Brett Nelson

Brett Nelson (independent) ran for election to the Iowa House of Representatives to represent District 43. He lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Nelson was a 2018 Republican candidate for District 19 of the Iowa State Senate. He was defeated in the primary election on June 5, 2018.

Nelson was previously a 2016 unaffiliated candidate for District 38 of the Iowa House of Representatives. After being defeated as a Republican in the primary, Nelson refiled with no party affiliation. He ran unsuccessfully for the same seat in 2012 as a Republican and for District 19 of the Iowa State Senate in 2014 as an independent.

Elections

2024

General election

General election for Iowa House of Representatives District 43

Incumbent Eddie Andrews defeated Tiara Mays-Sims and Brett Nelson in the general election for Iowa House of Representatives District 43 on November 5, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Eddie Andrews (R)	50.9	9,598
	Tiara Mays-Sims (D)	47.5	8,959
	Brett Nelson (Independent)	1.5	280
	Other/Write-in votes	0.1	23

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 18,860
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 43

Tiara Mays-Sims advanced from the Democratic primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 43 on June 4, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Tiara Mays-Sims	99.5	1,101
	Other/Write-in votes	0.5	5

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,106
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 43

Incumbent Eddie Andrews advanced from the Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 43 on June 4, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Eddie Andrews	99.0	676
	Other/Write-in votes	1.0	7

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 683
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Nelson in this election.

Pledges

Nelson signed the following pledges.

U.S. Term Limits

2022

General election

General election for Iowa House of Representatives District 43

Incumbent Eddie Andrews defeated Suresh Reddy in the general election for Iowa House of Representatives District 43 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Eddie Andrews (R)	51.1	7,684
	Submit photo	Suresh Reddy (D)	48.8	7,326
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	15

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 15,025
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 43

Suresh Reddy defeated Tiara Mays-Sims in the Democratic primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 43 on June 7, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Suresh Reddy	56.4	1,358
		Tiara Mays-Sims	43.3	1,042
		Other/Write-in votes	0.3	7

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,407
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 43

Incumbent Eddie Andrews defeated Brett Nelson in the Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 43 on June 7, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Eddie Andrews	84.2	1,948
	Brett Nelson	15.7	364
	Other/Write-in votes	0.1	2

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,314
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2020

General election

General election for Iowa House of Representatives District 38

Garrett Gobble defeated incumbent Heather Matson in the general election for Iowa House of Representatives District 38 on November 3, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Garrett Gobble (R)	50.3	10,084
	Heather Matson (D)	49.6	9,927
	Other/Write-in votes	0.1	22

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 20,033
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 38

Incumbent Heather Matson advanced from the Democratic primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 38 on June 2, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Heather Matson	99.7	3,385
	Other/Write-in votes	0.3	11

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 3,396
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 38

Garrett Gobble defeated Brett Nelson in the Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 38 on June 2, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Garrett Gobble	51.2	988
	Brett Nelson	48.3	933
	Other/Write-in votes	0.5	9

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,930
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2018

See also: Iowa State Senate elections, 2018

General election

General election for Iowa State Senate District 19

Incumbent Jack Whitver defeated Amber Gustafson in the general election for Iowa State Senate District 19 on November 6, 2018.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Jack Whitver (R)	51.3	18,598
	Amber Gustafson (D)	48.6	17,608
	Other/Write-in votes	0.1	37

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 36,243
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Iowa State Senate District 19

Amber Gustafson advanced from the Democratic primary for Iowa State Senate District 19 on June 5, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Amber Gustafson	100.0	4,366

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 4,366
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Iowa State Senate District 19

Incumbent Jack Whitver defeated Brett Nelson in the Republican primary for Iowa State Senate District 19 on June 5, 2018.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Jack Whitver	80.8	1,369
	Brett Nelson	19.2	326

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 1,695
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2016

See also: Iowa House of Representatives elections, 2016

Elections for the Iowa House of Representatives took place in 2016. The primary election took place on June 7, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was March 18, 2016.

