Thomas Gerhold (born 21 June 1961) is an American politician. A member of the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

, he was elected to the

Iowa House of Representatives The Iowa House of Representatives is the lower house of the Iowa General Assembly, the upper house being the Iowa Senate. There are 100 seats in the Iowa House of Representatives, representing 100 single-member districts across the state, formed ...

for the first time in 2018, from District 84.

Early life, education, and career

Gerhold was born on 21 June 1961. He was raised near

Atkins, Iowa Atkins is a city in Benton County, Iowa, United States. The population was 2,056 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is part of the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Cedar Rapids Cedar Rapids metropolitan area, Metropolitan Statistical Area. Histo ...

, where his family owned a farm. Gerhold attended

Benton Community High School Benton Community High School is a rural public high school located in Van Horne, Iowa. It is the only high school in the Benton Community School District, and serves students from Van Horne, Atkins, Blairstown, Elberon, Keystone, Newhall, Norw ...

, and enrolled at

Kirkwood Community College Kirkwood Community College is a public community college in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Kirkwood has a secondary campus in Iowa City, and several additional regional and county centers located in Belle Plaine, Coralville, Hiawatha, Monticello, Tipton ...

and later the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply 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 org ...

. He then worked as a research associate within the Department of Internal Medicine at the

Carver College of Medicine The Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine (also known as CCOM or Carver) is the medical school of the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. The first medical college associated with the University of Iowa was fo ...

Political career

Gerhold began his campaign in February 2018, ran unopposed in the

primary, and subsequently won the November 2018 general elections to succeed the retiring

Dawn Pettengill Dawn E. Pettengill (born July 2, 1955) is an American retired politician from Iowa. She was a member of the Iowa House of Representatives from 2005 to 2019, where she represented the 75th District (numbered as the 39th District until January 2 ...

District 75 A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

, defeating

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

candidate Paula Denison, and

Libertarian Party Active parties by country Defunct parties by country Organizations associated with Libertarian parties See also * Liberal parties by country * List of libertarian organizations * Lists of political parties * Outline of libertarianism ...

candidate John George.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerhold, Thomas 1961 births Living people 21st-century American politicians Republican Party members of the Iowa House of Representatives People from Benton County, Iowa Kirkwood Community College alumni University of Iowa alumni