Below is our election night results report compiled throughout the evening / morning. The report reflects the Iowa Secretary of State's complete unofficial count, posted at 6:42 a.m. with all 99 counties reporting. Democrats had a strong night at the top of the ballot. Rob Sand won the governor's race by roughly 11 points, Josh Turek won the U.S. Senate seat by about 4 points, and Nate Willems defeated Attorney General Brenna Bird by under 2 points. Republicans maintain control of the Iowa Legislature, but with smaller majorities as anticipated. The House moves from 67-33 to 56-44, and the Senate moves from 33-17 to 32-18.
Iowa Election Night Results
Five takeaways from the night:
- Iowans split their tickets. Even with Sand winning by double digits, Republicans lead for Secretary of State, Treasurer, and Secretary of Agriculture.
- The 11-seat House swing came from the greater Des Moines suburbs and river cities. Democrats flipped 11 House seats, all from Republicans. Five are in the metro suburbs: Adel, Altoona, Ankeny, Johnston, and Grimes. Six are in regional cities: Marshalltown, Mason City, Clinton, Dubuque, Muscatine, and Burlington.
- The Senate didn't swing much. Democrats flipped seats in Ankeny (SD 21) and Bettendorf (SD 47), and Republicans flipped Clinton (SD 35), for a net gain of one seat for Senate Democrats.
- Many races were very close. In HD 19, Rep. Brent Siegrist (R) held off Benjamin Thomas Larson (D) by 37 votes. In SD 47, Nikhil Wagle (D) unseated Sen. Scott Webster (R) by 151 votes. In total, twenty legislative races were decided by 1,000 votes or less: 17 in the House and 3 in the Senate. Four were decided by fewer than 250 votes.
- Many, many new faces. Roughly 40 new legislators will take office in January, more than a quarter of the 150-member Legislature. That's roughly double the last cycle, though fewer than in 2023 (53 new members).
Going forward, we expect the House and Senate caucuses to meet very soon (a couple meeting later this week) to elect leaders. Then, in the coming weeks, many new committee chairs will be announced, followed by new committee assignments.
Please reach out to a member of our GR team with any questions.
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