By Ballotpedia’s Congressional and State legislative teams
The fast-moving primary season of May and June continued with elections in Iowa yesterday.
Here’s a recap of what happened in Iowa’s State Senate, State House, and Congressional races.
| Contested Primaries in Iowa — June 5, 2012 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. House (4 seats) |
State Legislature (126 seats) |
||||
| Total Democratic Contested Primaries | 1 (25%) | 10 (7.94%) | |||
| Total Republican Contested Primaries | 2 (50%) | 36 (28.57%) | |||
Congress
Iowa’s congressional races saw few surprises, as most incumbents won their primaries easily and without competition.
Incumbents Bruce Braley (D) of the 1st district, Leonard Boswell (D) and Tom Latham (R) of the 3rd district, and Steve King (R) of the 4th district all ran unopposed in their respective primaries yesterday. Braley will face Republican candidateBen Lange in the general election after Lange defeated Rod Blum in the Republican primary.[1][2]
In the 2nd district, incumbent Dave Loebsack (D) defeated challenger Joe Seng, a current state Senator, in the Democratic primary.[3] On the Republican ticket, John Archer defeated Dan Dolan to advance to the general election. Archer will face Loebsack in the general election to decide the 2nd district seat.
In the 3rd district, incumbents Leonard Boswell (D) and Tom Latham (R) will face off for the seat in the general election after advancing unopposed through the primaries. As a result of redistricting, Iowa lost its 5th congressional district. The incumbent from that district, Steve King, is now seeking re-election in the 4th district. Latham, who previously represented the 4th district, moved out of the district to Clive, IA. The move allows him to run in the 3rd district and take on Democratic incumbent Boswell rather than face a Republican primary battle against King.[4]
Iowa’s former first lady Christie Vilsack and incumbent Steve King, from the now defunct 5th district, will face off in the general election after running unopposed in their respective primaries in the 4th district. Even though each faced no competition in their respective primaries, the race has already started to heat up. Both candidates have already started to raise significant amounts of campaign funds in preparation for the heated general election battle for the 4th district seat. Vilsack reportedly had more than $900,000 on hand at the end the March, and King has more than $1 million on hand as of May 2012.[5]
| Members of the U.S. House from Iowa — Partisan Breakdown | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | As of June 2012 | After the 2012 Election | |
| Democratic Party | 3 | Pending | |
| Republican Party | 2 | Pending | |
| Total | 5 | 4 | |
State legislature
[edit]Senate
Most of the primary races were uneventful with few surprises. One incumbent lost, in a battle between two sitting lawmakers.
Incumbent James Hahn was defeated by fellow incumbent Shawn Hamerlinck in the District 46 primary.
House
The most interesting result came from District 37. No GOP candidate received the required 35% of the vote in the primary. Therefore, a convention will be held in order to select a candidate for the general election. Jim Robidoux came the closest, receiving 34% of the vote in the primary.[6]
- Incumbent Erik Helland lost to challenger Jake Highfill in the District 39 primary.
- Incumbent Annette Sweeney lost to fellow incumbent Pat Grassley in the District 50 primary.
| Iowa State Senate | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | As of June 2012 | After the 2012 Election | |
| Democratic Party | 26 | Pending | |
| Republican Party | 24 | Pending | |
| Total | 50 | 50 | |
| Iowa House of Representatives | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | As of June 2012 | After the 2012 Election | |
| Democratic Party | 40 | Pending | |
| Republican Party | 60 | Pending | |
| Total | 100 | 100 | |