Sac County Woman Breaks Glass Ceiling
On September 23, 2025, the Sac County Board of Supervisors swore in 32-year-old Katie Stange as the new Sheriff for the County. Sheriff Stange is the only woman in the State of Iowa serving in the role of a County Sheriff. Having served as Chief Deputy for 18 months, the supervisors chose to appoint her over two other male applicants.
Following her high school graduation in 2010, she joined the Marines and was stationed in California. After serving 4 years she moved to Iowa and began her studies for a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.
A longtime advocate of service, Katie worked as a Certified Nurse’s Aide in a psychiatric unit at Mercy Hospital while completing her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Morningside College.
She discovered she really was more interested in law enforcement than nursing and two days after graduation joined the Sac County Sheriff’s Office.
Following the resignation of the previous Sheriff, Jonathan Meyer, on September 2, he recommended Katie Stange be given the position. She is modest as she claims the feeling of being the only female in this role is “intimidating”.
She does not wish the focus to be on the uniqueness of a female in the position but will rather set a good example and is striving to do the job well. She anticipates that women in power/leadership positions will become the norm. She is hopeful that when her daughter grows up that she will have opportunities to do whatever she wants, and it will not be considered newsworthy just because she is a woman.
Sheriff Stange will be focusing on an upcoming bond issue for a new 25 bed jail, that will replace the 85-year-old jail, the 2nd oldest in the State of Iowa. The first bond issue failed by 66 votes or 1.5%.
The second vote will be on the ballot in November at a cost of 12.5 million dollars. For this amount the new jail will be constructed across the street from the current facility and in general will serve as an update for communications, evidence storage and will remove concerns by the jail inspectors for the safety of the staff, inmates, and the public. Katie is fearful that unless the bond issue passes, Sac County could lose their jail facility and be forced to house prisoners in surrounding counties.
The Iowa Women’s caucus extends best wishes to Sheriff Katie Stange of Sac County, Iowa.