Taxpayers Deserve A Return On Their Investment: Iowa Sen. Kara Warme

For Iowa State Senator Kara Warme, public service began with a belief that families deserve a voice in shaping the future of their state. A mom of two teenage daughters, with a background in engineering, business, and behavioral health, Warme came to the legislature determined to bring that blend of personal and professional experience to Des Moines.

“I think it’s really a privilege to have the opportunity to serve,” she said. “Iowa has a citizen legislature where we bring forward people with all different types of experience, and we work together to preserve Iowa for future generations.”

In her very first year, Warme made a mark by leading on an issue parents everywhere understand – cell phones in schools.

“The data is so clear,” she explained. “There’s a negative impact on young people with developing brains from overuse of smartphones and social media. That impacts us in education, outcomes, mental health, and behavior in our schools.”

Iowa’s new policy to remove phones from classrooms, with common sense exceptions, was designed to give kids back their focus.

“Taking cell phones out of classrooms doesn’t cost you anything and has proven returns,” Warme said. “You hear voices again in the lunchroom. People get a chance to learn to speak and look at each other in the face.”

Her path to Iowa politics was far from ordinary. Born in San Diego to a Navy fighter pilot, she grew up in a strong military community before heading to Stanford. There, she met her husband, an Iowa farm kid in medical school.

“He told me Ames, Iowa was just like San Diego,” she laughed. “I was in love enough to believe him.”

Two decades later, Iowa’s cornfields feel like home, and she’s embraced the state’s culture of civic engagement.

“People do answer the door and want to talk to you. Everything doesn’t have to be overly partisan. We’ve swung really strongly red by listening to people and what impacts their day-to-day life.”

Looking ahead, Warme knows the work has only begun. Property tax reform remains a top priority, alongside preserving education freedom and strengthening family-centered policies. Politics can be contentious, she admits, even within her own party. But Warme’s focus stays on what matters most.

“Taxpayers deserve a return on their investment,” she said.

For her, that means making sure Iowa’s schools prepare the next generation, families feel supported, and the state remains a place where “faith, family, hard work, and agriculture is at the heart of what we do.”