John Chester Culver (born August 8 1932) is an American politician. He is a Democrat.

Culver was born in Rochester, Minnesota but moved with his family to Cedar Rapids, Iowa as a child. He served in the United States Marine Corps from 1955 to 1958, rising to the rank of captain. He then attended the Harvard University law school. He began practicing law in Cedar Rapids in 1963, but soon entered politics. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives from a district in Iowa in 1964. He served in the House from 1965 until 1975, being reelected every two years. He did not run for reelection in 1974, instead running for an Iowa senate seat which was being vacated by a retiring Democrat, Harold E. Hughes. Culver won the senate election with 52% of the vote. He served one term in the senate, and was defeated for reelection in 1980 by Republican Chuck Grassley. Culver remained in the U.S. capital, Washington, D.C. and resumed the practice of law, in which he still engages.