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Iowa's 1st Congressional District election, 2024 (June 4 Republican primary)

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Iowa's 1st Congressional District
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Democratic primary
Republican primary
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: March 15, 2024
Primary: June 4, 2024
General: November 5, 2024
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Voting in Iowa
Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Toss-up
DDHQ and The Hill: Likely Republican
Inside Elections: Tilt Democratic
Sabato's Crystal Ball: Lean Democratic
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds
U.S. House battlegrounds
Federal and state primary competitiveness
Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2024
See also
Iowa's 1st Congressional District
1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th
Iowa elections, 2024
U.S. Congress elections, 2024
U.S. Senate elections, 2024
U.S. House elections, 2024

A Republican Party primary took place on June 4, 2024, in Iowa's 1st Congressional District to determine which Republican candidate would run in the district's general election on November 5, 2024.

Incumbent Mariannette Miller-Meeks advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Iowa District 1.

All 435 seats were up for election. At the time of the election, Republicans had a 220 to 212 majority with three vacancies.[1] As of June 2024, 45 members of the U.S. House had announced they were not running for re-election. To read more about the U.S. House elections taking place this year, click here.

In the 2022 election in this district, the Republican candidate won 53.4%-46.6%. Daily Kos calculated what the results of the 2020 presidential election in this district would have been following redistricting. Donald Trump (R) would have defeated Joe Biden (D) 50.5%-47.6%.[2]

Candidate filing deadline Primary election General election
March 15, 2024
June 4, 2024
November 5, 2024


A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. In Iowa, state law provides for a closed primary where every voter must be affiliated with a party in order to participate in its primary. However, a voter can change his or her political party affiliation on Election Day, creating what is effectively an open primary.[3]

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

This page focuses on Iowa's 1st Congressional District Republican primary. For more in-depth information on the district's Democratic primary and the general election, see the following pages:

Candidates and election results

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Iowa District 1

Incumbent Mariannette Miller-Meeks defeated David Pautsch in the Republican primary for U.S. House Iowa District 1 on June 4, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Mariannette Miller-Meeks
Mariannette Miller-Meeks
 
55.9
 
16,529
Image of David Pautsch
David Pautsch Candidate Connection
 
43.9
 
12,981
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.2
 
60

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 29,570
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Candidate profiles

This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.

David Pautsch

Image of David Pautsch

WebsiteFacebookTwitter

Party: Republican Party

Incumbent: No

Political Office: None

Submitted Biography:  "I'm a long-term Iowan, having spent 3/4 of my life in Iowa. My father was an evangelical pastor for 49 years and my mother was born in Norway, arriving here in the US when she was just a year old. I am one of 7 children. I am the second oldest. I spent four years in the Army, mostly in Virginia, and another 4 years at Virginia Tech, from where I graduated in 1980 with a degree in Marketing/Communications. I've also lived in Illinois, Wisconsin, Texas, California, Colorado, and Arizona. I purchased a Davenport, Iowa advertising agency, started in 1923, and have worked extensively with ag-oriented companies, helping them market their products and services. Since 1995, when I started The Quad Cities Prayer Breakfast, I have been involved with city-wide ministry, trying to be a blessing to city leaders and families. The basic goal for all of is to come into a closer relationship with the LORD Jesus Christ. These events have results in may large crowds of 1000 to 2500, and sometimes much larger in the local arena. I have seriously been considering involving myself in governmental life and politics since the fall of 2021 when some Christians leaders shared some insights about my life and the gifts and opportunities before me. Finally, in November of 2023, I took the plunge and entered the race for the 1st District Congressional seat in Iowa. It has been one of the greatest joys of my life."

Key Messages

To read this candidate's full survey responses, click here.

Strengthening families. Everything begins with the family. It's the bedrock of society. So I want to ensure the preeminence of parental rights, free of government intrusion forcing woke sexual agendas on students, in combination with transgender predation. FAMILIES: Raising children is expensive and dramatic reductions in inflation are critical. Government should allow the free market system to provide the lowest cost private health care possible. Incentivize the presence of the father and mother in the home. Enhance practical education opportunities. And protect our children from bullies at school by empowering school discipline and accountability.

