MEET THE CANDIDATE: Bill Dotzler
If you want to understand Bill Dotzler, start with this: this community has been home for nearly six decades. Bill was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1948, but he grew up in Cedar Falls and graduated from Cedar Falls High School in 1966. Waterloo has been his home ever since — and it shows in the way he talks about this community.
After high school, Bill earned his associate's degree from North Iowa Area Community College, then served in the U.S. Army Security Agency in Military Intelligence from 1969 to 1972. He held a Top-Secret cryptographic clearance and completed his tour of duty in Berlin, graduating as an Honor Graduate from Special Identification Techniques Operator School at Fort Devens, Massachusetts. When he came home, he went back to school, earning his bachelor's degree, cum laude, in Biology from the University of Northern Iowa in 1975.
From there, Bill built the kind of career that shapes how a legislator sees the world: he spent decades as a machine operator and labor representative at John Deere's Waterloo Works, retiring after a career on the factory floor. That's not a resume line for Bill — it's the reason he still shows up asking who a policy actually helps.
Outside the legislature, Bill has been the kind of civic presence you find woven into a hundred different rooms in this county. He's the past president of the Waterloo Visiting Nursing Association, charter president of the Cedar Trails Partnership, past president of Friends of Hartman Reserve Nature Center, and a charter member of Black Hawk Leadership. He's a lifetime member of AMVETS Post 31 and a member of American Legion Post 138. He's received the Governor's Lifesaving Award and the Governor's Volunteer Service Award, and in 2000 he received the International Citation Award for workforce development — an honor once given to President Kennedy.
Bill has represented Waterloo in the Iowa Legislature for nearly 30 years, first winning election to the Iowa House in 1996 before later moving to the Senate, where he currently serves in Senate District 31. Rather than seek re-election to the Senate, Bill is stepping away from the legislature this year to run for a seat on the Black Hawk County Board of Supervisors, representing the newly created District 2. In June, he faced the first genuinely competitive primary of his career — against former longtime county supervisor Craig White — and he won it, because after all these years, the people of this county still know exactly who Bill Dotzler is: a Deere retiree, a veteran, a nature-trail builder, and a neighbor.
Fun facts: Bill's John Deere career means he's spent more hours than most Iowans thinking about how machines — and the people who build them — actually work. He's a lifetime AMVETS member with deep military intelligence training from his time stationed in Berlin. And he's had a hand in building some of the outdoor spaces Black Hawk County residents use every day, including the Cedar Trails system.
CANDIDATE PLATFORM: Bill Dotzler
Bill Dotzler didn't come to the Iowa Senate from a law degree or a think tank. He came from the factory floor at John Deere Waterloo Works, and that history runs through everything he's fought for in Des Moines — and it's why he's now bringing the same approach to a race for the Black Hawk County Board of Supervisors, rather than seeking another term in the legislature.
Jobs and workforce development. This is Bill's signature issue, and it's not close. He serves on the Iowa Workforce Development Board, the Iowa Innovation Council, the Small Business Development Council, the Governor's Future Ready Iowa Task Force, and UNI's Institute for Decision Making Advisory Council. In the Senate, he has been the ranking member on the Economic Development Budget and served on Appropriations, Labor and Business Relations, Veterans Affairs, and Ways and Means. Nearly every one of those roles points back to the same question: how do we keep good manufacturing and trade jobs in Black Hawk County, and how do we train the next generation of workers to fill them?
Veterans. As a veteran of the U.S. Army Security Agency who served in Military Intelligence, Bill's seat on the Veterans Affairs Committee hasn't been ceremonial. He's a lifetime AMVETS member and understands, from the inside, what Iowa's veterans need from government.
Labor. After decades as a labor representative at Deere, Bill has consistently been a voice for workers' rights, safe workplaces, and fair pay in a legislature that has often trended the other direction on labor protections.
Community infrastructure and quality of life. Bill's fingerprints are on some of the civic institutions Black Hawk County residents rely on every day — from his work founding the Cedar Trails Partnership to his advocacy for the Hartman Reserve Nature Center. He treats trails, parks, and public health infrastructure (like his work with the Waterloo Visiting Nursing Association) as part of what makes a community worth staying in. It's a fitting foundation for a candidate now asking voters to trust him with county government, where budgets, roads, and property taxes are decided directly.
A record of independence and longevity. Bill has been re-elected to the Iowa Senate again and again, including winning re-election in 2022 with over 96% of the vote. That's not just popularity — it reflects decades of constituent service and a reputation, even across party lines, for being accessible and straightforward. He's now asking Black Hawk County voters to extend that trust to a new office.
