Amy Nielsen is a Democratic member of the

Iowa House of Representatives The Iowa House of Representatives is the lower house of the Iowa General Assembly, the upper house being the Iowa Senate. There are 100 seats in the Iowa House of Representatives, representing 100 single-member districts across the state, formed ...

. She has represented the 85th district, which encompasses the cities of North Liberty,

Tiffin Tiffin is a South Asian English word for a type of meal. It refers to a light breakfast or a light tea-time meal at about 3 p.m., consisting of typical tea-time foods. In certain parts of India, it can also refer to the midday luncheon or ...

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, Swisher, Shueyville, and Lone Tree as well as rural areas surrounding

Iowa City Iowa City is the largest city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. At the time of the 2020 census the population was 74,828, making it the state's fifth-most populous city. The Iowa City metropolitan area, which enc ...

to the west and south, since January 2017. Prior to her election to the House, she was Mayor of North Liberty from November 2014 to December 2016.

Early life, education, and career

Nielsen was born in

Keokuk, Iowa Keokuk is a city in and a county seat of Lee County, Iowa, United States. It is Iowa's southernmost city. The population was 9,900 at the time of the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census. The city is named after the Sauk people, Sauk chief K ...

, in 1978. Due to her father's job in the auto industry, the family moved to

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

for a brief time before relocating back to the Iowan community of

Hills A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit, and is usually applied to peaks which are above elevation compared to the relative landmass, though not as prominent as mountains. Hills fall und ...

outside of Iowa City, where both of her parents ended up working for local banks. She attended

Iowa City West High School Iowa City West High School is a public high school in Iowa City, Iowa. It serves grades 9–12 for the Iowa City Community School District. Athletics The Trojans compete in the Mississippi Valley Conference in the following sports: *Cross ...

, graduating in 1995. After two years at

Kirkwood Community College Kirkwood Community College is a public community college in Cedar Rapids, Iowa with several additional regional and county centers located in Belle Plaine, Coralville, Hiawatha, Monticello, Tipton, Vinton, Washington and Williamsburg. Histo ...

, she and her husband left Iowa and began to move around the country for his job at

Kimberly Clark Kimberly-Clark Corporation is an American multinational consumer goods and personal care corporation that produces mostly paper-based consumer products. The company manufactures sanitary paper products and surgical & medical instruments. Kimb ...

. Now a stay-at-home mother of three children, she and her family made it back to Iowa, settling down in North Liberty. There, she began serving on the PTO of her children's school and worked on a revenue purpose campaign with the Iowa City School District. Nielsen also sat on the board of directors for the North Liberty Community Pantry and served as member of the

Iowa City Community School District Iowa City Community School District (ICCSD) is the public school district that serves the Iowa City, Iowa area. Over 14,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade attend 21 elementary schools, three middle schools, three comprehensive high ...

's Equity Advisory Committee. This experience motivated her to apply for a

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

seat that had opened up upon the passing of North Liberty's mayor. Although she wasn't selected, she decided to run for mayor the following year. Despite her relative inexperience and her opponent's stellar record of 15 years public service, Nielsen won with 55% of the vote. In 2015, when Sally Stutsman announced that she would not seek reelection, House leadership reached out to Nielsen, who initially declined. However, after reconsideration, she ultimately agreed and decided to launch a campaign around school funding. She ran against former Tiffin Mayor, Royce Phillips.

Electoral history

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She recorded a video in support of Cory 2020,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nielsen, Amy 1978 births Living people Women state legislators in Iowa People from Keokuk, Iowa Iowa Democrats Mayors of places in Iowa Women mayors of places in Iowa 21st-century mayors of places in Iowa 21st-century American women politicians People from Johnson County, Iowa Iowa City West High School alumni 21st-century members of the Iowa General Assembly