Staci Appel

In May 2014, a Republican spokesperson accused Appel of plagiarizing text from another candidate's website, something her campaign manager said he takes responsibility for.

Appel served on several committees in the Iowa Senate – the Agriculture committee; the State Government committee; the Ways and Means committee; and the Education committee, where she was vice chair. She also served as vice chair of the Administration and Regulation Appropriations Subcommittee.

Appel lost her bid for re-election to state Representative Kent Sorenson in 2010, who won the election by a 58% to 40% margin.

Appel was elected in 2006 with 12,827 votes (50%), defeating Republican opponent Julian B. Garrett by 772 votes.

Staci Lynn Appel (born April 19, 1966) is an American politician from the U.S. state of Iowa. She served in the Iowa Senate as the Assistant Majority Leader from 2007 to 2011 representing the 37th district. A Democrat, in 2014 she unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the United States House of Representatives for Iowa's 3rd congressional district.

Appel ran for an open congressional seat in Iowa's 3rd congressional district. Incumbent congressman Tom Latham retired. She initially stated she would run for the seat, before announcing that she would not run, citing family obligations, before reversing her decision once again to commit to the race. She faced Republican nominee David Young in the general election. David Young won the election with 52.8% of the vote to Appel's 42.2%.