Iowa has a “brain drain” problem. This Gen Z legislator hopes to tackle it

College students in Iowa are fleeing when they graduate. 25-year-old Iowa State Rep. Adam Zabner is trying to keep more young people in Iowa.

Zivvy News is committed to highlighting the work of young changemakers who are tackling key issues and making a difference in their communities and beyond. Ahead of Election Day, Zivvy News has spoken to several Gen Z politicians from both sides of the aisle. View our Gen Z Spotlight series here.

Many of the people Adam Zabner grew up with in Iowa City, Iowa, have left the state, and this has played a significant role in his lawmaking as a Democratic state representative in Iowa. 

“I saw a feeling that for many people, this is not where they see opportunity,” Zabner, 25, tells Zivvy News. “This is not where they feel welcome. Even folks that grew up here. And that felt wrong to me, and so that really drove me to get involved.”

Iowa is among the U.S. states most impacted by “brain drain:” the phenomenon of recent college graduates and other highly-educated people moving out of their state in search of better opportunities. This means that the state has trouble retaining college-educated  young people - including from Zabner’s own district, which is the youngest statewide due to the University of Iowa’s student body.

One of the various ways Zabner hopes to address this problem is by advocating for a high-speed Amtrak between Iowa City and Chicago.

“I think it would be a boon for our community to be connected to Chicago, which is the regional economic hub here in the Midwest,” he says. “We had a chance to do it in 2009, and then Republican Governor Terry Branstad put the brakes on the project.”

The railroad would have provided an avenue to get from Iowa City to Chicago, Illinois, in five hours or less. Then-Governor Branstad had long expressed his doubts about the feasibility of such a project, although he did not completely rule out the possibility of getting the project finished one day. Zabner hopes to get it out of limbo and believes his age could be an asset to the legislature  in addressing ways to retain its young population. 

“A lot of my colleagues have kids who are older than me,” he shares. “And so I think that folks, and it's not a complaint I have, but they see a 23 year-old kid show up at the legislature and they have some questions. But I think they learn pretty quickly that when I show up to a subcommittee meeting, I've read the bill, and I know what I'm talking about and I'm prepared.”

Zabner, himself the son of Venezuelan Jewish immigrants, also says that immigrants have helped  keep Iowa afloat. To make the state more welcoming to that demographic, Zabner wants to take on Iowa’s English Language Reaffirmation Act, which prohibits official documents to be presented or produced in any language other than English. Although the United States does not have an official language on the federal level, Iowa is among at least 30 states with such laws. Zabner believes the law creates a barrier to access to services within some populations.

Overall, he remains proud of the legislation he worked on that has passed, which has improved access to Medicaid statewide and improved parking for disabled and handicapped citizens. He hopes to be able to pass other legislation that would entice Gen Z-ers to remain in Iowa.

“Last session, I introduced a bill to freeze the cost of tuition,” he shares. “And there were a huge number of students who signed a petition calling on Republicans to consider that bill, because many students here are working two jobs while they go to school trying to pay their rent, trying to pay for school. And the cost of college has gotten really out of control.”

Related: More young people are running for office, but winning is an uphill battle