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John H. Wills

From Ballotpedia
John Wills
Iowa House of Representatives District 10
Tenure
2023 - Present
Term ends
2027
Years in position
2
Predecessor:Mike Sexton (R)
Prior offices:
Iowa House of Representatives District 1
Years in office: 2015 - 2023
Successor:J.D. Scholten (D)
Compensation
Base salary
$25,000/year
Per diem
$178/day for legislators who live outside of Polk County. $133.50/day for legislators who live within Polk County.
Elections and appointments
Last election
November 5, 2024
Education
Associates
Iowa Lakes Community College, 1987
Bachelor's
Northwestern College, 1989
Graduate
American Military University, 2007
Graduate
American Military University
Military
Service / branch
U.S. Army
Years of service
1983 - 2015
Personal
Birthplace
Sibley, IA
Religion
Protestant
Profession
Coordinator
Contact

John Wills (Republican Party) is a member of theIowa House of Representatives, representingDistrict 10. He assumed office on January 1, 2023. His current term ends on January 1, 2027.

Wills (Republican Party) ran for re-election to theIowa House of Representatives to representDistrict 10. He won in the general election onNovember 5, 2024.

Wills began serving asspeaker pro tempore in 2020.[1]

Biography

John Wills was born inSibley, Iowa.[2] Wills graduated from Sibley High School in 1984.[3] He served in the U.S. Army from 1983 to 2015. Wills earned an associate degree in environmental studies from Iowa Lakes Community College in 1987, a bachelor's degree in biology from Northwestern College in 1989, a master's degree in political science and government from American Military University in 2007, and a master's degree in environmental policy and management from American Military University.[2][3] His career experience includes working as a Clean Water Alliance coordinator with the Dickinson Soil and Water Conservation District.[3] Wills has been affiliated with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).[2]

Committee assignments

2025-2026

Wills was assigned to the following committees:

2023-2024

Wills was assigned to the following committees:

2021-2022

Wills was assigned to the following committees:

2019-2020

Wills was assigned to the following committees:

2017 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:

Iowa committee assignments, 2017
•Administration and Rules
•Agriculture
•Commerce
•Natural Resources
•Transportation

2015 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Wills served on the following committees:

Iowa committee assignments, 2015
•Environmental Protection, Vice chair
•Human Resources
•Natural Resources
•State Government

Sponsored legislation

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according toBillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.


Elections

2024

See also: Iowa House of Representatives elections, 2024

General election

General election for Iowa House of Representatives District 10

IncumbentJohn Wills won election in the general election for Iowa House of Representatives District 10 on November 5, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of John Wills
John Wills (R)
 
98.4
 
15,293
 Other/Write-in votes
 
1.6
 
251

Ballotpedia Logo

Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 15,544
Candidate Connection = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 10

IncumbentJohn Wills advanced from the Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 10 on June 4, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of John Wills
John Wills
 
98.1
 
1,444
 Other/Write-in votes
 
1.9
 
28

Ballotpedia Logo

Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 1,472
Candidate Connection = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Campaign finance

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Wills in this election.

2022

See also: Iowa House of Representatives elections, 2022

General election

General election for Iowa House of Representatives District 10

IncumbentJohn Wills defeatedDan Wahl in the general election for Iowa House of Representatives District 10 on November 8, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of John Wills
John Wills (R) Candidate Connection
 
76.1
 
10,006
Dan Wahl (Independent)
 
23.7
 
3,115
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.2
 
23

Ballotpedia Logo

Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 13,144
Candidate Connection = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 10

IncumbentJohn Wills advanced from the Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 10 on June 7, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of John Wills
John Wills Candidate Connection
 
99.3
 
2,399
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.7
 
17

Ballotpedia Logo

Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 2,416
Candidate Connection = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

2020

See also: Iowa House of Representatives elections, 2020

General election

General election for Iowa House of Representatives District 1

IncumbentJohn Wills won election in the general election for Iowa House of Representatives District 1 on November 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of John Wills
John Wills (R)
 
98.6
 
15,367
 Other/Write-in votes
 
1.4
 
212

Ballotpedia Logo

Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 15,579
Candidate Connection = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 1

IncumbentJohn Wills advanced from the Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 1 on June 2, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of John Wills
John Wills
 
