“Although I know that a lot of my colleagues consult their religion when they look at policy, that just does not come up for me. Instead, my priorities ae based in compassion and sustainability…“
Representative Elinor Levin was first elected to the Iowa House of Representatives in 2022. She currently serves on the Committees on Agriculture, Environmental Protection, Natural Resources, Public Safety, and Veterans Affairs.
Born in the Chicago suburbs, Levin has lived in Iowa off and on since college, including more than seven years in the South District. She earned a B.A. in secondary education and English from Cornell College in 2009 and went on to build her career in education. She has worked as a freelance fiction editor, an English teacher, and a private writing tutor.
Upon moving to Iowa City in 2010, Levin volunteered at the local hospital, got involved with Iowa City Community Theatre, and worked as a long-term substitute teacher until her spouse joined the US Navy as a Corpsman and they moved out of state. When his contract was up, they returned to Iowa, where she became more deeply involved in community and arts organizations.
She became President of the Iowa City Community Theatre, and joined the Leadership Committee of the South District Neighborhood Association, the Board of Directors for the South District SSMID, the Voter Services Committee, the Board of Directors of the League of Women Voters of Johnson County, and the Quire of Eastern Iowa.
Levin is a proud aunt to lots of amazing kids, a military spouse, and an animal lover.
Sarah Levin: What motivated you to run for office?
Elinor Levin: I ran for office because so many of the Iowans I know under the age of forty are leaving the state, not feeling welcome, not seeing a future here, or not wanting to start families here. Yet there are so many others who don’t have that option due to financial or familial considerations. I was fortunate enough to get the complete opposite impression when I was forming my opinion of Iowa during college, and I want to see this state grow and thrive, not drive away young people.
Rep. Levin identifies as culturally Jewish. This article was originally published as part of the Representation Matters series in The Humanist magazine, a publication of the American Humanist Association. Continue reading the full interview here.
Representative Levin was re-elected in 2024 to a two-year term. This is her second term..
You can view all secular elected officials currently serving across the nation on The Secular Vote’s map of secular elected officials here.
