Anthony Thompson

Anthony Thompson was born in Des Moines, Iowa. He graduated from North Polk High School. He earned a bachelor's degree from Cornell College in 2000 and a Ph.D. from the Blekinge Institute of Technology in 2012. His career experience includes working as a business owner.[1]

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I’m a 4th-generation Iowa farmer, small business owner, and former data scientist focused on sustainability and innovation in agriculture. My family and I operate Prudent Produce, a local food hub that connects Iowa families with food from local farmers.

I previously worked in agricultural finance and data science, helping develop tools to better understand farmland values and risk. I also have a Ph.D. focused on sustainability and product innovation. Earlier in my career, I managed the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Des Moines.

I’m running because I believe Iowa can once again be a place where working families thrive, young people choose to stay, and communities feel hopeful about the future.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Strong families are the foundation, and we need to support them. With it is a biological family, an adaptive family, or a family of proximity - families need to thrive! For this to happen, we need economic security; we need fairly-compensated work; we need excellent public education.Iowa’s strength has always been rooted in its towns, both big and small, and in the people who call them home. We need to enable these communities to thrive be ensuring local control whenever possible so that communities have the ability to do what they need to do, and we need to make sure we are enabling our rural towns to revitalize their local economies.No state is better positioned to lead the next century than Iowa — but only if we rethink what our future actually looks like. In the last century, Iowa helped feed a growing world; in this century, Iowa must lead again by both feeding people and powering the future, and doing so while ensuring that people's health and well-being is at the forefront of our decision making.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Agriculture and conservation; Public education; business and the economy

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Tony Thompson was raised on the family's century farm near Elkhart. Tony believes in working hard to meet the needs of today, while providing a foundation for future generation to also have the opportunity to thrive.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Public education is critical to our long-term success. We must appropriately fund our public schools and the Area Education Agencies that support them.We need to build our economy from the community up, in large part to get away from the "too big to fail" dilemma. We do this by supporting small businesses. We do this by diversifying our agricultural landscape and markets. We do this by supporting good-paying jobs, because when we have a strong middle class we keep dollars circulating within our state. We do this by implementing policy that encourages competitive markets to work.We must protect our natural environment: our water, our soil, our forests. These natural resources provide for our sustenance and our recreation.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

All areas that impact our citizens today and tomorrow, especially public education, agriculture, and the environment.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

A government that is of, by, and for its people must listen to its people. Meeting with us and understanding the issues that affect us is necessary, but not enough. It also requires leaders who can empathize with us, while also standing strong in the face of pressure from outside interests.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

The space shuttle Challenger explosion occurred when I was in 2nd grade. While I did not fully understand what was happening at the time, I vividly remember the response of our classroom teachers and how they were affected by the tragedy.