Phyllis Thede (born February 23, 1954) is an American politician, representing the 93rd District in 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 ...

as a member of the

Iowa Democratic Party The Iowa Democratic Party (IDP) is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Iowa. While existing when Iowa was granted statehood in 1846, it did not gain broad electoral success until the mid-1950s, when demographic change ...

. With a background in community education and unions, she was first elected in 2009. She is married and the mother of

Robin Thede Robin Thede ( ) is an American comedian, actress and writer. Raised in Iowa, she has also worked as an entertainment correspondent, host, and radio personality. In 2015, she became the first African-American woman to be head writer for a late- ...

, a nationally known comedic actress and writer, and two other daughters. , Thede serves on several committees in the Iowa House - the Ethics, Local Government, and Natural Resources committees. She also serves as the

ranking member In United States politics, a ranking member is the most senior member of a congressional or state legislative committee from the minority party. On many committees the ranking minority member, along with the Chair, serve as '' ex officio'' member ...

of the Environmental Protection committee and as a member of the Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee and of the Human Rights Board.

Early life and education

Phyllis Thede was born in 1954 to an African-American family in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Her family moved there from the Deep South in the Great Migration of the early 20th century. Her family later moved to

Creston, Iowa Creston is a city in and the county seat of Union County, Iowa. The population was 7,536 at the time of the 2020 Census. History Creston was originally settled in 1868 as a survey camp for the Burlington and Missouri Railroad. It was name ...

, in the southern part of the state, where her father worked on the

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Burlington Northern Santa Fe, LLC is the parent company of the BNSF Railway (formerly the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway). The company is an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, which is controlled by investor Warre ...

(BNSF) railroad, which had established a major division center here, with machine shops and roundhouse. Phyllis attended local schools and started her higher education at Southwestern Community College. There she met Dave Thede, whom she married in 1974. His family was German-American, with ancestors who immigrated to the US from the 1840s. They moved together to

Le Mars, Iowa Le Mars is the county seat of Plymouth County, Iowa, United States. It is located on the Floyd River northeast of Sioux City. The population was 10,571 at the time of the 2020 census. Le Mars is part of the Sioux City metropolitan area. Histo ...

where they both attended Westmar College."Phyllis Thede"
Iowa House

Work and family

In 1976 Dave graduated and started teaching, and Phyllis also started working in local schools. They had three daughters together,

born in Spencer and two younger girls born in Davenport, Iowa, where they lived from 1980 to 2004. Today she and Dave live in Bettendorf and have several grandchildren. Phyllis Thede has worked in a variety of administrative jobs in the schools, also becoming active in the union. She helped negotiate contracts and advised on grievances.

Electoral history

*incumbent

References

External links

Representative Phyllis Thede
''official Iowa General Assembly site''
Phyllis Thede State Representative
''official constituency site'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thede, Phyllis Democratic Party members of the Iowa House of Representatives Women state legislators in Iowa African-American women in politics Politicians from Chicago People from Bettendorf, Iowa Living people Place of birth missing (living people) 1954 births African-American state legislators in Iowa 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women