Elesha L. Gayman is a former Iowa State Representative from the 84th District. She served in 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 ...

from 2007 to 2011. Gayman served on several committees in the Iowa House - the Agriculture committee; the Appropriations committee; the Education committee; and the Public Safety committee. She was vice-chair of the Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee. Gayman is a 1997 graduate of

Davenport West High School Davenport West High School is a public four year high school located in Davenport, Iowa. Their athletic mascot is the Freddy the Falcon. The school has almost 200 classes and nearly 1,500 students. The school, along with Davenport Central and D ...

, attended

St. Ambrose University St. Ambrose University (SAU) is a private university, private Catholic university in Davenport, Iowa, United States. It was founded as a school of commerce for young men in 1882. History Foundation St. Ambrose was founded as a seminary and scho ...

, spent a semester of her

sophomore year In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. In ...

at Loyola University’s

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, earned a BA (

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

) from the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

in 2001, and an

MPA MPA or mPa may refer to: Academia Academic degrees * Master of Performing Arts * Master of Professional Accountancy * Master of Public Administration * Master of Public Affairs Schools * Mesa Preparatory Academy * Morgan Park Academy * M ...

from

Drake University Drake University is a private university in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. The University offers over 140 undergraduate and graduate programs, including professional programs in business, education, Legal education, law, and pharmacy. Drake U ...

through th
Quad Cities Graduate Center
in 2007. She was a delegate to the

2004 Democratic National Convention The 2004 Democratic National Convention convened from July 26 to 29, 2004 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston, Massachusetts, and nominated Senator John Kerry from Massachusetts for president and Senator John Edwards from North ...

and

campaign manager A campaign manager, campaign chairperson, or campaign director is an individual whose role is to coordinate a political campaign's spending, broad tactics, and hiring. They lead operations such as Campaign finance, fundraising, advertising, Opi ...

(for four northeast Iowa counties) in

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as the 68th United States secretary of state from 2013 to 2017 in the Presidency of Barack Obama#Administration, administration of Barac ...

's President Campaign in 2004. She was a staffer for State Sen.

Brian Schoenjahn Brian H. Schoenjahn (born 1949) is a politician and a former Iowa State Senator from the 12th District. A Democrat, he has served in the Iowa Senate from 2005 until 2017. He received his B.A. in Social Science and his M.A. in Political Scienc ...

, and an intern for State Sen. Pat Deluhery. When she was 13 she went to

Davenport Davenport may refer to: Places Australia *Davenport, Northern Territory, a locality *Hundred of Davenport, cadastral unit in South Australia **Davenport, South Australia, suburb of Port Augusta **District Council of Davenport, former local govern ...

's city hall and argued against the youth

curfew A curfew is an order that imposes certain regulations during specified hours. Typically, curfews order all people affected by them to remain indoors during the evening and nighttime hours. Such an order is most often issued by public authorit ...

. In the

2008 United States presidential election Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator from Delaware, defeated the Republican ticket of John Mc ...

, she was Eastern Iowa Political Director for

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

’s Presidential Caucus Campaign. Gayman was elected in 2006 with 5,429 votes (50%), defeating Republican incumbent Jim Van Fossen. She was re-elected in 2008.

References

External links

Representative Elesha Gayman
''official Iowa General Assembly site''
Elesha Gayman for Iowa
''official campaign site'' *
Member Profile: Elesha Gayman
at the Iowa House Democrats, March 4, 2009 Democratic Party members of the Iowa House of Representatives Living people St. Ambrose University alumni University of Iowa alumni 1970s births Women state legislators in Iowa Loyola University Chicago alumni Drake University alumni Politicians from Davenport, Iowa 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century members of the Iowa General Assembly Year of birth missing (living people) {{Iowa-politician-stub