Michael E. Gronstal (born January 29, 1950) is a former

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

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who represented the 8th district in the

Iowa Senate The Iowa Senate is the upper house of the Iowa General Assembly. There are 50 seats in the Iowa Senate, representing 50 single-member districts across the Iowa, state of Iowa with populations of approximately 60,927 per constituency, . Each Senat ...

. He served from 1985 to 2017 and was the majority leader and chairman of the Rules and Administration committee. He was also chairman of the

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(DLCC), the national organization to elect Democratic state legislators.

Personal life and education

Gronstal was born on January 29, 1950. He received his

B.A. 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 degree ...

from

Antioch College Antioch College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1850 by the Christian Connection and began operating in 1852 as a non-secta ...

. Gronstal and his wife, Connie, have two daughters: Kate, who is a transportation engineer at Stantec in Chicago; and Sara, who is currently Director of Forensics at

Eastern Illinois University Eastern Illinois University (EIU) is a public university in Charleston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1895 as the Eastern Illinois State Normal School, a teacher's college offering a two-year degree, Eastern Illinois University gradual ...

Political career

Gronstal was re-elected in 2004 with 12,480 votes (54%), defeating Republican opponent Loren Knauss. He won re-election again in 2008 with 58% of the votes. Prior to serving in the Senate, he served one term 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 ...

. He also served as the chair of the Pottawattamie County Democratic Party from 1986 to 1988. Gronstal supported efforts to increase

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in Iowa and in 2006, Iowa passed the nation's strongest

ethanol Ethanol (also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol, with its formula also written as , or EtOH, where Et is the ps ...

legislation. Gronstal also supported legislation to increase funding for

community college A community college is a type of undergraduate higher education institution, generally leading to an associate degree, certificate, or diploma. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an open enr ...

s and school districts. After the

Iowa Supreme Court The Iowa Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Iowa. The Court is composed of a chief justice and six associate justices. The Court holds its regular sessions in Des Moines in the Iowa Judicial Branch Building located at 1111 ...

ruled in favor of

gay marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 billion people (20% ...

in the '' Varnum v. Brien'' decision in April 2009, Gronstal blocked a Republican attempt to overturn the Court's decision with a

constitutional amendment A constitutional amendment (or constitutional alteration) is a modification of the constitution of a polity, organization or other type of entity. Amendments are often interwoven into the relevant sections of an existing constitution, directly alt ...

. He released a

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video in which he quoted his daughter's statement that opponents of

same-sex marriage in Iowa Same-sex marriage has been legally recognized in Iowa since a decision of the Iowa Supreme Court on April 3, 2009. Marriage licenses became available to same-sex couples on April 27. This ruling was the result of a lawsuit filed in 2005 by six ...

had already lost because her generation does not care about the issue. Gronstal lost his bid for re-election in 2016, and was replaced by Republican

Dan Dawson Dan Dawson (born December 11, 1981) is a Canadian former professional box lacrosse player formally playing for the Toronto Rock of the National Lacrosse League, Brampton Excelsiors (MSL) of Major Series Lacrosse, and is currently a free agent ...

. As of 2022, he is a lobbyist for the Iowa State Building and Construction Trades. , - , - , -

References

External links

Senator Michael E. Gronstal
''official Iowa Legislature site''
Senator Michael E. Gronstal
''official Iowa General Assembly site''
State Senator Mike Gronstal
''official constituency site'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gronstal, Michael 1950 births Antioch College alumni Democratic Party Iowa state senators Living people Democratic Party members of the Iowa House of Representatives Politicians from Council Bluffs, Iowa 21st-century members of the Iowa General Assembly