99.5
 
5,804
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.5
 
31

Ballotpedia Logo

Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 5,835
Candidate Connection = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

2018

See also:Iowa House of Representatives elections, 2018

General election

General election for Iowa House of Representatives District 1

IncumbentJohn Wills defeatedKaren Larson in the general election for Iowa House of Representatives District 1 on November 6, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of John Wills
John Wills (R)
 
74.3
 
10,501
Karen Larson (D)
 
25.6
 
3,617
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.1
 
8

Ballotpedia Logo

Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 14,126
Candidate Connection = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 1

Karen Larson advanced from the Democratic primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 1 on June 5, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔Karen Larson
 
100.0
 
651

Ballotpedia Logo

There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified.

Total votes: 651
Candidate Connection = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 1

IncumbentJohn Wills advanced from the Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 1 on June 5, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of John Wills
John Wills
 
100.0
 
3,178

Ballotpedia Logo

Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified.

Total votes: 3,178
Candidate Connection = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

2016

See also:Iowa House of Representatives elections, 2016

Elections for theIowa House of Representatives took place in 2016. The primary election took place on June 7, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was March 18, 2016.

IncumbentJohn Wills ran unopposed in the Iowa House of Representatives District 1 general election.[4][5]

Iowa House of Representatives, District 1 General Election, 2016
PartyCandidate
    RepublicanGreen check mark transparent.pngJohn WillsIncumbent (unopposed)
Source:Iowa Secretary of State


IncumbentJohn Wills ran unopposed in the Iowa House of Representatives District 1 Republican primary.[6][7]

Iowa House of Representatives, District 1 Republican Primary, 2016
PartyCandidate
    RepublicanGreen check mark transparent.pngJohn WillsIncumbent (unopposed)

2014

See also:Iowa House of Representatives elections, 2014

Elections for theIowa House of Representatives took place in 2014. A primary election took place on June 3, 2014. The general election was held onNovember 4, 2014. Thesignature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was March 14, 2014.John H. Wills defeatedKevin T. Klaassen andKevin Wolfswinkel in the Republican primary and was unchallenged in the general election.[8][9][10]


Iowa House of Representatives, District 1 Republican Primary, 2014
CandidateVote %Votes
Green check mark transparent.pngJohn H. Wills42.5%1,891
Kevin T. Klaassen29.5%1,314
Kevin Wolfswinkel28%1,246
Total Votes4,451

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also:Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

John Wills did not completeBallotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2022

Candidate Connection

John Wills completedBallotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Wills' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all |Collapse all

John is Northwest Iowa born and raised, and his track record as a conservative leader in the Iowa House reflects his roots. After growing up in Sibley and graduating from Sibley Community High School, he traveled a bit outside of House District One to attend Northwestern College. While there, he earned a bachelor’s degree in biology. He continued his education at American Military University and earned two master’s degrees in Political Science with an emphasis in National Defense and Environmental Policy and Management.


John and his wife Cami have been married since 2010. Cami is an accountant for a home remodeling business in Spirit Lake. They have three kids, Seth, Wesley, who live in Omaha, and Mariah who lives in Spencer. In addition to their human kids, they have two dogs, Ashland and Liberty, who enjoy hunting with John.

John retired from the military as a First Sergeant after 25 years of service. He spent several tours of duty deployed in Iraq, Egypt, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Qatar, and Germany as an infantryman and cavalry scout.


John’s life has been dedicated to service, and now he is working on behalf of Iowans. He has been representing District One in the “People’s House” since 2015. In 2020, John was elected to serve as the Speaker Pro Tempore of the Iowa House. He also served as a House Assistant Leader from 2015-2018 and as the Majority Whip in 2019.
  • I am running to protect our future.
  • Instead of our kids moving away from Iowa, I want them to move to Iowa.
  • Iowa's future is bright and i want to keep it that way.
I am passionate about making government smaller and smarter as well as reducing regulations. In addition, government should only collect taxes that are needed to serve the people...it isn't government dollars, its taxpayer dollars.
My hero is President Ronald Reagan and I would like to copy his style to the best of my ability, although I will never be the communicator that he was.
I believe in limited government, less regulation, and federalism.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

2020

John Wills did not completeBallotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign finance summary

Ballotpedia LogoNote: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf.Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at theFEC website. Clickhere for more on federal campaign finance law andhere for more on state campaign finance law.

