Losing a Seat
This one sort of got lost in all the news of the week…but a special election was held this past Tuesday and it means a smaller margin for Republicans in the state senate.
When Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds appointed State Sen. Chris Cournoyer to become Lieutenant Governor, that left Cournoyer’s Senate District 35 seat open…and that led to the special election earlier this week. The district covers all of Clinton and parts of Scott and Jackson counties in eastern Iowa.
Democrats wound up flipping the seat. Mike Zimmer, a school board president and retired educator, defeated Republican Katie Whittington, a GOP organizer, by a margin of 52-48 percent.
The state Democratic party crowed about the results, saying it was the beginning of a trend away from draconian GOP policies, and so on.
But not so fast. Voters statewide increased the GOP majorities in both the House and Senate only 10 weeks ago, so while it is a gain for Democrats, let’s hold off on saying a blue wave is coming.
That’s the problem with special elections…they are “special” and therefore not indicative of any trend. Yes, registered Republicans outnumbered registered Democrats in the district…but more than a third of the voters were “no party” folks, especially subject to swing. It was a short campaign window, and apparently Whittington was ill for more than a week of it, which may also have been a factor.
Regardless, again it’s a big pickup for Democrats…who now hold 16 of the 50 seats in the Senate. That’s a far cry from the 34 GOP seats…but one step—or seat—at a time.
And while that one vote won’t make a big deal in the Senate at this point…it logically makes us think about all the U.S. House members who have left or are leaving for the new Trump Administration. Special elections will be needed for all those seats. How many will stay red will help determine how helpful the House will be in helping the President’s agenda move along.
