Joe Mitchell

Joe Mitchell is from Wayland, Iowa. A 2018 Tri States Public Radio profile said he was attending Drake University, had been a legislative page in high school, and had since worked at the Iowa Capitol for the Iowa Senate, Gov. Kim Reynolds and U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst. In 2018 he was the Republican nominee for the open Iowa House District 84 seat; KCRG reports he won that year at age 20. He later worked in the Trump administration as chief of staff at the Federal Housing Finance Agency and then as a regional administrator at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and founded Run GenZ, an organization for young conservatives, according to Little Village's reprint of Iowa Capital Dispatch reporting. KCRG describes him as a developer by trade. In the June 2, 2026 Republican primary for Iowa's 2nd Congressional District he defeated state Sen. Charlie McClintock, 21,163 votes to 13,131, per KTTC. He faces Democrat Lindsay James on November 3, 2026.