Iowa 2016 Election Results

Iowa held its general election on November 8, 2016, deciding 125 legislative seats. Control shifted: the Senate moved from a 26-23 Democratic majority to a 29-20 Republican majority.

Highlights

• Republicans already held the House and the governor's office under Terry Branstad (R), so taking the Senate gave them unfettered control over the state agenda and their first full lawmaking control in 20 years. They used it in 2017 to curtail public-employee collective bargaining.
• The biggest casualty was Senate Majority Leader Michael E. Gronstal (D), a 34-year veteran of the legislature, who lost Senate District 8 to Dan Dawson (R) by about 8 points. Republicans saw Gronstal as the point man for stopping their agenda and spent roughly $319,000 there, more than on any other race.
• Branstad said Republicans had hoped for five Senate pickups and won six. Democrats nearly lost a seventh: Rich Taylor (D) held Senate District 42 by 168 votes over Danny Graber (R). Besides Gronstal, five other Democratic senators lost:
  • Waylon Brown (R) beat Mary Jo Wilhelm (D) by about 25 points in Senate District 26.
  • Craig Johnson (R) beat Brian Schoenjahn (D) by about 20 points in Senate District 32.
  • Mark Lofgren (R) beat Chris Brase (D) by about 14 points in Senate District 46.
  • Jeff Edler (R) beat Steven Sodders (D) by about 6 points in Senate District 36.
  • Thomas A. Greene (R) beat Thomas Courtney (D) by about 5 points in Senate District 44.
• In the House, where Republicans kept their majority, Kristi Hager (R) unseated Patti Ruff (D) by about 9 points in House District 56, and Shannon Lundgren (R) took the open House District 57 by about 4 points. In all, 8 legislative seats changed party, all from Democrats to Republicans. Timothy Kacena (D) won House District 14 by 239 votes, the closest House race. Statewide, 33 legislative races had only one candidate on the ballot.

Legislature

• House (100 seats): 43 D, 56 R, 1 other or vacant before the election, 41 D, 59 R after; control stayed with Republicans.
• Senate (50 seats): 26 D, 24 R before the election, 20 D, 29 R, 1 other or vacant after; control moved from Democrats to Republicans.

Legislative races