Republicans Expand Statehouse Majorities in Early 2024 Election Results • Iowa Capital Dispatch

Unofficial results show that Republicans retained trifecta control of the Iowa Statehouse in Tuesday’s elections — and that both chambers may have Republican Party supermajorities in the upcoming General Assembly.

In the House of Representatives, Republicans appeared to expand their majority to a supermajority in the 2024 general election by flipping several seats currently held by Democrats. And in the Senate, where Republicans already had a supermajority, two Democratic incumbents lost to Republican challengers, while one Republican incumbent, Sen. Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale, lost his campaign.

House Speaker Pat Grassley celebrated the successful defense of incumbents and pick-ups in a number of competitive legislative seats at the Republican watch party in Des Moines on Tuesday night, asking a cheering crowd: “What does the number 67 Republicans sound like in the House of Representatives?”

In the previous General Assembly, Republicans had a 64-36 majority in the House of Representatives. Unofficial results show that the lead has grown to a 67-seat lead, with Democrats holding 33 seats.

The crucial winners for the Republican Party’s caucus in the House of Representatives came in four seats:

• In House District 41, which covers much of Ankeny, Republican Ryan Weldon is ahead of incumbent Democratic Rep. Molly Buck with 50.2% to 49.8% of the votes in unofficial results as of 7 p.m. Wednesday, with all districts reporting. The AP has not called the race.
• In Dubuque, Rep. Chuck Isenhart, the Democrat who has represented House District 72 for more than a decade, lost to Republican Jennifer Smith with 47% of the vote.
• Another incumbent Democratic lawmaker, Rep. Sue Cahill, D-Marshalltown, was ousted by Republican challenger David Blom, who received 52% of the vote in the 2024 general election.
• In addition, the seat of outgoing Democratic Rep. Sharon Steckman in Mason City in the election taken by GOP candidate Christian Hermanson, who defeated Democrat Jeremy True by a margin of just over 350 votes, according to the Iowa Website of the State Secretary.

Grassley said Iowans sent a clear message in their election results: “The woke mind virus is coming to Iowa and dying.”

He also said Iowans have sent a clear message to Democrats through the 2024 election results — that abortion and opposition to the state’s six-week abortion ban is not a winning campaign message.

“We heard this across the state: ‘Why on earth is one party focused on one issue?’” Grassley said. “That is – that one problem – killing babies until the day they are born. And I think Iowans have wholeheartedly rejected that.”

In addition to the legislative changes in the House of Representatives, there were some shakeups in the Iowa Senate, although the outcomes did not change which party controlled the chamber. Republican Sen. Brad Zaun of Urbandale lost his re-election bid to Democratic challenger Matt Blake, a former Urbandale City Council member in Senate District 22. It was the state’s most expensive legislative race in 2024, with campaign and in-kind contributions reaching a total of $1.72 million during the election cycle.

Despite the significant improvement, Senate Democrats appear to have lost two key seats in the 2024 elections:

• Nate Boulton, D-Des Moines, may have lost his race to Republican challenger Mike Pike in Iowa Senate District 20, which has not yet returned results. According to Iowa Website details of the Minister of Foreign AffairsPike was ahead of Boulton by 43 votes as of 7 p.m. Wednesday.
  Boulton has said he plans to request a recount in the election.
• Another seat that Republicans have identified as a potential swing — Iowa Senate District 38, currently represented by Sen. Eric Giddens, D-Cedar Falls — appears to have fallen into Republican control. Republican Dave Sires is currently ahead by almost 400 votes according to state records.

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Pam Jochum, who is retiring after the 2024 session, acknowledged there are “challenges” for Iowa Democrats in the future 2025 legislative session because of the election results.

“It’s clear that defunding our public schools resonated with voters, but unfortunately we fell short,” Jochum said. “Iowans are tired of the status quo here in our state and across the country, and Democrats in the Iowa Senate will work harder to get a better deal for them in the Legislature. As we move forward, we are reviewing all of our options to ensure every vote is counted.”