Paul McKinley (born 1947) is the Iowa State Senator from the 36th District. He has served 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 ...

since 2001 and served as Senate minority leader from 2009 until November 2011. McKinley currently serves on the Education committee, the Local Government committee, and the Veterans Affairs committee. He also serves as the

ranking member In United States politics, a ranking member is the most senior member of a congressional or state legislative committee from the minority party. On many committees the ranking minority member, along with the Chair, serve as ''ex officio'' members ...

on the Justice System Appropriations Subcommittee.

Early life, education and career

Paul McKinley was born in Chariton, Iowa in Lucas County and raised on the family farm outside of Russell. He was involved in

4-H 4-H is a U.S.-based network of youth organizations whose mission is "engaging youth to reach their fullest potential while advancing the field of youth development". Its name is a reference to the occurrence of the initial letter H four times ...

and

scouting Scouting or the Scout Movement is a youth social movement, movement which became popularly established in the first decade of the twentieth century. It follows the Scout method of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activi ...

. He showed the grand champion steer at the Lucas County Fair where he was a repeat championship winner and took his prize-winning

Hereford Hereford ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...

to the

Iowa State Fair The Iowa State Fair is an annual state fair held in Des Moines, Iowa, every August. It began in 1854 and has been held on the Iowa State Fairgrounds since 1886. It is based in the state capital Des Moines, Iowa over an 11 day period in August ...

. He was active in scouting and attained the rank of

Eagle Scout Eagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of Scouting America. Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle Scout rank has been earned by over ...

during his teen years. In high school McKinley was active in student government and also devoted time to football, track, baseball. Upon graduating from Russell High School, he attended 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 ...

, where he graduated in 1971. In that year, he returned to nearby Wayne County and became the director of Governor Bob Ray’s Model County Program. McKinley became the majority owner of Neely Manufacturing in 1980. After receiving an unsolicited offer from a larger competitor, McKinley sold the business in 1991.

Campaign history

In 1999, McKinley challenged State Senator John Judge, who less than two years earlier had won the seat in a

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

. Previously, the seat had been held by Judge's wife,

Patty Judge Patty Jean Judge (née Poole; born November 2, 1943) is an American politician who served as the 45th lieutenant governor of Iowa from 2007 to 2011 and previously the 13th Secretary of Agriculture of Iowa from 1999 to 2007. She unsuccessfully r ...

, who was elected to be the Iowa Secretary of Agriculture before assuming her current role as

Lieutenant Governor of Iowa This is a list of lieutenant governors of the U.S. state of Iowa. The state constitution describes the responsibilities of the position: "The lieutenant governor shall have the duties provided by law and those duties of the governor assigned to ...

. McKinley defeated Jones by over 1500 votes and was re-elected in 2004 with 17,029 votes (60%), defeating Democratic opponent Dave Sextro. He was again re-elected in 2008 with over 63% of the vote. The Senate Republican Caucus elected him as minority leader in November 2008. On July 7, 2009, McKinley announced he would explore running for the Republican nomination for the

Governor of Iowa A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

. He withdrew after

Terry Branstad Terry Edward Branstad (born November 17, 1946) is a retired American politician who served as the 39th and 42nd governor of Iowa (1983–1999; 2011–2017) and the United States ambassador to China (2017–2020). A member of the Repu ...

formed an

exploratory committee In the election politics of the United States, an exploratory committee is an organization established to help determine whether a potential candidate should run for an elected office. They are most often cited in reference to candidates for pre ...

for the position.

Early life, education and career

Campaign history

References

External links