As Iowa's legislature has moved further to the right on issues like public education funding, workers' rights, and local control, Bill Dotzler has been one of the steadiest Democratic voices for Black Hawk County in Des Moines. Now he's looking to bring that same working-family-first lens closer to home, on the Board of Supervisors.
BILL DOTZLER & BENEFIT TO BLACK HAWK COUNTY
Black Hawk County Supervisor District 2 covers Evansdale, Elk Run Heights, and part of Waterloo, along with several surrounding townships. It's a district shaped by the same working-class, Deere-adjacent identity that defined Bill's decades in the legislature — now translated to county government.
Keeping a Deere-family voice at the table. Waterloo's identity is deeply tied to John Deere, and Bill is one of the few candidates anywhere in this county who spent his career working the line rather than commenting on it from the outside. As the Board of Supervisors makes decisions on county budgets, property taxes, and economic development, that lived experience matters — especially as the county navigates growth pressures and the kind of budget trouble that shapes whether Black Hawk County stays affordable for working families.
A tested public servant moving to county government. Bill spent over two decades building relationships and expertise in the Iowa Legislature. Rather than defending one more term in Des Moines, he's now asking voters to put that experience to work locally — a vote of confidence Black Hawk County Democrats can point to as evidence that experienced, credible candidates are willing to serve wherever they're needed most.
A bridge to the county's institutions. Bill's decades of service on boards like Black Hawk Leadership, the Visiting Nursing Association, and Cedar Trails Partnership mean he has relationships across this county that go well beyond party lines. For Black Hawk County Democrats building coalitions with independents and business leaders, Bill's credibility as "everybody's guy" is an asset the party can build on.
Continuity during a competitive year. With Rob Sand running a genuinely competitive statewide race for governor and Lindsay James running to flip Iowa's 2nd Congressional District, having a steady, well-known name at the top of the local ballot in Black Hawk County District 2 helps anchor turnout across the whole Black Hawk County Democratic ticket. Bill's race isn't just about one County Supervisor seat — it's part of the foundation the rest of the county's Democratic candidates are building on.
BILL DOTZLER VS. STEVE SIMON — HOW THEY COMPARE
Bill Dotzler's opponent this fall is Steve Simon, an at-large member of the Waterloo City Council first elected in a December 2023 runoff, and a longtime dental lab technician who helped found Eclipse Dental Laboratory in Waterloo. Both men are seeking to move into Black Hawk County government for the first time — Simon from the city council, Dotzler from the state legislature — for the county's newly created District 2 supervisor seat.
Experience. Bill has represented Waterloo in the Iowa Legislature for nearly 30 years, first elected to the Iowa House in 1996 — three decades navigating state budgets, committee work, and constituent service at the Statehouse. Simon's elected experience is a single term on the nonpartisan-in-practice Waterloo City Council, which he joined in early 2024 after winning an at-large runoff with about 60% of the vote.
Focus and platform. Bill's campaign centers on the concrete work of county government — infrastructure, property taxes, and economic development — backed by decades of experience actually passing budgets in the legislature. Simon, by contrast, has built his political identity around the phrase "common sense" — a general appeal to fiscal restraint and avoiding what he calls "divisive politics" — and has emphasized city-level priorities like bringing new business to Waterloo and addressing blighted buildings, without yet detailing a specific county budget or infrastructure plan.
Track record on workers and manufacturing. This is the sharpest contrast. Bill spent decades as a machine operator and labor representative at John Deere, and built his legislative career around workforce development, labor protections, and economic development that benefits working families. Simon's background is in dental lab technology and small-business ownership — a different vantage point on the local economy, with no legislative or governing record on labor or manufacturing policy to compare.
City council versus state legislative experience. City council work and state legislative work are genuinely different jobs, and neither is a direct rehearsal for county government — which handles property taxes, county roads, and the county budget. But Bill's experience includes budget negotiations, committee leadership, and building coalitions across a 100-member legislature dominated by the opposing party — a heavier lift than one term on a five-member city council. Voters weighing this race are choosing between a first-term city councilman making his first bid for county office and a former state senator with over two decades of experience delivering for working families in this exact part of the county.
The bottom line for Black Hawk County voters: this race pits a tested, John Deere-rooted advocate for workers and veterans, now seeking to bring that experience to county government, against a newcomer to county-level politics whose platform is still defined mostly by general themes rather than specific county budget or infrastructure commitments.