BORDER TERRORIST INVASION: Biden has intentionally created the invasion at the border and nothing short of removing him and his corrupt administration will solve this horrific national security crisis. With a courageous Congress and Trump as our brave President, the border can easily be sealed, terrorist cells can be immediately identified and neutralized, sex trafficking and drug cartels can be destroyed, and compassionate deportation of illegal invaders can begin. All immigration should be frozen (except in special compassionate cases) until the deportation is complete.

PROTECTING LIFE FROM THE WOMB TO THE TOMB: Common sense tells us that protecting life is everyone's job, on both a State and Federal level. The task would be easier if the Federal government established a National Adoption Care Network (NACN) where non-governmental organizations were funded to identify pregnant mothers and provide non-judgmental aid for these mothers who may be in a financial and emotional bind, unable to keep and care for their unborn child. Instead of 900,000 children being aborted each, NACN could match these UNWANTED babies with the 2 million couples WANTING to adopt them. Currently only 115,000 children are adopted each year.

This information was current as of the candidate's run for U.S. House Iowa District 1 in 2024.

Voting information

See also: Voting in Iowa

Election information in Iowa: June 4, 2024, election.

What was the voter registration deadline?

  • In-person: May 20, 2024
  • By mail: Received by May 20, 2024
  • Online: May 20, 2024

Was absentee/mail-in voting available to all voters?

N/A

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot request deadline?

  • In-person: May 20, 2024
  • By mail: Received by May 20, 2024
  • Online: N/A

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot return deadline?

  • In-person: June 4, 2024
  • By mail: Received by June 4, 2024

Was early voting available to all voters?

N/A

What were the early voting start and end dates?

May 15, 2024 to June 3, 2024

Were all voters required to present ID at the polls? If so, was a photo or non-photo ID required?

N/A

When were polls open on Election Day?

7:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. (CST)


Campaign finance

Name Party Receipts* Disbursements** Cash on hand Date
Mariannette Miller-Meeks Republican Party $5,575,999 $5,591,187 $313,151 As of December 31, 2024
David Pautsch Republican Party $43,081 $38,382 $5,698 As of December 31, 2024

Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2024. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee."
** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election.

District analysis

Click the tabs below to view information about voter composition, past elections, and demographics in both the district and the state.

  • District map - A map of the district in place for the election.
  • Competitiveness - Information about the competitiveness of 2024 U.S. House elections in the state.
  • Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the district and the state.
  • State party control - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.


Below was the map in use at the time of the election. Click the map below to enlarge it.

2023_01_03_ia_congressional_district_01.jpg
See also: Primary election competitiveness in state and federal government, 2024

This section contains data on U.S. House primary election competitiveness in Iowa.

Iowa U.S. House competitiveness, 2014-2024
Office Districts/
offices 		Seats Open seats Candidates Possible primaries Contested Democratic primaries Contested Republican primaries % of contested primaries Incumbents in contested primaries % of incumbents in contested primaries
2024 4 4 0 11 8 1 2 37.5% 2 50.0%
2022 4 4 0 10 8 0 1 12.5% 0 0.0%
2020 4 4 1 18 8 0 4 50.0% 1 33.3%
2018 4 4 0 16 8 3 1 50.0% 1 25.0%
2016 4 4 0 13 8 2 2 50.0% 2 50.0%
2014 4 4 2 21 8 1 3 50.0% 0 0.0%

Post-filing deadline analysis

The following analysis covers all U.S. House districts up for election in Iowa in 2024. Information below was calculated on April 19, 2024, and may differ from information shown in the table above due to candidate replacements and withdrawals after that time.

Eleven candidates ran for Iowa’s four U.S. House districts, including five Democrats and six Republicans. That’s 2.75 candidates per district, higher than the 2.5 candidates per district in 2022 but lower than the 4.5 candidates per district in 2020.

No seats were open in 2024, meaning all incumbents ran for re-election. One House seat was open in 2020, and two were open in 2014, the only two years this decade in which House seats were open.

Three congressional districts—the 1st, the 3rd, and the 4th—were tied for the most candidates running for a seat in Iowa in 2024. Three candidates ran in each district.

