# Janet Petersen

Janet Petersen is a Democratic member of the Iowa Senate for district 18.

- Party: Democrat
- Seat: Iowa Senate, district 18
- Serving since: 2013-01-14
- Current term: IA 2025–26 session
- Open States ID: ocd-person/3089e8af-0071-4298-822c-2d16ac01fe9f

Source: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/3089e8af-0071-4298-822c-2d16ac01fe9f (America’s Political Pulse, Polarization Research Lab), data through 2026-10-27. Data under CC BY 4.0. Cite as: Westwood, Sean J., and Yphtach Lelkes. 2024. America's Political Pulse [data set].

## Headline

Petersen missed 9.5% of 589 roll calls, attendance in the bottom quarter of the Iowa Senate (average 93.9%).

## What Petersen says (IA 2025–26 session)

13 classified statements: 13 posts on X. Each rate is the share of statements with the label, against the State Senate Democrats average; rank 1 is the highest rate.

| Label | Petersen | State Senate Democrats average | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal attacks | 0.0% | 2.4% | 248 of 329 |
| Policy criticism | 23.1% | 10.3% | 32 of 329 |
| Policy discussion | 61.5% | 42.9% | 49 of 329 |
| Bipartisanship | 0.0% | 3.4% | 294 of 329 |
| Credit claiming | 7.7% | 16.1% | 227 of 329 |
| Extreme labels | 0.0% | 0.8% | 228 of 329 |

Most discussed policy areas: Crime and Law Enforcement 25% (State Senate Democrats 8.4%); Environmental Protection 25% (State Senate Democrats 4.4%); Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues 13% (State Senate Democrats 8.4%); Education 13% (State Senate Democrats 15%); Emergency Management 13% (State Senate Democrats 3.7%).

## Ideology (CSIP)

CSIP score −0.66 (standard error 0.02), from 428 donors and 899 roll calls. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it, on one scale for every official. 49% of State Senate Democrats score lower.

## Votes (IA 2025–26 session)

589 roll calls. Attendance 90.4% (Iowa Senate 93.9%). Party unity 100% (95.7%). 14 votes against the party majority.

Key votes:

- 2026-10-02 · voted nay · Shall the bill pass? · HF 2801 A bill for an act modifying the major economic growth attraction program, and including effective date provisions. · pass · https://openstates.org/ia/bills/2025-2026/HF2801/
- 2026-05-03 · voted yea · Shall the bill pass? · SF 2472 A bill for an act relating to state and local government taxes, fees, financial authority, and budgets, by modifying property assessment provisions,… · pass · https://openstates.org/ia/bills/2025-2026/SF2472/
- 2026-05-03 · voted nay · Shall the bill pass? · HF 2788 A bill for an act relating to abortions including definitions, informed consent, dispensing of abortion-inducing drugs, and other abortion-related… · pass · https://openstates.org/ia/bills/2025-2026/HF2788/
- 2026-05-02 · voted yea · Shall the bill pass? · HF 2765 A bill for an act providing for the regulation of mining, making penalties applicable, and including effective date provisions. · pass · https://openstates.org/ia/bills/2025-2026/HF2765/
- 2026-05-02 · voted yea · Shall the bill pass? · HF 1036 A bill for an act relating to human trafficking, including screening children, civil statutes of limitations, an annual stakeholder meeting and… · pass · https://openstates.org/ia/bills/2025-2026/HF1036/
- 2026-05-02 · voted yea · Shall amendment S-5251 be adopted? · HF 1036 A bill for an act relating to human trafficking, including screening children, civil statutes of limitations, an annual stakeholder meeting and… · fail · https://openstates.org/ia/bills/2025-2026/HF1036/
- 2026-05-02 · voted nay · Shall the bill pass? · HF 2787 A bill for an act prohibiting warrant resolution clinics, including enforcement mechanisms, providing penalties, and including effective date… · pass · https://openstates.org/ia/bills/2025-2026/HF2787/
- 2026-05-02 · voted nay · Shall the bill pass? · HF 2781 A bill for an act relating to allocations of moneys from the juvenile detention home fund. · pass · https://openstates.org/ia/bills/2025-2026/HF2781/
- 2026-05-02 · voted nay · Shall the bill pass? · HF 2542 A bill for an act relating to habitual offenders, and providing penalties. · pass · https://openstates.org/ia/bills/2025-2026/HF2542/
- 2026-05-02 · voted yea · Shall the bill pass? · HF 2493 A bill for an act relating to the statewide preschool program by modifying provisions relating to eligibility, funding, and compulsory attendance and… · pass · https://openstates.org/ia/bills/2025-2026/HF2493/

## Legislation (IA 2025–26 session)

Sponsored 112 bills: 112 reached committee, 2 passed one chamber, 0 passed both, 0 became law. Cosponsored 0. 1.8% of sponsored bills got out of committee (Iowa Senate 10.8%; rank 39 of 48).

