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Sarah Trone Garriott is an American politician and minister serving as a member of the Iowa Senate from the 14th district. Elected in November 2020, she assumed office on January 11, 2021. She is a member of the Democratic Party. On May 5, 2025, she announced her candidacy for United States House of Representatives in Iowa's 3rd congressional district.[1]

Key Information

Early life and education

[edit]

Garriott was born in Minneapolis. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from the College of St. Scholastica, a Master of Theological Studies from the Harvard Divinity School, and a Master of Divinity from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.[2] After earning her undergraduate degree, Garriot worked as a volunteer with AmeriCorps VISTA in New Mexico.[3]

Career

[edit]

In 2004 and 2005, Garriott was a chaplain at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. From 2005 to 2008, she was a chaplain at Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago. She later worked as a pastor at Lutheran churches in Bergton, Virginia and Clive, Iowa. Since 2017, Garriott works as the coordinator of interfaith engagement at the Des Moines Area Religious Council.[2] Garriott was elected to the Iowa Senate in November 2020 and assumed office on January 11, 2021.[4] Garriott is the ranking member of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.[5]

Personal life

[edit]

Garriott is married to William Garriott, a professor at Drake University.[6] The couple have two sons.[7]

References

[edit]
[edit]
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Sarah Trone Garriott

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from Grokipedia
Sarah Trone Garriott is an American Democratic politician and ordained minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) who has served in the Iowa Senate since January 2021. She initially represented District 22 from 2021 to 2023 after winning election in November 2020, then began representing District 14 in 2023 following redistricting, covering areas in Dallas County such as Waukee, Adel, Van Meter, and portions of West Des Moines and Clive.[1][2] Trone Garriott has a professional background in ministry, having worked as a hospital chaplain at Children's Memorial Hospital, served as a parish pastor—including her first call at a rural congregation in Virginia and later leading Faith Lutheran Church in Clive, Iowa, beginning in 2013—and currently serving as Coordinator of Interfaith Engagement for the Des Moines Area Religious Council Food Pantry Network, where she collaborates with diverse religious communities to address food insecurity. She earned her Master of Divinity degree from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago in 2008.[3][4][2] She entered politics by successfully flipping a Republican-held seat in 2020 and has since defended her position in competitive races, including defeating then-Senate President Jake Chapman in 2022 and winning reelection in 2024 in a district carried by Donald Trump. In May 2025, she announced her candidacy for Iowa's 3rd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, challenging Republican incumbent Zach Nunn, with a focus on issues such as lowering costs for working families, health care access, public education, and reproductive rights.[5][4] Trone Garriott resides in West Des Moines with her husband Will and their two sons. Her legislative work emphasizes health and human services policy, including service on related committees and commissions in the Iowa Senate.[2][1]

Early life and education

Early life

Sarah Trone Garriott was born in 1978 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.[6][7] Limited publicly available information exists regarding her upbringing or formative experiences prior to higher education. She later attended the College of St. Scholastica.

Education

Sarah Trone Garriott earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from The College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minnesota, in 1999.[8] She went on to receive a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2003.[8][9] Trone Garriott completed her Master of Divinity at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago in Illinois in 2008.[8][3] These graduate degrees in theological studies provided the foundation for her ordination and subsequent career as a minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.[3]

Early career and volunteer service

After graduating from the College of St. Scholastica with a degree in history, Sarah Trone Garriott joined AmeriCorps VISTA, dedicating a year as a volunteer in Gallup, New Mexico, with Northern New Mexico Legal Aid, where she supported victims of domestic violence.[4][10] In 1999, she specifically served as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer for a legal aid program focused on domestic violence issues.[11] She then pursued graduate studies at Harvard Divinity School, earning a Master of Theological Studies [11] [10], during which she worked at a women’s shelter and a youth-focused nonprofit to deepen her understanding of faith and community service.[4] This experience built on her earlier volunteer work with domestic violence survivors and informed her subsequent path toward ministry.[4][12]

