A first-term Democratic incumbent fended off a half-hearted primary challenge for an Iowa City House seat in the Iowa Legislature.
A political newcomer endorsed by a departing GOP incumbent bested an area mayor to run for the open House seat this fall.
A rural organizer prevailed in a three-way race to face off against a longtime Republican incumbent who pushed taxpayer funding for private school tuition.
Iowa voters cast ballots Tuesday to determine which candidates will be on the Nov. 5 ballot for Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians for seats in the Republican-controlled Legislature.
Nearly two dozen contested party primaries — mostly on the Republican side — were held in Statehouse districts, including elections centering on eminent domain, abortion and education reforms. Half of the 50 seats in the Iowa Senate and all 100 Iowa House seats are up for election in November.
Republicans maintain a strong grip on the decision-making levers in state government, controlling the governor’s office and agenda-setting majorities in both chambers of the Legislature. Republicans currently hold a supermajority of 34 seats in the Iowa Senate to Democrats’ 16. In the Iowa House, the GOP hold 64 seats to Democrats' 36.
Iowa Democratic leaders see an opportunity to win back some critical seats this year, saying they’ve seen public dissatisfaction with Republicans’ agenda, namely recent education changes, including last year’s passage of taxpayer-funded scholarships to families to send their children to private school and efforts this year changing the funding and function of the area education agencies that provide special education and other services to school districts.
While not expecting to gain control of the House or Senate in this year’s election, Democratic leaders have said they hope to grow their numbers and lay the groundwork to win more seats in future years.
Republican leaders, meanwhile, have said they see potential to further strengthen their majorities through their efforts to give parents a bigger voice in education, lowering taxes and focusing on immigration, a central focus of the presidential campaign.
Here’s a roundup of election results for Statehouse races in the Corridor region:
House District 89
Rep. Elinor Levin, a Democrat from Iowa City, defeated primary challenger Ty Bopp, an assistant manager at Hy-Vee in Iowa City, in her bid for a second term in Iowa House District 89.
Levin, a writing tutor, received 91 percent of votes counted, according to unofficial results. She was elected in 2022. The district covers part of Iowa City and University Heights.
Bopp did not actively campaign. He had not filed any campaign fundraising reports with the state, and did not have any active campaign materials online or on social media.
Earlier this year, Levin told The Gazette she is running to put people over politics — a phrase often used by Iowa House Democrats — and to advance legislation that will lower costs, raise wages and improve the lives of Iowans struggling to afford health care, food, child care and other living expenses.
In the House, Levin has been a vocal advocate for LGBTQ Iowans and a staunch opponent of a failed bill that would have removed gender identity as a protected class under the Iowa Civil Rights code, and also a new law that changed the funding and services that area education agencies provide to students and families.
“I look forward to heading back to Des Moines with a little more experience and a better understanding of the process so I can take what I hear from my constituents to make a difference at the Capitol, hopefully, with a few new friends,” Levin said.
No Republican had filed to run for the seat ahead of Tuesday’s primary. The party still could nominate a candidate by convention later this summer.
If reelected, Levin said her priorities will be continuing to “ensure that Iowans have the opportunity to thrive here — whether that means looking at wage theft, whether that means looking at public schools, whether that means looking at our economic development choices.”
House District 53
Tommy Hexter, a rural organizer from Grinnell, emerged from a three-way race for the Democratic nomination to run in House District 53 against longtime incumbent Dean Fisher, a Republican from Montour, in the November general election.
Hexter received 59 percent of votes counted, according to unofficial results. Jennifer Wrage, a public school teacher from rural Gladbrook, received 33 percent and John Anderson of Tama received roughly 8 percent.
Hexter, who works for the Iowa Farmers Union while also serving as executive director of Grinnell Farm to Table, told The Gazette last month he’s running out of a desire to put the needs of Iowans over corporate interests he sees having an outsized hand in guiding legislation in Des Moines.
He pointed to a push by Bayer, maker of the glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup, to prohibit lawsuits over warning labels on pesticides. The proposed legislation ultimately failed to gain sufficient support among Iowa lawmakers to pass this year.
