Dubuque County volunteer, Carolyn is running for Iowa House District 65 to bring the needs of working families, students, and neighbors to the center of decisions in Des Moines.
- Running for: Iowa House District 65
- Home: Dubuque County, northwest of Asbury
- Experience: Classroom teacher, elementary school administrator, and associate professor of education at Clarke University
- Top priorities: Strong schools, an economy that supports working families and locally owned businesses, clean water, and community health
- Community involvement: Lantern Center, Prescott Elementary School, Convivium Urban Farmstead, and Epworth Food Pantry
- Family: Three adult children and two grandchildren
A Life in Education
Carolyn has worked with students from kindergarten through graduate school. Her career includes serving as a classroom teacher, an elementary school administrator, and an associate professor of education at Clarke University, with decades spent in the Dubuque Community and Holy Family school systems.
That experience shapes how she thinks about Iowa’s future.
“We can’t afford to let even one child slip through the cracks,” she says.
For Carolyn, investing in education means giving students, teachers, and families the resources they need today while preparing young people for the years ahead. She wants Iowa to modernize its educational system and provide support that helps children and young adults thrive.
She knows those investments reach beyond the classroom. The students learning in Iowa’s schools today will become the workers, business owners, parents, and community leaders who shape what comes next.
Rooted in Dubuque County
Carolyn and her husband, Bill, have three adult children and two grandchildren. They own a small farm near Bankston and are part-owners of a sawmill in Sand Springs.
In retirement, Carolyn has continued serving her community through volunteer work with the Lantern Center, Prescott Elementary School, Convivium Urban Farmstead, and the Epworth Food Pantry.
Her connections to classrooms, farms, businesses, and community organizations inform another campaign priority: an economy that strengthens the places where people live.
Carolyn is concerned about what happens when large corporations and private equity firms extract wealth from communities while residents face fewer services and fewer good-paying jobs. She wants state policies to prioritize locally owned businesses and organizations that reinvest close to home.
“I will promote policies that prioritize locally owned businesses and organizations whose owners live amongst us and invest in our communities rather than extract from them,” she says.
When Community Health Becomes Personal
Clean water and Iowa’s cancer rates are deeply personal concerns for Carolyn.
She says that within a 10-house radius of her home, eight people have had cancer, and three have died.
“For me, this is personal. I love my neighbors and I want them to live long healthy lives.”
Those experiences have strengthened her determination to make community health a priority in Des Moines. She wants lawmakers to take residents’ concerns seriously and put the needs of Iowa communities at the center of their decisions.
“If elected, I will draft bills that are constituent driven and based on the needs of people living in our communities.”
What She’s Hearing Across the District
As Carolyn talks with people throughout House District 65, she hears frustration about affordability, healthcare, and education—and a sense that government is not responding to the problems families face.
“People are frustrated with government because it isn’t working for them.”
She believes public services should be judged by how well they serve people. Her goal is to help restore confidence in government through decisions that improve daily life: stronger schools, accessible healthcare, and an economy with opportunities for working families.
This campaign grows out of the same concern that first motivated her: Iowa can do better for its people.
The Iowa She Wants to Leave Behind
Asked what she hopes Iowa will be like for her children and grandchildren in 10 or 20 years, Carolyn’s answer reaches beyond any single policy.
“I hope that our grandchildren and great-grandchildren never experience the hatred and division we currently navigate.”
She imagines an Iowa where people can meet their basic needs, feel safe and secure, and find acceptance in their communities.
That is the future she wants to help build – and the reason she is asking House District 65 voters for the opportunity to serve them.