Incumbent Kevin Koester defeated Heather Matson, Jeff Meyers and Brett Nelson in the Iowa House of Representatives District 38 general election.^[1]^[2]

Iowa House of Representatives, District 38 General Election, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Kevin Koester Incumbent	52.18%	8,793
	Democratic	Heather Matson	43.11%	7,264
	Libertarian	Jeff Meyers	3.62%	610
	Unaffiliated	Brett Nelson	1.09%	183
Total Votes				16,850
Source: Iowa Secretary of State

Heather Matson ran unopposed in the Iowa House of Representatives District 38 Democratic primary.^[3]^[4]

Iowa House of Representatives, District 38 Democratic Primary, 2016
Party		Candidate
	Democratic	Heather Matson (unopposed)

Incumbent Kevin Koester defeated Brett Nelson in the Iowa House of Representatives District 38 Republican primary.^[3]^[4]

Iowa House of Representatives, District 38 Republican Primary, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Kevin Koester Incumbent	86.86%	476
	Republican	Brett Nelson	13.14%	72
Total Votes				548

2014

See also: Iowa State Senate elections, 2014

Elections for the Iowa State Senate took place in 2014. A primary election took place on June 3, 2014. The general election was held on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was March 14, 2014. Incumbent Jack Whitver defeated Brett H. Nelson in the Republican primary and faced Nelson (I) again in the general election. Nelson filed to run as an Independent on August 13, 2014.^[5]^[6] Incumbent Whitver defeated challenger Nelson in the general election.^[7]

**Iowa State Senate, District 19 General Election, 2014**
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Jack Whitver Incumbent	81%	16,742
	Independent	Brett Nelson	18.4%	3,802
	Write-in	Write-in	0.5%	113
Total Votes				20,657

**Iowa State Senate, District 19 Republican Primary, 2014**
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Jack Whitver Incumbent	78.8%	2,362
Brett Nelson	21.2%	635
Total Votes		2,997

2012

See also: Iowa House of Representatives elections, 2012

Nelson ran in the 2012 election for Iowa House of Representatives District 38. Nelson lost to incumbent Kevin Koester in the Republican primary on June 5, 2012, and was defeated, as a petition candidate, in the general election that took place on November 6, 2012.^[8]^[9]^[10]

**Iowa House of Representatives, District 38, General Election, 2012**
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Kevin Koester	52.4%	8,331
	Democratic	John Phoenix	43.2%	6,868
	Independent	Brett Nelson	4.3%	686
Total Votes				15,885

**Iowa House of Representatives, District 38 Republican Primary, 2012**
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Kevin Koester Incumbent	85.1%	456
Brett H. Nelson	14.9%	80
Total Votes		536

Campaign themes

2024

Campaign finance summary

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

Brett Nelson campaign contribution history
Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	Iowa House of Representatives District 43	Lost general	$0	$0
2022	Iowa House of Representatives District 43	Lost primary	$0	$0
2018	Iowa State Senate District 19	Lost primary	$0	N/A**
Grand total			$0	N/A**
Sources: OpenSecrets, Federal Elections Commission *This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

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Footnotes

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Current members of the Iowa House of Representatives

Leadership

Majority Leader:Bobby Kaufmann

Representatives

District 1

J.D. Scholten (D)

District 2

Robert Henderson (R)

District 3

Thomas Jeneary (R)

District 4

Skyler Wheeler (R)

District 5

Zach Dieken (R)

District 6

Megan Jones (R)

District 7

Mike Sexton (R)

District 8

Ann Meyer (R)

District 9

Henry Stone (R)

District 10

John Wills (R)

District 11

Craig Williams (R)

District 12

Steven Holt (R)

District 13

Travis Sitzmann (R)

District 14

Jacob Bossman (R)

District 15

Matt Windschitl (R)

District 16

David Sieck (R)

District 17

Devon Wood (R)

District 18

Tom Moore (R)

District 19

Brent Siegrist (R)

District 20

Josh Turek (D)

District 21

Brooke Boden (R)

District 22

Samantha Fett (R)

District 23

Ray Sorensen (R)

District 24

Sam Wengryn (R)

District 25

Hans Wilz (R)

District 26

Austin Harris (R)

District 27

Kenan Judge (D)

District 28

David Young (R)

District 29

Brian Meyer (D)

District 30

Megan Srinivas (D)

District 31

Mary Madison (D)

District 32

Jennifer Konfrst (D)

District 33

Ruth Gaines (D)

District 34

Rob Johnson (D)

