Iowa Election Returns:
POTUS: Trump 54, Biden 46
U.S. Senate: Ernst 53, Greenfield 47
Iowa 01: Hinson 51, Finkenauer 49
Iowa 02: Miller-Meeks 50, Hart 49.5 (280 vote margin)
Iowa 03: Axne 51, Young 49
Iowa 04: Feenstra 62, Scholten 38
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The votes have all been counted in the race for Iowa’s first congressional district, and Republican state representative Ashley Hinson holds a nearly 11-thousand vote lead over incumbent Democrat Congresswoman Abby Finkenauer…but she is not conceding. A news release sent by her campaign just before 1 o’clock this morning quotes campaign manager Ned Miller as saying, “Given tonight’s historic turnout and the record number of votes cast early and by mail, Finkenauer for Congress will continue to review election returns and data on outstanding ballots. Our team will conduct that review as quickly as possible and provide an update on Wednesday. Under Iowa law, ballots received as late as Nov. 9 may be counted.” We are scheduled to talk with Congresswoman-Elect Ashley Hinson later this morning during KXEL Live & Local.
Going into yesterday’s election, there were three Democrats and one Republican in Iowa’s U.S. House delegation. If the current numbers hold, that will flip to three Republicans and one Democrat. There is still a question in the second district, where Republican Marionette Miller-Meeks claimed victory last night in her fourth try at the seat…data from the Iowa Secretary of State shows Miller-Meeks with a lead over Rita Hart of 282 votes out of 393,256 cast.
Republicans strengthened their majority in the state legislature after yesterday’s election results. Democrats had hoped to win enough races to change the balance of power in the Iowa House of Representatives during Tuesday’s elections. Instead, not only did Republicans protect their advantage, they expanded it to 59 seats after defending all incumbents and flipping seven Democrat-held seats. The pickups include Chad Ingels in House District 64, an open seat formerly held by a Democrat. Republicans went into Tuesday’s elections with a 53-47 advantage in the Iowa House. Democrats targeted roughly a dozen Republican-held seats. Republicans emerged from Tuesday’s elections with a 59-41 advantage, undoing gains made by Democrats two years ago. Democrats flipped only one seat: in Linn County, where Democrat Eric Gjerde defeated Republican Sally Ann Abbott in an open-seat race that was formerly held by Republican Ashley Hinson, who won a Congressional race last night. The Iowa Senate also will remain under Republican control after Tuesday’s elections. The majority there was never really in doubt, since Republicans went into the election with a 32-18 advantage.
In the race for Black Hawk County sheriff, incumbent Tony Thompson was returned to office for a fourth term, defeating current county supervisor and former Waterloo police chief Dan Trelka by 10,000 votes, 37-thousand to 27-thousand…and all three Democrat members of the Black Hawk County board of supervisors on the ballot won re-election yesterday.
