| Janet Petersen | |
| Office: | Minority Leader of the Iowa Senate |
| Term Start: | October 22, 2017 |
| Term End: | January 11, 2021 |
| Predecessor: | Rob Hogg |
| Successor: | Zach Wahls |
| State Senate1: | Iowa |
| District1: | 18th |
| Term Start1: | January 14, 2013 |
| Predecessor1: | Liz Mathis |
| State House2: | Iowa |
| District2: | 64th |
| Term Start2: | January 8, 2001 |
| Term End2: | January 13, 2013 |
| Predecessor2: | Jack Holveck |
| Successor2: | Bruce Bearinger |
| Constituency2: | 64th - (2003-2013) 72nd - (2001-2003) |
| Birth Date: | 1 August 1970 |
| Birth Place: | Beaverdale, Iowa, U.S. |
| Party: | Democratic |
| Spouse: | Brian Pattinson |
Janet Petersen (born August 1, 1970) is an American politician and a Democratic member of the Iowa Senate representing the 18th District since January 2013. She previously served as the Senate Minority Leader and has previously represented the 64th district in the Iowa House of Representatives, between 2001 and 2013. She received her BA from the University of Northern Iowa and her MA from Drake University.
Petersen serves on several committees in the Iowa Senate – the Government Oversight, Judiciary, State Government and Ways & Means committees. She also serves as the ranking member of the Commerce Committee. Petersen served as state Senate minority leader after replacing Rob Hogg in October 2017.[1] She was the first woman to lead the Senate Democratic caucus.
Before her election to the state legislature, Petersen worked for the '92 Clinton-Gore campaign, the American Heart Association, and Strategic America, a marketing communications firm.[2]
Since becoming a politician, much of her private work has focused on making Iowa "the safest place in the nation to have a baby". In 2004, she helped launch a stillbirth registry project that brings in more than $2 million a year to find causes and cures of stillbirths.
*incumbent
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