Allison visits Charles City for campaign meet-and-greet

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com
Area residents got an opportunity to chat with Gail Allison on Friday as she campaigns for the Iowa House District 58 seat.
A retired teacher from rural Ionia, Allison is running as a Democrat against incumbent Rep. Charley Thomson, R-Charles City.
The meet-and-greet was hosted in the home of Cherie Schafer, another retired teacher who once taught Allison when she was a first grader in Plainfield.
“I’ve never done this before. I just thought it was something I could do for her,” said Schafer. “I thought it was important for the people of Charles City to get to know her.”
Serving snacks and drinks in Schafer’s living room, several Charles City residents, many also retired teachers, came out to hear what Allison had say.
“She values public education and I feel that the Legislature and the governor have just wrecked public education,” said Schafer. “I want to see it brought back to a higher level.”
After being taught music by Schafer in elementary school, Allison grew up to become a music teacher herself. Though previously not politically outspoken, recent years have stirred her to become more active, particularly when it comes to Iowa’s education system.
Allison criticized recent changes in state education that have been passed by the Republican-dominated state government, including limiting teachers’ collective bargaining and directing state funds to private schools through the voucher program.
“I feel like Iowa is a project state for Project 2025, especially in education,” said Allison.
It was the state’s recent changes in the Area Education Associations (AEA) that pushed Allison from being outspoken on social media to wanting to speak in the state Legislature, she said.
“This is crazy,” said Allison. “It’s just one more pin hurting our public schools.”
Allison was also critical of the state’s six-week abortion ban, which was introduced in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade and went into effect in July after a lengthy court battle.
“I have to trust that women know what’s best for them,” she said. “This ban doesn’t just affect people trying to not have a child.”
Allison, whose daughter works in maternal care, relayed accounts of how the law has impacted women who suffer complications during wanted pregnancies by limiting their options and creating lengthy drives as doctors leave the state.
She said Iowa has the lowest ratio of doctors to patients in the nation and just had another hospital close.
“How are you going to attract doctors to come here if their hands are tied?” she asked.
Attracting people to Iowa in general is a priority to Allison, who criticized conservative rhetoric and laws targeting minority groups like immigrants and LGBTQ people.
“We need to have places that attract people to Iowa, not push them out,” she said.
Recognizing that she will have an up-hill climb to unseat incumbent Thomson, who comfortably won in 2022 by 18.3 points, Allison gave encouragement to the group when asked what they could do as a “blue dot in a red district.”
“There are a lot of blue dots,” she said.
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