Iowa Democrats scored a notable win on Tuesday after Catelin Drey , the party’s nominee, defeated Republican Christopher Prosch in a special election for a Sioux City–area state Senate seat, breaking the GOP’s two-thirds supermajority.
According to preliminary results reported by county officials, Drey led by nearly 800 votes, or 11 percentage points, with all precincts counted, according to the New York Times.
Michelle K Skaff, the auditor and election commissioner in Woodbury County, said only two additional ballots remained outstanding and could be added if received by Wednesday.
With this outcome, Democrats will now hold 17 seats in the chamber, compared with 33 for Republicans. The shift strips Republicans of the supermajority that allowed them to confirm Governor Kim Reynolds ’ nominees without Democratic support, NBC News reported.
The seat was left vacant after Republican Sen. Rocky De Witt, who won the district in 2022, died of cancer in June. Reynolds had called the special election earlier this summer.
Drey, who founded the left-leaning policy group Moms for Iowa , campaigned on issues such as affordable child care, gun restrictions, and abortion rights. Prosch, a business owner, had focused his campaign on cutting taxes, opposing “woke ideologies” in schools, and supporting Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
National Democrats hailed the result as evidence of growing momentum. “When Democrats organise everywhere, we win everywhere, and today is no exception,” Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said in a statement, as cited by The New York Times.
He argued that voters saw Republicans as a “rubber stamp” for Trump’s agenda and were ready for change.
Heather Williams, president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, called the win a “flashing warning” to the GOP, saying voters were rejecting “the failing MAGA agenda.”
The win is Democrats’ second flip in the Iowa Senate this year. In January, Mike Zimmer captured a seat in eastern Iowa in a district that Trump had won by more than 20 points, as per The Hill.
While Iowa remains solidly Republican, the GOP controls every statewide office but one and dominates the state legislature, Democrats see these special election victories as signs of renewed energy despite the party’s broader challenges in the region.
According to preliminary results reported by county officials, Drey led by nearly 800 votes, or 11 percentage points, with all precincts counted, according to the New York Times.
Michelle K Skaff, the auditor and election commissioner in Woodbury County, said only two additional ballots remained outstanding and could be added if received by Wednesday.
With this outcome, Democrats will now hold 17 seats in the chamber, compared with 33 for Republicans. The shift strips Republicans of the supermajority that allowed them to confirm Governor Kim Reynolds ’ nominees without Democratic support, NBC News reported.
The seat was left vacant after Republican Sen. Rocky De Witt, who won the district in 2022, died of cancer in June. Reynolds had called the special election earlier this summer.
Drey, who founded the left-leaning policy group Moms for Iowa , campaigned on issues such as affordable child care, gun restrictions, and abortion rights. Prosch, a business owner, had focused his campaign on cutting taxes, opposing “woke ideologies” in schools, and supporting Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
National Democrats hailed the result as evidence of growing momentum. “When Democrats organise everywhere, we win everywhere, and today is no exception,” Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said in a statement, as cited by The New York Times.
He argued that voters saw Republicans as a “rubber stamp” for Trump’s agenda and were ready for change.
Heather Williams, president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, called the win a “flashing warning” to the GOP, saying voters were rejecting “the failing MAGA agenda.”
The win is Democrats’ second flip in the Iowa Senate this year. In January, Mike Zimmer captured a seat in eastern Iowa in a district that Trump had won by more than 20 points, as per The Hill.
While Iowa remains solidly Republican, the GOP controls every statewide office but one and dominates the state legislature, Democrats see these special election victories as signs of renewed energy despite the party’s broader challenges in the region.
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