District 35

Sean Bagniewski (D)

District 36

Austin Baeth (D)

District 37

Barb McCulla (R)

District 38

Jon Dunwell (R)

District 39

Rick Olson (D)

District 40

Bill Gustoff (R)

District 41

Ryan Weldon (R)

District 42

Heather Matson (D)

District 43

Eddie Andrews (R)

District 44

Larry McBurney (D)

District 45

Brian Lohse (R)

District 46

Dan Gehlbach (R)

District 47

Carter Nordman (R)

District 48

Chad Behn (R)

District 49

Beth Wessel-Kroeschell (D)

District 50

Ross Wilburn (D)

District 51

Brett Barker (R)

District 52

David Blom (R)

District 53

Dean Fisher (R)

District 54

Joshua Meggers (R)

District 55

Shannon Latham (R)

District 56

Mark Thompson (R)

District 57

Pat Grassley (R)

District 58

Charley Thomson (R)

District 59

Christian Hermanson (R)

District 60

Jane Bloomingdale (R)

District 61

Timi Brown-Powers (D)

District 62

Jerome Amos (D)

District 63

Michael Bergan (R)

District 64

Jason Gearhart (R)

District 65

Shannon Lundgren (R)

District 66

Steven Bradley (R)

District 67

Craig Johnson (R)

District 68

Chad Ingels (R)

District 69

Tom Determann (R)

District 70

Norlin Mommsen (R)

District 71

Lindsay James (D)

District 72

Jennifer Smith (R)

District 73

Elizabeth Wilson (D)

District 74

Eric Gjerde (D)

District 75

Bob Kressig (D)

District 76

Derek Wulf (R)

District 77

Jeff Cooling (D)

District 78

Angel Ramirez (D)

District 79

Tracy Ehlert (D)

District 80

Aime Wichtendahl (D)

District 81

Daniel Gosa (D)

District 82

Bobby Kaufmann (R)

District 83

Cindy Golding (R)

District 84

Thomas Gerhold (R)

District 85

Amy Nielsen (D)

District 86

David Jacoby (D)

District 87

Jeff Shipley (R)

District 88

Helena Hayes (R)

District 89

Elinor Levin (D)

District 90

Adam Zabner (D)

District 91

Judd Lawler (R)

District 92

Heather Hora (R)

District 93

Gary Mohr (R)

District 94

Mike Vondran (R)

District 95

Taylor Collins (R)

District 96

Mark Cisneros (R)

District 97

Ken Croken (D)

District 98

Monica Kurth (D)

District 99

Matthew Rinker (R)

District 100

Blaine Watkins (R)

Republican Party (67)

Democratic Party (33)

[glist16-1] Iowa Secretary of State, "General Candidate List, 2016," accessed August 24, 2016

[gresults16-2] Iowa Secretary of State, "2016 General Election Canvass Summary," accessed December 16, 2016

[plist16-3] 3.0 ^3.1 Iowa Secretary of State, "Candidate Listing by Office," March 21, 2016

[presults16-4] 4.0 ^4.1 Iowa Secretary of State, "2016 Primary Election Canvass Summary," accessed August 22, 2016

[5] Iowa Secretary of State, "Official primary election candidate list," accessed March 18, 2014

[6] Iowa Secretary of State, "Official primary election results," accessed June 30, 2014

[7] Iowa Secretary of State, "Official general election results," accessed December 1, 2014

[8] Iowa Secretary of State, "Official Primary Results," accessed October 1, 2014

[9] Iowa Department of Elections, "2012 Primary Candidates," accessed May 15, 2012

[10] Iowa Secretary of State, 2012 general election candidate list, accessed November 2, 2012

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Brett Nelson

Elections

2024

General election

General election for Iowa House of Representatives District 43

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 43

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 43

Endorsements

Pledges

2022

General election

General election for Iowa House of Representatives District 43

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 43

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 43

2020

General election

General election for Iowa House of Representatives District 38

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 38

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Iowa House of Representatives District 38

2018

General election

General election for Iowa State Senate District 19

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Iowa State Senate District 19

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Iowa State Senate District 19

2016

2014

2012

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

2022

2020

Campaign finance summary

See also

External links

Footnotes

Information about voting

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2024 Election analysis

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