Ministry and community service

Hospital chaplaincy

Sarah Trone Garriott completed a clinical pastoral education residency as a chaplain at Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals in Philadelphia from 2004 to 2005.[13][14] She then served as a chaplain at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago (known as Children's Memorial Hospital during her tenure) from 2005 to 2008, providing spiritual support to patients, families, and staff during medical crises.[13][14] In reflecting on this role, she described spending nights walking hospital hallways to connect with those in distress, noting encounters with sleepless parents, fearful children, and infants needing comfort.[3] She emphasized the value of presence in such settings, citing a common chaplaincy axiom: "Don’t just do something, stand there!" as a guide for offering meaningful support rather than rushed action.[3] These experiences in hospital chaplaincy shaped her approach to ministry and informed her subsequent ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Pastoral ministry

Sarah Trone Garriott is an ordained minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).[4][2] Following her ordination and building on her prior experience in hospital chaplaincy, she began her parish ministry by serving as pastor at Martin Luther Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bergton, Virginia, a rural congregation, from approximately 2008 to 2013.[15] In 2013, she relocated to Iowa and assumed the role of associate pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Clive, where she provided congregational leadership and pastoral care.[15][4]

Interfaith engagement and nonprofit leadership

Sarah Trone Garriott served as Coordinator of Interfaith Engagement for the Des Moines Area Religious Council (DMARC) Food Pantry Network from August 2017 to November 2025. In this capacity, she led efforts to combat food insecurity while promoting collaboration among diverse religious communities. The DMARC Pantry Network distributes healthy food through partnerships involving both religious and non-religious organizations, serving people regardless of income or address.[16][17] Her responsibilities included coordinating initiatives that built relationships across religious differences and providing education on food insecurity, poverty, and interfaith topics to support the network's mission. A key program she coordinated was the annual Interfaith Youth Leadership Camp (also known as the Iowa Interfaith Leadership Camp) for high school students, co-hosted with the Comparison Project at Drake University, which fostered understanding among young participants from various faith backgrounds. The camp featured a digital storytelling project in which students shared personal narratives about their faith.[17][18][16] DMARC collaborated with more than 200 faith groups and congregations to address community needs, organizing additional interfaith dialogues, forums, and open houses to strengthen connections across religious lines. In February 2021, Trone Garriott shared in the Iowa Senate a prayer written by a young Muslim woman who had participated in the Interfaith Youth Leadership Camp, highlighting the value of such interfaith work amid public reactions that underscored its ongoing importance.[18] This role drew on her prior experience in ministry to unite diverse groups in service to the community.[4]

Political career

2020 Iowa Senate election

In the 2020 Iowa Senate election, Sarah Trone Garriott ran for District 22, a seat previously held by Republican Charles Schneider, who had retired, making the race an opportunity to flip the district from Republican to Democratic control.[8] Trone Garriott won the Democratic primary on June 2, 2020, defeating Tricia Gavin and Michael Libbie.[8] In the general election on November 3, 2020, she narrowly defeated Republican nominee Scott Cirksena, the mayor of Clive, with 23,110 votes (50.1%) to Cirksena's 22,946 (49.8%), a margin of 164 votes.[8][19] Due to the close result, Cirksena requested a recount, which was conducted and confirmed Trone Garriott's victory on November 19, 2020.[19] She assumed office on January 11, 2021.[8]

Service in District 22 (2021–2023)

Sarah Trone Garriott represented Iowa Senate District 22 from January 11, 2021, to January 8, 2023, during the 89th General Assembly, following her election in November 2020.[20] The district encompassed areas in Dallas County.[20] During this period, she served on the Child Care Advisory Committee, the Human Rights Board, and the Mental Health and Disability Services Commission.[20] In the 2022 general election, Trone Garriott was reelected, defeating Republican incumbent and Senate President Jake Chapman with approximately 51.5% of the vote to Chapman's 48.5%.[21]

Service in District 14 (2023–present)

Sarah Trone Garriott has represented Iowa Senate District 14 since January 3, 2023, after winning election in the newly drawn district following the 2020 redistricting cycle.[22] The district covers areas of Dallas County, including the cities of Waukee, Adel, Van Meter, and portions of West Des Moines and Clive.[2] In the 2022 general election, Trone Garriott defeated Republican incumbent Jake Chapman with 51.5% of the vote (15,095 votes) to Chapman's roughly 48.5%, securing victory by approximately 3 percentage points in a district carried by Republican Governor Kim Reynolds.[23] This marked her transition to representing District 14 after previously serving in District 22. In 2024, Trone Garriott successfully defended her seat in a closely contested race against Republican challenger Mark Hanson. After initially leading by 24 votes, a recount confirmed her reelection with 20,467 votes to Hanson's 20,438, a final margin of 29 votes.[24][25] The race was one of the narrowest in Iowa that cycle, requiring a recount overseen by representatives from both campaigns and a neutral party, after which Hanson conceded.[24]