John Wills campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2024*Iowa House of Representatives District 10Won general$143,735 $141,831
2022Iowa House of Representatives District 10Won general$155,621 $140,732
2020Iowa House of Representatives District 1Won general$140,647 N/A**
2018Iowa House of Representatives District 1Won general$79,497 N/A**
2016Iowa House of Representatives, District 1Won$49,325 N/A**
2014Iowa House of Representatives, District 1Won$34,420 N/A**
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

Scorecards

See also:State legislative scorecards andState legislative scorecards in Iowa

Ascorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states.  To contribute to the list of Iowa scorecards, email suggestions toeditor@ballotpedia.org.


2024

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show].   

In 2024, theIowa State Legislature was in session from January 8 to April 20.

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to economic issues.
Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to labor issues.
Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.


2023

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show].   

In 2023, theIowa State Legislature was in session from January 9 to May 4.

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to labor issues.


2022

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show].   

In 2022, theIowa State Legislature was in session from January 10 to May 24.

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to labor issues.
Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.


2021

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show].   

In 2021, theIowa State Legislature was in session from January 11 to May 19.

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to economic issues.
Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to labor issues.
Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.


2020

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show].   

In 2020, theIowa State Legislature was in session from January 13 to June 14. The session was suspended from March 16 through June 3.

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to economic issues.
Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to labor issues.
Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.
Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.


2019

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show].   

In 2019, theIowa State Legislature was in session from January 14 through April 27.

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to economic issues.
Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to labor issues.
Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.


2018

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2018, click [show].   

In 2018, theIowa State Legislature was in session from January 8 through May 5.

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to labor issues.
Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.


2017

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2017, click [show].   

In 2017, theIowa State Legislature was in session from January 9 through April 22.

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills tracked by CCI Action.
Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to labor issues.
Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.


2016

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2016, click [show].   

In 2016, theIowa State Legislature was in session from January 11 through April 29.

Legislators are scored on their votes by the ACLU of Iowa on bills "that embody key civil liberties concepts."[11]
  • Iowa Association of Business and Industry:Senate andHouse
Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.
Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to labor issues.
Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.
Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.


2015

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2015, click [show].   

In 2015, theIowa State Legislature was in session from January 12 through June 5.

Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.



See also


External links

Candidate

Iowa House of Representatives District 10

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    • Officeholder

    Iowa House of Representatives District 10

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    • Footnotes

    1. ↑KIWA Radio, "Northwest Iowa Representative Is New Speaker Pro Tem Of Iowa House," January 13, 2020
    2. ↑2.02.12.2Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on December 6, 2021
    3. ↑3.03.13.2LinkedIn, "John Wills," accessed May 12, 2023
    4. ↑Iowa Secretary of State, "General Candidate List, 2016," accessed August 24, 2016
    5. ↑Iowa Secretary of State, "2016 General Election Canvass Summary," accessed December 16, 2016
    6. ↑Iowa Secretary of State, "Candidate Listing by Office," March 21, 2016
    7. ↑Iowa Secretary of State, "2016 Primary Election Canvass Summary," accessed August 22, 2016
    8. ↑Iowa Secretary of State, "Official primary election candidate list," accessed March 18, 2014
    9. ↑Iowa Secretary of State, "Official primary election results," accessed June 30, 2014
    10. ↑Iowa Secretary of State, "Official general election results," accessed December 1, 2014
    11. ↑ACLU Iowa, "Legislative Report & Civil Liberties Scorecard," accessed July 11, 2017

    Political offices
    Preceded by
    Mike Sexton (R)    		Iowa House of Representatives District 10
    2023-Present    		Succeeded by
    -
    Preceded by
    -    		Iowa House of Representatives District 1
    2015-2023    		Succeeded by
    J.D. Scholten (D)


    Current members of theIowa House of Representatives
    Leadership
    Majority Leader:Bobby Kaufmann
    Representatives
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    Vacant
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    District 99
    District 100
    Republican Party (66)
    Democratic Party (33)
    Vacancies (1)


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