Republicans maintained their Iowa House majority with either 52 or 53 seats, depending on what happens in one unresolved race.
In Iowa House district 43, GOP incumbent Chris Hagenow leads Susan Judkins in the initial count by 29 votes out of 17,446 cast. Judkins has not conceded and will decide whether to ask for a recount after all the provisional and absentee ballots have been counted.
Here’s how the Republicans kept their majority.
38 incumbents were re-elected:
Jeff Smith (district 1)
Dan Huseman (district 3)
Dwayne Alons (district 4)
Chuck Soderberg (district 5)
Ron Jorgenson (district 6)
Henry Rayhons (district 8)
Tom Shaw (district 10)
Gary Worthan (district 11)
Mark Brandenberg (district 15)
Mary Ann Hanusa (district 16)
Matt Windschitl (district 17)
Jason Schultz (district 18)
Ralph Watts (district 19)
Clel Baudler (district 20)
Jack Drake (district 21)
Greg Forristall (district 22)
Cecil Dolecheck (district 24)
Julian Garrett (district 25)
Joel Fry (district 27)
Kevin Koester (district 38)
Peter Cownie (district 42)
Chip Baltimore (district 47)
Dave Deyoe (district 49)
Pat Grassley (district 50)
Josh Byrnes (district 51)
Linda Upmeyer (district 54)
Brian Moore (district 58)
Walt Rogers (district 60)
Kraig Paulsen (district 67)
Dawn Pettengill (district 75)
Jarad Klein (district 78)
Guy Vander Linden (district 79)
Dave Heaton (district 84)
Tom Sands (district 88)
Mark Lofgren (district 91)
Linda Miller (district 94)
Lee Hein (district 96)
Steve Olson (district 97)
Thirteen GOP candidates won open seats
Megan Hess (district 2)
Mark Costello (district 23)
Greg Heartsill (district 28)
John Landon (district 37)
Jake Highfill (district 39)
Rob Taylor (district 44)
Rob Bacon (district 48)
Sandy Salmon (district 63)
Dean Fisher (district 72)
Bobby Kaufmann (district 73)
David Maxwell (district 76)
Larry Sheets (district 80)
Quentin Stanerson (district 95)
One GOP candidate defeated a Democratic incumbent:
Tedd Gassman (district 7)
Total: 52 (53 if Hagenow’s lead holds in House district 43)
Here’s how the Democrats elected 47 Iowa House members.
35 incumbents were re-elected:
Helen Miller (district 9)
Dan Muhlbauer (district 12)
Chris Hall (district 13) *against a Republican incumbent
Dan Kelley (district 29)
Rick Olson (district 31)
Ruth Ann Gaines (district 32)
Kevin McCarthy (district 33)
Bruce Hunter (district 34)
Ako Abdul-Samad (district 35)
Jo Oldson (district 41)
Beth Wessel-Kroeschell (district 45)
Lisa Heddens (district 46)
Brian Quirk (district 52)
Sharon Steckman (district 53)
Roger Thomas (district 55)
Bob Kressig (district 59)
Anesa Katjazovic (district 61)
Deborah Berry (district 62)
Tyler Olson (district 65)
Kirsten Running-Marquardt (district 69)
Todd Taylor (district 70)
Mark Smith (district 71)
Dave Jacoby (district 74)
Mary Gaskill (district 81)
Curt Hanson (district 82)
Jerry Kearns (district 83)
Vicki Lensing (district 85)
Mary Mascher (district 86)
Dennis Cohoon (district 87)
Jim Lykam (district 89)
Cindy Winckler (district 90)
Phyllis Thede (district 93)
Mary Wolfe (district 98)
Pat Murphy (district 99)
Chuck Isenhart (district 100)
Eight Democratic candidates won open seats:
David Dawson (district 14)
Scott Ourth (district 26)
Joe Riding (district 30)
Marti Anderson (district 36)
John Forbes (district 40)
Nancy Dunkel (district 57)
Bruce Bearinger (district 64)
Sally Stutsman (district 77)
Four Democratic challengers defeated Republican incumbents:
Patti Ruff (district 56)
Art Staed (district 66)
Daniel Lundby (district 68)
Frank Wood (district 92)
Note: Chris Hall defeated Republican incumbent Jeremy Taylor in House district 13.
6 Comments
Thoughts
The Kaufmann name must be gold. I don’t quite understand why David supporters would sit that race out if they really wanted to elect a Dem, but I also don’t think the mailers that Schwab sent out were not exactly smart.
Nathan Wrage almost pulled it off against Fisher on almost absolutely no money. Wrage is a laid off factory worker who went to work as a janitor, the kind of people that we need to appeal to. Not just educators and trial lawyers, laid off factory workers.
Bill Heckroth is a great candidate and a great public servant. I don’t think there is much more that could have been done.
Brian Moore must be extremely popular, anyone looked at the national numbers in this district yet? Were there a few Dems who skipped this race?
moderateiadem Wed 7 Nov 8:53 PM
I don't know how
Brian Moore got re-elected in that district. I thought that was one of the most likely pickups.
I understand why the IDP focused resources on the Senate races, but it’s too bad we didn’t have a little more money to throw toward some of these House candidates. A few hundred votes spread across several districts and we’d have a majority.
Republicans ran very deceptive television commercials against Heckroth and sent out the same kind of misleading direct mail used in many other House districts. It’s too bad those tactics were rewarded in HD-63.
desmoinesdem Wed 7 Nov 9:10 PM
Sore losers
Supporters of primary loser David Johnson had huge chips on their shoulders. Some of it was about “hey, I announced first” (but, um, couldn’t connect with people or raise $) And Johnson himself offered a shocked, shocked I am letter after the negative Schwab mailers.
Some of it was personal grudges against Schwab over local zoning stuff, mostly from people outside the district but one from a very sore neighbor. One former Johnson County Democratic chair published a blistering anti-Schwab editorial in early October than only omitted the “vote for Bobby” phrase. All this cut Schwab’s Johnson margin down to about 55-45 when he needed two to one. Thanks, guys. This will reverberate for a while here in the PRJC
jdeeth Wed 7 Nov 9:17 PM
he is a former Democrat
who made the switch after losing a primary. A lot of people don’t care about stuff like that if they know the person, and his bio would indicate that he is very well-known in the area.
albert Wed 7 Nov 9:36 PM
Brian Moore (n/t)
albert Wed 7 Nov 9:36 PM
Thanks
I knew about the switch, people were talking like they had the race in the bag and he even voted with people like Pearson and Massie on some of their crazy ideas. I guess people just like him personally.
moderateiadem Wed 7 Nov 10:46 PM