Committee assignments and legislative focus

Sarah Trone Garriott serves as the ranking member of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee in the Iowa Senate.[26] She is also a member of the Education Committee.[2] Her previous committee assignments have included Natural Resources and Environment (where she previously served as ranking member), Commerce, and the Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee.[27] Trone Garriott's legislative work focuses on health and human services, education, mental health, childcare, and reproductive rights. Her involvement in these areas is informed by her prior experience as a hospital chaplain and minister.[3] She has supported measures related to affordable healthcare access, such as Medicaid eligibility expansions for pregnant women and infants, and has addressed intersections of health policy with mental health and community support needs.[28]

2026 U.S. House campaign

Campaign announcement

On May 5, 2025, Iowa State Senator Sarah Trone Garriott announced her candidacy as a Democratic candidate for Iowa's 3rd Congressional District in the 2026 election.[29][5][30] She launched her campaign to challenge incumbent Republican U.S. Representative Zach Nunn, who has held the seat since 2022.[29][5][30] Trone Garriott described public service as a calling and emphasized her intention to address the struggles of Iowans facing rising costs, stating, "I see public service as a calling," and noting that "folks are struggling with rising costs. They’re not able to make ends meet for their families."[29] She cited personal challenges, including affording child care for her two sons, alongside broader concerns about housing, health care, and education costs, and pledged to work in Congress to lower the costs of child care, health care, and housing.[29][5] Trone Garriott highlighted her record of delivering for constituents, saying, "Iowans know that I show up for all my constituents, and that I listen and that I speak out," while criticizing Nunn for failing to address these issues.[5][31]

Platform and key issues

In her campaign for Iowa's 3rd Congressional District, Sarah Trone Garriott has focused on policies that support working families, emphasizing affordable healthcare, mental health, public education, paid family leave, childcare, reproductive rights, and lowering costs.[4][32] Trone Garriott advocates for accessible and affordable healthcare, including support for a public health insurance option to provide an affordable government-backed alternative alongside private insurance, and expanding Medicaid access in rural communities to address hospital and clinic closures. She has stressed the need to shore up the Affordable Care Act, preserve Medicaid and Medicare, and ensure adequate reimbursement rates to prevent further reductions in rural care access.[33][34] She champions mental health programs, drawing from her background as a hospital chaplain and her commitment to addressing mental health needs, including for veterans facing long waits for care and inadequate support.[4][35] On education, Trone Garriott prioritizes protecting great public schools for every child in every community and supporting public education as essential for families.[32][4] She supports paid family leave and quality childcare to help working parents, noting her own experience as a working mother facing childcare challenges.[4] Trone Garriott describes reproductive freedom as personal and non-negotiable, committing to protect reproductive rights.[32][4] To lower costs for working families, she proposes cracking down on corporate price gouging, ending reckless tariff policies, expanding the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit, and eliminating junk fees and surprise medical bills.[36] Her approach emphasizes pragmatic leadership and results-oriented governance over partisan conflict, with a focus on delivering solutions for Iowans rather than scoring political points.[32]

Primary developments and endorsements

In the Democratic primary for Iowa's 3rd Congressional District, Sarah Trone Garriott initially faced competition from State Representative Jennifer Konfrst, who launched her own campaign shortly after Trone Garriott's announcement in May 2025.[37] On January 26, 2026, Konfrst suspended her bid and endorsed Trone Garriott, citing a desire to support a unified Democratic effort to challenge incumbent Zach Nunn; this move consolidated support behind Trone Garriott and narrowed the primary field considerably.[38] Other candidates who filed, such as Xavier Carrigan and Easton Wolfe, reported minimal fundraising and did not emerge as significant challengers, positioning Trone Garriott as the clear frontrunner for the nomination.[39] Trone Garriott secured several notable endorsements during this period. In February 2026, EMILYs List endorsed her, highlighting her record of flipping Republican-held districts, her advocacy for working families, affordable health care, and reproductive rights, and her experience as a mom and minister.[40] That same month, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) named her to its Red to Blue program, which provides targeted organizational and fundraising assistance to competitive candidates.[41] She also received endorsements from Vote Mama PAC, New Politics, the New Democrat Action Fund, and other groups focused on progressive and women-led leadership.[42]

