CLIVE, Iowa (AP) — A former Iowa governor and U.S. agriculture secretary claimed a $150,000 Powerball prize on Monday.
Tom Vilsack picked up his winnings at the Iowa Lottery’s headquarters in Clive. His ticket matched the Jan. 22 Powerball number and four of the remaining five numbers. He just missed out on the estimated $347 million jackpot.
“Occasionally, when the Powerball gets above $250 million, I think, ‘What the heck?’ You know, you can dream, like everybody else,” he told lottery officials. He’d bought the ticket at a grocery store in Waukee, a Des Moines suburb where he and his wife live.
He forgot about his ticket for several days.
“Then I woke up 10 days later on a Saturday morning and I said, ‘Oh, geez, I wonder how I did?’”
Before serving as ag secretary in the Obama administration Vilsack was a two-term governor of Iowa, a state senator and the mayor of Mount Pleasant. He is president and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council.
His church will share some of his winnings, he said. “And the kids are going to get a little bit because you always try to help your kids out. And then the rest is going to go to my banker.”
