A 22-year-old Domino’s delivery driver from Scott County, Iowa, is running for the state House, and believes he’s the youngest candidate ever to seek office in the county.
Dillon Fillion is challenging incumbent Democratic state Rep. Daniel Gosa for Iowa’s 81st House District seat. He took a gap year from Scott Community College, where he’s studying criminal justice, to run full-time while still delivering pizzas.
“Basically, I do a full-time job as well as campaigning,” Fillion said, describing the arrangement as juggling two full-time jobs.
Fillion’s platform centers on cutting property taxes, boosting police funding, and giving parents more control over their children’s education. He wants to eliminate property taxes entirely in Iowa, and if that proves impossible right away, cut them as much as he can.
“I wanna keep Iowa number one in affordability,” he said.
On crime, Fillion says he’ll push for a constitutional amendment backing the Back the Blue Act to protect police officers. On education, he wants parents, not government, driving decisions about their kids’ schooling.
“I will continue to empower parents and teachers in our kids’ education, because parents should be the forefront of your kids’ education, not the government,” Fillion said.
From Hockey Dreams to the Campaign Trail
Fillion once hoped to play hockey professionally. His turn toward politics began in 2019, when he said watching Democrats accuse President Trump of colluding with Russia struck him as bizarre.
“Calling our president a lot of weird, untrue things,” was how he described it, saying it sent him down a research “rabbit hole” into what he called corruption within the Democratic Party.
“I just couldn’t stand back and just watch all this stuff happen, and I decided to get involved,” Fillion said.
His campaign slogan, “Keep Iowa Great!”, appears on his signs and merchandise. According to his campaign website, Fillion is one of three siblings raised with Christian family values and a strong work ethic.
Betting on Gen Z
Fillion credits conservative commentator Charlie Kirk with helping young men in his generation find direction.
“The men in my generation are really conservative. They admire conservative principles. I think Charlie Kirk really helped with the young men in my generation in regard to finding a purpose in life,” Fillion said. “I do think my generation is going in the right direction in regard to conservatism. It’s just, I think my generation needs to turn out more in our elections.”
Fillion said younger voters are tired of seeing the same older faces on the ballot.
“I think people are very excited that a young person is running because they see a lot of these old people running for office, no offense to them, but people wanna see some fresh new faces and I think it’s time for my generation to step up.”
He’s picked up endorsements from Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Iowa House Majority Leader Bobby Kaufmann, according to his campaign website.
Fillion said he wouldn’t be running if he didn’t believe he could win, arguing his Democratic opponent doesn’t represent the district’s priorities.
“I wouldn’t be in this race if I didn’t think I could win it,” he said. “However, my Democrat opponent does not stand up for the things that this district cares about.”
His stated goal is to make Iowa “the number one state to live, work, and raise a family” and to show that his generation is working to improve the country ahead of November’s election.
“I just want our country to know that there are people in my generation that are doing everything they can to try and save this country,” Fillion said.
