Linda Upmeyer: Speaker, Iowa House.

• Author: Andrade, Jane Carroll
• Position: THE FINAL WORD - Biography - Interview

Linda Upmeyer is a history maker. She is the first woman to preside over the Iowa House. Her father, Del Stromer, also held the position, reportedly making them the first father-daughter pair in the nation to have both served as statehouse speaker. Upmeyer grew up on her family's farm before attending North Iowa Area Community College, the University of Iowa and Drake University. She holds a master's degree in nursing and is a certified family nurse practitioner. She was elected to the House in 2002 and elected speaker in 2015.

What is your most important legislative priority this session and why? Every year the budget is our biggest priority because it's our job to balance the budget and make sure we're on a sound fiscal footing. Right after that, we have changed our model of Medicaid, and we've got some kinks to work out. I'm really excited to work on health issues because of my background as a nurse practitioner. We'll be working to get Medicaid operating much more smoothly and improving access, and doing some work on the opioid situation and mental health.

How has your background in nursing helped you as a lawmaker? I was the only health care-related provider of any kind when I was elected, and even today I believe I'm the only nurse. It's really underrepresented. We all come to the Capitol with different sets of information and skills. I have to do a lot of research if I'm going to write judiciary bills, for example, so it's always nice to have people in the building with that expertise. So if you don't have enough people with health care backgrounds, then sometimes you don't get it right.

How did your father, who also served as speaker, influence your career? In the old days we had telephones on the wall in the kitchen and I would listen to my dad while I was working around the house. On Saturday mornings, likely as not, somebody would drive in and they'd sit at the kitchen table, have a cup of coffee and talk about their concerns. I thought about how often he was able to genuinely help people navigate some of the challenges they had. He was a huge influence. He was also very active on the NCSL education committee, so he had a big history with you folks as well.

Which is more difficult: raising five children or leading 99 House members? I can tell you that being a mom and a nurse practitioner prepared me very well for leading the legislature. There are similar challenges when you're trying to get a group of people, no matter what the...