Three primaries—one Democratic and two Republican—were contested in 2024. That’s more than the one primary that was contested in 2022 but less than the four primaries that were contested in 2020.

Two incumbents—Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-1) and Randy Feenstra (R-4)—were in contested primaries, tying with 2016 for the most this decade.

Candidates filed to run in the Republican and Democratic primaries in all districts, meaning no seats were guaranteed to either party.

Partisan Voter Index

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

Heading into the 2024 elections, based on results from the 2020 and 2016 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was R+3. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 3 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made Iowa's 1st the 203rd most Republican district nationally.[4]

2020 presidential election results

The table below shows what the vote in the 2020 presidential election would have been in this district. The presidential election data was compiled by Daily Kos.

2020 presidential results in Iowa's 1st based on 2024 district lines
Joe Biden Democratic Party Donald Trump Republican Party
47.6% 50.5%

Inside Elections Baselines

See also: Inside Elections

Inside Elections' Baseline is a figure that analyzes all federal and statewide election results from the district over the past four election cycles. The results are combined in an index estimating the strength of a typical Democratic or Republican candidate in the congressional district.[5] The table below displays the Baseline data for this district.

Inside Elections Baseline for 2024
Democratic Baseline Democratic Party Republican Baseline Republican Party Difference
47.7 50.1 D+2.5

Presidential voting history

See also: Presidential election in Iowa, 2020

Iowa presidential election results (1900-2020)

  • 11 Democratic wins
  • 20 Republican wins
Year 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020
Winning Party R R R D R R R R D D R R D R R R D R R R R R D D D D R D D R R
See also: Party control of Iowa state government

Congressional delegation

The table below displays the partisan composition of Iowa's congressional delegation as of May 2024.

Congressional Partisan Breakdown from Iowa
Party U.S. Senate U.S. House Total
Democratic 0 0 0
Republican 2 4 6
Independent 0 0 0
Vacancies 0 0 0
Total 2 4 6

State executive

The table below displays the officeholders in Iowa's top four state executive offices as of May 2024.

State executive officials in Iowa, May 2024
Office Officeholder
Governor Republican Party Kim Reynolds
Lieutenant Governor Republican Party Adam Gregg
Secretary of State Republican Party Paul Pate
Attorney General Republican Party Brenna Bird

State legislature

Iowa State Senate

Party As of February 2024
     Democratic Party 16
     Republican Party 34
     Other 0
     Vacancies 0
Total 50

Iowa House of Representatives

Party As of February 2024
     Democratic Party 36
     Republican Party 64
     Other 0
     Vacancies 0
Total 100

Trifecta control

The table below shows the state's trifecta status from 1992 until the 2024 election.

Iowa Party Control: 1992-2024
Four years of Democratic trifectas  •  Ten years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Governor R R R R R R R D D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R
Senate D D D D D R R R R R R R R S S D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R
House D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

Ballot access

The table below details filing requirements for U.S. House candidates in Iowa in the 2024 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Iowa, click here.

Filing requirements for U.S. House candidates, 2024
State Office Party Signatures required Filing fee Filing deadline Source
Iowa U.S. House Ballot-qualified party 1,726, including at least 47 signatures from ½ of the counties in the district N/A 3/15/2024 Source
Iowa U.S. House Unaffiliated 1,726, including at least 47 signatures from ½ of the counties in the district N/A 8/24/2024 Source

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ A majority in the U.S. House when there are no vacancies is 218 seats.
  2. ↑ Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' 2020 presidential results by congressional district, for new and old districts," accessed September 15, 2022
  3. ↑ Iowa Secretary of State Website, "Voter Registration FAQ," accessed July 21, 2025
  4. ↑ Cook Political Report, "The 2022 Cook Partisan Voting Index (Cook PVI℠)," accessed January 10, 2024
  5. ↑ Inside Elections, "Methodology: Inside Elections’ Baseline by Congressional District," December 8, 2023


Iowa's current delegation to the United States Congress
Senators
Joni Ernst (R)
Chuck Grassley (R)
Representatives
District 1
District 2
District 3
Zach Nunn (R)
District 4
Republican Party (6)


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