Personal life

Family and residence

Sarah Trone Garriott resides in West Des Moines, Iowa, within Dallas County.[29] She is married to Will Garriott, a professor at Drake University.[43] The couple has two sons who attend schools in the West Des Moines Community School District.[4][29] As a mother of school-age children, her family life informs her advocacy on public education and family-support issues.[4]

Community involvement

Sarah Trone Garriott engaged in community service through her role as Coordinator of Interfaith Engagement for the DMARC Pantry Network (Des Moines Area Religious Council), where she supported a collaborative effort among religious and non-religious organizations to provide healthy food to individuals in the Des Moines metro area, regardless of income or address.[17][4][2] In this capacity, she focused on educating the public about food insecurity, poverty, and interfaith issues while fostering relationships across religious differences and coordinating initiatives such as an Interfaith Youth Leadership Camp for high school students.[17] She has volunteered with Moms Demand Action, supporting advocacy for gun safety measures in Iowa communities.[44]

References

  1. State Senator
  2. Senator Sarah Trone Garriott
  3. Congressional Candidate and Alum Sarah Trone Garriott ...
  4. About
  5. State Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott launches congressional campaign in Iowa's 3rd District • Iowa Capital Dispatch
  6. Trone Garriott, Sarah (1978-)
  7. Iowa State Sen. Sarah Garriott - Biography
  8. Sarah Trone Garriott - Ballotpedia
  9. Sarah Trone Garriott, IA-3
  10. Democrat Sarah Trone Garriott is running for Congress in Iowa's 3rd District: 'Zach Nunn has failed us' - Little Village
  11. Why I shared a Muslim prayer in the Iowa Senate
  12. Iowa pastor says running for office is a test of faith
  13. Vote Smart - Facts For All
  14. Sarah Trone Garriott - Coordinator Of Interfaith Engagement at ...
  15. Sarah Trone Garriott joins Faith Lutheran Church
  16. Rev. Sarah Trone Garriott - SheSource
  17. Underscoring the Importance of Interfaith Efforts – DMARC United
  18. https://www.bleedingheartland.com/2020/11/20/recount-confirms-sarah-trone-garriott-won-iowa-senate-district-22/
  19. Sarah Trone Garriott - State Senator - Iowa Legislature
  20. Iowa Senate president, a Republican, loses to Democratic challenger in Dallas County
  21. Iowa State Senate District 14
  22. https://www.publicopiniononline.com/elections/results/race/2022-11-08-state_senate-IA-16694/
  23. Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott widens lead slightly in recount • Iowa Capital Dispatch
  24. Recount confirms affirms Sarah Trone Garriott reelected to Iowa Senate
  25. committee on health and human services - Iowa Legislature
  26. State Senator
  27. Iowa Senator Sarah Trone Garriott [D]
  28. Sarah Trone Garriott to run for Congress in Iowa's Third District
  29. Democratic state Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott announces run for Rep. Zach Nunn's seat in 2026 | Iowa Public Radio
  30. State Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott launches congressional campaign in Iowa’s 3rd District - Sarah for Iowa
  31. Issues
  32. Sarah Trone Garriott laments Medicaid cuts, clinic closures in Ottumwa
  33. Standing up for your retirement and your health
  34. Serving our veterans like they served us
  35. Making life more affordable—for all of us - Sarah for Iowa
  36. https://www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/05/11/first-look-at-the-sarah-trone-garriott-jennifer-konfrst-primary-in-ia-03/
  37. Jennifer Konfrst suspends Congressional bid, endorses Sarah Trone Garriott
  38. Bohannan, Trone Garriott get Democrats' aid in Iowa congressional bids
  39. EMILYs List Endorses State Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott for Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District - EMILYs List
  40. https://dccc.org/dccc-announces-first-round-of-candidates-named-to-coveted-2026-red-to-blue-program/
  41. Endorsements
  42. https://www.yahoo.com/news/trone-garriott-running-iowa-3rd-123701957.html
  43. https://who13.com/news/trone-garriott-running-for-iowas-3rd-district/
  44. Sarah Trone Garriott, Moms Demand Action Volunteer ...
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