Tom Townsend For Iowa

05/04/2026

After 35 hours, I am finally leaving the Capitol. We gaveled out at 7:20 PM on Sunday. I lost track of how many Mt. Dew Zeros and Diet Mt. Dews I consumed, but I can report that the Capitol vending machines ran out.

Now, I am going to finally take off this tie and get some sleep. I need to rest up, because the moment I get back to Dubuque I am going to get to work getting more Democrats elected in the Iowa House and Senate, and to make Lindsay James my Congresswoman.

05/02/2026

Hopefully this is my last selfie in front of the Capitol for the 2026 Session. We are working through the weekend to try and pass the budget, which has to be done before the Session can end.

05/02/2026

The Senate is in the Capitol on a Saturday. The rumor is that we will be working straight through the weekend to wrap up the 2026 Session. I plan to edit this post with updates on how many Mt. Dew Zeros I consume between 9:00 AM Saturday until we finally gavel out.

🔋Saturday 8:20 AM - First Dew opened
🔋Saturday 9:20 AM - Second Dew opened. Headed into a caucus meeting with my fellow Senate Dems
🪫Saturday 11:30 AM - I just finished my second Dew. I am trying to pace myself.
🔋Saturday 2:30 PM - Just opened my 4th Dew. We have still not debated a single bill on the Senate floor. We were supposed to gavel back in at 2:00. We haven't.
📜Saturday 3:00 PM - The Senate has past our first 3 bills. Maybe we can get to more bills debated than Dews I have consumed. 🤞🏻
📜Saturday 3:45 PM - The Senate is voting on our 4th bill of the day and I am still on my 4th Dew.

04/29/2026

On Workers Memorial Day, I took to the floor of the Senate to read the names of the 32 Iowans who lost their lives while on the job in the past year. As we mourn those that we have lost, we must continue the work to ensure that all Iowans come home from the job every night.

May the memory of those 32 souls we have lost be a blessing.

03/24/2026

Not much of a chance two is gonna be enough today. I am starting the morning with committee meetings and then this afternoon, the Senate is debating the tax on HMO health insurance. Sadly, the vendor who stocks the Capitol's vending machines only stocks Diet Mountain Dew, so I will likely have to switch from Zero to Diet to get through the day.

03/06/2026

03/03/2026

02/26/2026