Representative J.D. Scholten Contact information

James Dennis Scholten, known as J.D. Scholten, was born on March 4, 1980, in Ames, Iowa, United States. His family moved to Sioux City, Iowa, when he was four years old. He attended East High School in Sioux City, where he played for their baseball and basketball teams.

Scholten attended Morningside College, where he played college baseball as a pitcher and first baseman for three years. He then transferred to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln to pitch for the Nebraska Cornhuskers as a senior. In 2002, he led the Cornhuskers in earned run average. Scholten graduated from Nebraska in December 2003.

After graduating from college, Scholten played professional baseball, making his professional debut for the Saskatoon Legends of the Canadian Baseball League, an independent baseball league, in 2003. When the league folded during the season, he signed with the Sioux City Explorers of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball, formerly of the Northern League. He returned to Sioux City in 2004, and then played in Belgium in 2005 before returning to Sioux City. In total, he played baseball in seven countries—the U.S., Canada, Belgium, Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Cuba.

After retiring from baseball, Scholten became a paralegal. He worked for firms in Minneapolis and Seattle that focused on intellectual property, and returned to Sioux City after the 2016 United States elections.

In the 2018 elections, Scholten ran against Republican incumbent Steve King for the United States House of Representatives in Iowa’s 4th congressional district. He lost, 50%–47% in a closer showing than expected. In January 2019, Scholten announced the formation of a nonprofit group to help low-income Iowans gain more information about the earned income tax credit.

In August 2019, Scholten announced that he would seek a rematch against King in the 2020 elections. He was unopposed in the primary election and faced Randy Feenstra, who had defeated King in the Republican primary. Scholten lost to Feenstra by a 25 point margin.

On March 16, 2022, Scholten announced his candidacy for District 1 in the Iowa House of Representatives. He was unopposed in the Democratic Party primary and the general election. He assumed office on January 1, 2023. His current term ends on January 1, 2025.