Government Relations Update 6-5-24

Iowa’s Primary Election was held on Tuesday, June 4.  There were several hotly contested races featuring challengers to incumbent legislators – most notably: 

• Republican Senator Waylon Brown vs. Doug Campbell - Incumbent Senator Brown won; 
• Democratic Senator Clair Celsi vs. Julie Lasche Brown - Incumbent Senator Celsi won; 
• House Republican Jane Bloomingdale vs. John Rosenfeld - Incumbent Representative Bloomingdale won; and 
• House Republican Mike Sexton vs. Wendy Larson - Incumbent Representative Sexton won. 

All incumbent legislators won their primary elections on Tuesday.  For full primary results see the table below.  

General Election – November 5, 2024 – State Races 

In the Senate.  Twenty-five Senate seats are up for election.  Of the 25 seats, three Senators are not seeking reelection – Senate Minority Leader Pam Jochum (D), Senator Todd Taylor (D), and Senator Jeff Edler (R). 

Of the 25 Senate seats that are not up for election, 16 of the seats are held by Republicans – DeWitt, Evans, Rowley, Alons, Shipley, Garrett, Westrich, Rozenboom, Bousselot, Whitver, Sweeney, Salmon, Koelker, Cournoyer, Gruenhagen, and Webster.  Nine of the seats are held by Democrats - Bisignano, Knox, Quirmbach, Dotzler, Donahue, Bennett, Wahls, Weiner, and Winckler. 

At this time, the following Senate Incumbents have NO Opponent for reelection - Seven Republicans: Jeff Taylor, Kraayenbrink, Schultz, Klimesh, Zumbach, McClintock, Dickey; and two Democrats: Claire Celsi and Janet Petersen. 

Based upon this information for the 91st General Assembly – at this point, Republicans will have 23 seats and the Democrats will have 11 seats.  

In the House.  All 100 seats are up in the House – current numbers are 64 Republicans to 36 Democrats.  

The following nine Republican Representatives are NOT seeking reelection - Brian Best, Ken Carlson, Dave Deyoe, Joel Fry, Stan Gustafson, Anne Osmundson, Brad Sherman, Luana Stoltenberg, and Phil Thompson. 

Four Democrats are not seeking reelection - AKO Abdul-Samad, Art Staed, Sharon Steckman, and John Forbes. 

As of this writing, several House members are in races with NO Opponent: 

•   21 R’s – Skyler Wheeler, Zach Dieken, Megan Jones, Ann Meyer, John Wills, Jacob Bossman, Devon Wood, Tom Moore, Austin Harris, Barb Kniff McCulla, Carter Nordman, Shannon Latham, Mike Bergan, Craig Johnson, Chad Ingels, Bobby Kaufmann, Jeff Shipley, Helena Hayes, Martin Graber, Josh Meggers (R primary), and Jane Bloomingdale (R primary).
• 24 D’s – Brian Meyer, Megan Srinivas, Mary Madison, Jeniffer Konfrst, Ruth Ann Gaines, Austin Baeth, Rick Olson, Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, Ross Wilburn, Sue Cahill, Timi Brown-Powers, Jerome Amos, Jr., Lindsey James, Elizabeth Wilson, Eric Gjerdes, Bob Kressig, Jeff Cooling, Sami Sheetz, Traci Ehlert, Amy Nielsen, Dave Jacoby, Adam Zabner, Monica Kurth, and Daniel Gosa (NEW).