Rich Olive was the Iowa State Senator from the 5th District. A Democrat

Iowa Democratic Party

The Iowa Democratic Party is the local branch of the Democratic Party in the state of Iowa.-Current elected officials:Iowa Democrats are in control of the Iowa Senate, one of the state's United States Senate seats, and three out of the state's five United States House of Representatives seats. ...

, he served in the Iowa Senate

Iowa Senate

The Iowa Senate is the upper house of the Iowa General Assembly. There are 50 members of the Senate, representing 50 single-member districts across the state with populations of approximately 59,500 per constituency. Each Senate district is composed of two House districts...

 from 2007 until 2011.

Olive served on several committees in the Iowa Senate - the Commerce committee; the Agriculture committee, where he is vice chair; the Economic Growth committee, where he is vice chair; and the Government Oversight committee, where he is chair.

Olive was elected in 2006 with 11,224 votes (50%), defeating Republican

Republican Party of Iowa

The Republican Party of Iowa is the affiliate of the United States Republican Party in Iowa. The State Central Committee is led by Chairman Matt Strawn and Co-Chairman Bill Schickel...

 opponent James Kurtenbach. http://www.sos.state.ia.us/pdfs/GenOffResults.pdf In his 2010 bid for re-election, he received 10,510 votes (45%), losing to Republican opponent Robert Bacon. http://www.sos.state.ia.us/pdfs/elections/2010/stsenorr.pdf

External links

• State Senator Rich Olive official constituency site