Recent sponsored bills:

- SR 111: A resolution recognizing the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the University of Northern Iowa. (passed one chamber, 2026-03-25) https://openstates.org/ia/bills/2025-2026/SR111/
- SF 2381: A bill for an act relating to nonmedical pregnancy resource centers, making appropriations, and including effective date provisions. (in committee, 2026-02-19) https://openstates.org/ia/bills/2025-2026/SF2381/
- SF 2377: A bill for an act relating to public accessibility to water sample data. (in committee, 2026-02-19) https://openstates.org/ia/bills/2025-2026/SF2377/
- SF 2360: A bill for an act relating to partial payments of property taxes and including applicability provisions. (in committee, 2026-02-24) https://openstates.org/ia/bills/2025-2026/SF2360/
- SF 2350: A bill for an act relating to the use of automatic registration plate readers, and providing penalties. (in committee, 2026-02-17) https://openstates.org/ia/bills/2025-2026/SF2350/
- SF 2272: A bill for an act providing for a veterans’ benefits and services poster for employers to display in the workplace. (in committee, 2026-02-12) https://openstates.org/ia/bills/2025-2026/SF2272/
- SF 2261: A bill for an act relating to confinement feeding operations by requiring the installation and operation of pollution monitoring systems, and making penalties… (in committee, 2026-02-12) https://openstates.org/ia/bills/2025-2026/SF2261/
- SF 2241: A bill for an act relating to charter school requirements, including reporting requirements, governance standards, financial accountability, and oversight by… (in committee, 2026-02-16) https://openstates.org/ia/bills/2025-2026/SF2241/
- SF 2249: A bill for an act relating to customer classes for large energy use facilities, and including applicability provisions. (in committee, 2026-02-12) https://openstates.org/ia/bills/2025-2026/SF2249/
- SF 2245: A bill for an act relating to audits of governmental subdivisions by the state auditor concerning suspected embezzlement, theft, or other significant… (in committee, 2026-02-12) https://openstates.org/ia/bills/2025-2026/SF2245/

## Campaign money (2026 cycle)

Itemized receipts $10.3K (State Senate Democrats median $55.5K). 99% of itemized individual money came from in state. Aggregates only; no individual donors.

## Recent statements

Newest first. Posts on X are listed by date and link only.

- 2026-10-06 · Post on X · https://x.com/janet4iowa/status/2107298053086457944
- 2026-05-19 · Post on X · labels: policy criticism, policy discussion · https://x.com/janet4iowa/status/2056815787382341734
- 2026-05-07 · Post on X · https://x.com/janet4iowa/status/2052411529706803304
- 2026-01-13 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/janet4iowa/status/2011205736605335816
- 2025-09-15 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/janet4iowa/status/1967577259751112746
- 2025-07-24 · Post on X · https://x.com/janet4iowa/status/1948412635206058288
- 2025-07-17 · Post on X · labels: policy criticism, policy discussion · https://x.com/janet4iowa/status/1945906268503240857
- 2025-07-17 · Post on X · labels: policy criticism, policy discussion · https://x.com/janet4iowa/status/1945907146312335844
- 2025-06-30 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion, credit claiming · https://x.com/janet4iowa/status/1939819384521752847
- 2025-06-26 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/janet4iowa/status/1938240042897637490

## Links

- Official site: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/legislator/legislatorAllYears?personID=72
- Campaign site: https://iowasenatedemocrats.com/senator/janet-petersen/
- X: https://x.com/janet4iowa
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/janet4iowa/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN6vZR3XOS1YN7RE34dR63A
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janetpetersen/

Full profile, with every chart and the methods: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/3089e8af-0071-4298-822c-2d16ac01fe9f