Hexter, 24, said he’s also running to make Iowa a more livable place, particularly for young people like himself. He said insufficient funding of public education and sparse access to reproductive health care are “turning away opportunities for the next generation to live here.”
Hexter said he opposes Iowa’s law that provides taxpayer-funded scholarships to families to send their children to private school.
Fisher, founder and board president of the emerging Tama-Toledo Christian School, campaigned on and helped pass the law in 2023. Iowa Republicans championed the policy as a way to expand education opportunities for students, regardless of their family’s income, and allow families to find the educational settings that work for them.
If elected, Hexter said he would push the state to invest more in public schools, remove new requirements for receiving public benefits that make it more difficult for low-income Iowans to receive food and health care assistance and continue support to expand local and regional food systems.
“I’m excited at the possibility to unify this district and voters across the political spectrum to really redefine what it means to be a representative in Iowa,” Hexter said. “We’ll hit the pavement … and I look forward to what the next five months have to hold. I’m running to represent everyone in the district — Democrat, Republican, independent and everyone in between.”
House District 91
Political newcomer Judd Lawler of Oxford defeated Williamsburg Mayor Adam Grier in the Republican primary for Iowa House District 91, which covers Iowa County and western and northern Johnson County.
Lawler received 79 percent of the votes counted to Grier’s 21 percent, per unofficial results. Lawler will face Democrat Jay Gorsh of Williamsburg for the open seat in November.
Republican incumbent Rep. Brad Sherman, a pastor from Williamsburg, is not seeking re-election. Sherman recruited Lawler to run and has endorsed his campaign.
Lawler, a Johnson County native and former federal prosecutor in New York, told The Gazette he ran to continue Sherman’s work of “strengthening families and protecting individual liberty,” particularly on issues involving religious freedom, gun rights and property rights.
Regarding the latter, Lawler said he supports legislation restricting eminent domain use for carbon capture pipelines in the state.
“Voters in my district have been very passionate about this issue,” Lawler said ahead of the primary. “If the government can forcibly take your property rights and give them to another private party, the idea that we have ‘property rights’ is meaningless. Eminent domain must only be used for something that is inarguably for public use. Otherwise, only the rich and powerful have property rights.”
He did not return a message seeking comment Tuesday night.
As a lawyer and former prosecutor, he said he brings legal expertise to ensure bills being drafted are good policy and to serve as a “watchdog” against waste, fraud and inefficiency in spending.
Grier was elected mayor in 2021 and previously served on the Williamsburg City Council. He said he was running to maintain home rule, which empowers municipalities, counties and school boards to govern themselves as much as possible. He said he also supports Gov. Kim Reynolds’ initiatives on tax reform, addressing workforce shortages and educational freedom.
Grier said he’s also a “strong advocate” to protecting unborn life and “prohibiting as many abortions as possible.”
House District 64
Jason Gearhart of Strawberry Point defeated Douglas Wolfe of Elkader in a Republican primary race to run for a Northeast Iowa House seat following the announced retirement of incumbent Rep. Anne Osmundson, a Republican from Volga.
Iowa House District 64 includes all of Allamakee and Clayton counties, and a small portion of northern Dubuque County.
Gearhart received 55 percent of the votes counted to Wolfe’s 45 percent, according to unofficial results.
No Democrat had filed to run for the seat ahead of Tuesday’s primary. The party still could nominate a candidate by convention later this summer.
Osmundson won the district in 2022 by 37 percentage points.
Senate District 38
Former Cedar Falls City Council member David Sire emerged from a three-way Republican primary race to challenge incumbent Democrat Eric Giddens of Cedar Falls in Senate District 38. The district covers parts of Black Hawk, Tama and Benton counties.
Sire received 59 percent of the votes counted. James McCullagh, an engineer and entrepreneur, received 14 percent and Steve Schmitt, a former Waterloo City Council member, received 27 percent.
Caleb McCullough of The Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau contributed to this report
Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com
