# Janet Petersen

Janet Petersen (born August 1, 1970) is an American politician and a Democratic member of the Iowa Senate representing the 18th District since January 2013. She previously served as the Senate Minority Leader and has previously represented the 64th district in the Iowa House of Representatives, between 2001 and 2013. She received her BA from the University of Northern Iowa and her MA from Drake University.
Petersen serves on several committees in the Iowa Senate – the Government Oversight, Judiciary, State Government and Ways & Means committees. She also serves as the ranking member of the Commerce Committee. Petersen served as state Senate minority leader after replacing Rob Hogg in October 2017. She was the first woman to lead the Senate Democratic caucus.

## Career

Before her election to the state legislature, Petersen worked for the '92 Clinton-Gore campaign, the American Heart Association, and Strategic America, a marketing communications firm.
Since becoming a politician, much of her private work has focused on making Iowa "the safest place in the nation to have a baby". In 2004, she helped launch a stillbirth registry project that brings in more than $2 million a year to find causes and cures of stillbirths.

## Electoral history

*incumbent
| Election | Political result | Candidate | Party | Votes | % |
| Iowa House of Representatives primary elections, 2000 District 72 Turnout: 3,228 | Democratic | Janet Petersen | Democratic | 1,897 | 58.8 |
| Iowa House of Representatives primary elections, 2000 District 72 Turnout: 3,228 | Democratic | Kevin McCarthy | Democratic | 1,289 | 39.9 |
| Iowa House of Representatives elections, 2000 District 72 Turnout: 13,701 | Democratic hold | Janet Petersen | Democratic | 8,843 | 64.5 |
| Iowa House of Representatives elections, 2000 District 72 Turnout: 13,701 | Democratic hold | Jeff Chavannes | Republican | 4,843 | 35.3 |
| Iowa House of Representatives elections, 2002 District 64 | Democratic (newly redistricted) | Janet Petersen* | Democratic | unopposed | unopposed |
| Iowa House of Representatives elections, 2004 District 64 Turnout: 15,673 | Democratic hold | Janet Petersen* | Democratic | 9,876 | 63.0 |
| Iowa House of Representatives elections, 2004 District 64 Turnout: 15,673 | Democratic hold | Eric Goranson | Republican | 5,781 | 36.9 |
| Iowa House of Representatives elections, 2006 District 64 | Democratic hold | Janet Petersen* | Democratic | unopposed | unopposed |
| Iowa House of Representatives elections, 2008 District 64 Turnout: 15,323 | Democratic hold | Janet Petersen* | Democratic | 10,259 | 67.0 |
| Iowa House of Representatives elections, 2008 District 64 Turnout: 15,323 | Democratic hold | Steve Svejda | Republican | 5,034 | 32.9 |
| Iowa House of Representatives elections, 2010 District 64 Turnout: 12,376 | Democratic hold | Janet Petersen* | Democratic | 6,689 | 54.0 |
| Iowa House of Representatives elections, 2010 District 64 Turnout: 12,376 | Democratic hold | Dan Kennedy | Republican | 3,626 | 29.3 |
| Iowa House of Representatives elections, 2010 District 64 Turnout: 12,376 | Democratic hold | Vicki Stogdill | Independent | 1,490 | 12.0 |
| Iowa Senate elections, 2012 District 18 Turnout: 28,968 | Democratic (newly redistricted) | Janet Petersen | Democratic | 18,954 | 69.2 |
| Iowa Senate elections, 2012 District 18 Turnout: 28,968 | Democratic (newly redistricted) | Jeff Chavannes | Republican | 8,455 | 30.8 |
| Iowa Senate elections, 2016 District 18 | Democratic hold | Janet Petersen | Democratic | unopposed | unopposed |