Elinor A. Levin (born 1987) is an American politician, tutor and former teacher who has represented the 89th district 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 ...

since January 2023, which consists of parts of central Johnson County, including much of southern

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 ...

. She is a member of the Democratic Party.

Early life

Levin was born in 1987 in

Palatine, Illinois Palatine () is a village in Cook County, Illinois, Cook and Lake County, Illinois, Lake counties, Illinois, United States. It is a northwestern residential Chicago metropolitan area, suburb of Chicago. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 c ...

, where she was raised. She graduated from

William Fremd High School William Fremd High School, or Fremd (initially Palatine High School South), is a public four-year high school located in Palatine, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Township High School Distr ...

in 2005. She received a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in secondary education and English from

Cornell College Cornell College is a private liberal arts college in Mount Vernon, Iowa. Originally the Iowa Conference Seminary (Methodist), the school was founded in 1853 by George Bryant Bowman. Four years later, in 1857, the name was changed to Cornell Co ...

, and moved to

Coralville, Iowa Coralville is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is a suburb of Iowa City and part of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 22,318 at the 2020 census. History Coralville is the location of the Edgewa ...

, in 2009 shortly after graduating. She moved to Iowa City in 2010.

Political career

Levin announced her candidacy for the open 89th district of the Iowa House of Representatives in November 2021, following decennial redistricting. She won the Democratic primaries on June 7, 2022, with over 63 percent of the vote, and defeated Republican Jacob Onken in the general election on November 8 by over 7,000 votes. In 2024, Levin filed for reelection. She defeated Ty Bopp in the Democratic primaries on June 4, 2024, by over 1,100 votes, and ran unopposed in the general election on November 5, 2024. Levin currently serves on the Agriculture, Environmental Protection, Natural Resources, Public Safety, and Veteran Affairs committees. Levin primarily runs on a

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or continent movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from volunteers at the local level to imp ...

campaign. She has said that her priorities include

sustainable energy Energy system, Energy is sustainability, sustainable if it "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Definitions of sustainable energy usually look at its effects on the e ...

and combatting

rural flight Rural flight (also known as rural-to-urban migration, rural depopulation, or rural exodus) is the Human migration, migratory pattern of people from rural areas into urban areas. It is urbanization seen from the rural perspective. In Industriali ...

. She does not support the use of

eminent domain Eminent domain, also known as land acquisition, compulsory purchase, resumption, resumption/compulsory acquisition, or expropriation, is the compulsory acquisition of private property for public use. It does not include the power to take and t ...

for the construction of CO₂ pipelines. She is

pro-choice Abortion-rights movements, also self-styled as pro-choice movements, are movements that advocate for legal access to induced abortion services, including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their ...

Personal life

Levin is married to Kevin Lawrence, a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

officer. They reside in Iowa City. She is a private writing tutor and a former public school teacher. Levin is of Jewish descent though is not religious. She has described herself as

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Levin, Elinor Date of birth missing (living people) Living people 1987 births Democratic Party members of the Iowa House of Representatives 21st-century members of the Iowa General Assembly LGBTQ state legislators in Iowa Women state legislators in Iowa People from Palatine, Illinois Politicians from Iowa City, Iowa Cornell College alumni Schoolteachers from Iowa LGBTQ people from Illinois 21st-century American women politicians