Iowa's 2nd Congressional District election, 2018

General election

General election for U.S. House Iowa District 2

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Dave Loebsack (D)	54.8	171,446
		Chris Peters (R)	42.6	133,287
		Mark Strauss (L)	2.0	6,181
		Daniel Clark (Independent)	0.6	1,837
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	162

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 312,913 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= 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.
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Elections in Iowa, 2018

• General election: Nov. 6
• Voter registration deadline: Oct. 27
• Early voting: Oct. 8 - Nov. 5
• Absentee voting deadline: Nov. 6

• Online registration: Yes
• Same-day registration: Yes
• Voter ID: ID required
• Poll times: 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.

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On the ballot: U.S. House • Governor • Attorney General • Secretary of State • State executive offices • State Senate • State House • Special state legislative • Appellate courts • Local judges • Democratic primaries • Republican primaries

2020 → ← 2016
Iowa's 2nd Congressional District
Democratic primary Republican primary General election
Election details
Filing deadline: March 16, 2018
Primary: June 5, 2018 General: November 6, 2018 Pre-election incumbent: Dave Loebsack (Democrat)
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Voting in Iowa
Race ratings
Cook Partisan Voter Index (2018): D+1 Cook Political Report: Solid Democratic Inside Elections: Solid Democratic Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Democratic
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds U.S. House battlegrounds Federal and state primary competitiveness Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2018
See also
Iowa's 2nd Congressional District 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th Iowa elections, 2018 U.S. Congress elections, 2018 U.S. Senate elections, 2018 U.S. House elections, 2018 Alabama U.S. House racesAlaska U.S. House racesArizona U.S. House racesArkansas U.S. House racesCalifornia U.S. House racesColorado U.S. House racesConnecticut U.S. House racesDelaware U.S. House racesFlorida U.S. House racesGeorgia U.S. House racesHawaii U.S. House racesIdaho U.S. House racesIllinois U.S. House racesIndiana U.S. House racesIowa U.S. House racesKansas U.S. House racesKentucky U.S. House racesLouisiana U.S. House racesMaine U.S. House racesMaryland U.S. House racesMassachusetts U.S. House racesMichigan U.S. House racesMinnesota U.S. House racesMississippi U.S. House racesMissouri U.S. House racesMontana U.S. House racesNebraska U.S. House racesNevada U.S. House racesNew Hampshire U.S. House racesNew Jersey U.S. House racesNew Mexico U.S. House racesNew York U.S. House racesNorth Carolina U.S. House racesNorth Dakota U.S. House racesOhio U.S. House racesOklahoma U.S. House racesOregon U.S. House racesPennsylvania U.S. House racesRhode Island U.S. House racesSouth Carolina U.S. House racesSouth Dakota U.S. House racesTennessee U.S. House racesTexas U.S. House racesUtah U.S. House racesVermont U.S. House racesVirginia U.S. House racesWashington U.S. House racesWest Virginia U.S. House racesWisconsin U.S. House racesWyoming U.S. House racesSubmit

All U.S. congressional districts, including the 2nd Congressional District of Iowa, held elections in 2018.

Heading into the election the incumbent was Dave Loebsack (D), who was first elected in 2006.

Iowa's 2nd Congressional District covers most of the southeastern part of the state including Iowa City. Appanoose, Cedar, Clarke, Clinton, Davis, Decatur, Des Moines, Henry, Jasper, Jefferson, Johnson, Keokuk, Lee, Louisa, Lucas, Mahaska, Marion, Monroe, Muscatine, Scott, Van Buren, Wapello, Washington, and Wayne counties are included in this district.

Candidates and election results

General election

General election for U.S. House Iowa District 2

Incumbent Dave Loebsack defeated Chris Peters, Mark Strauss, and Daniel Clark in the general election for U.S. House Iowa District 2 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Dave Loebsack (D)	54.8	171,446
		Chris Peters (R)	42.6	133,287
		Mark Strauss (L)	2.0	6,181
		Daniel Clark (Independent)	0.6	1,837
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	162

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 312,913 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= 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.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Iowa District 2

Incumbent Dave Loebsack advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Iowa District 2 on June 5, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Dave Loebsack	100.0	42,378

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 42,378
= 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.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Iowa District 2

Chris Peters defeated Ginny Caligiuri in the Republican primary for U.S. House Iowa District 2 on June 5, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Chris Peters	87.5	18,056
	Submit photo	Ginny Caligiuri (Write-in)	11.6	2,389
		Other/Write-in votes	0.9	181

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 20,626
= 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.

District analysis

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

See also: FiveThirtyEight's elasticity scores

The 2017 Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was D+1, meaning that in the previous two presidential elections, this district's results were 1 percentage point more Democratic than the national average. This made Iowa's 2nd Congressional District the 193rd most Democratic nationally.

FiveThirtyEight's September 2018 elasticity score for states and congressional districts measured "how sensitive it is to changes in the national political environment." This district's elasticity score was 1.17. This means that for every 1 point the national political mood moved toward a party, the district was expected to move 1.17 points toward that party.

Race background

Iowa's 2nd District was listed as one of the NRCC's initial targets in 2018.

Incumbent Dave Loebsack was included as one of the initial members of the DCCC's Frontline Program in 2018.

Campaign finance

The chart below contains data from financial reports submitted to the Federal Election Commission.

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
Dave Loebsack	Democratic Party	$2,062,526	$2,354,380	$668,853	As of December 31, 2018
Chris Peters	Republican Party	$846,951	$853,952	$773	As of December 31, 2018
Mark Strauss	Libertarian Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Daniel Clark	Independent	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2018. 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. *** Candidate either did not report any receipts or disbursements to the FEC, or Ballotpedia did not find an FEC candidate ID.

Democratic district won by Donald Trump

See also: U.S. House districts represented by a Democrat and won by Donald Trump in 2016 and Split-ticket districts in the 2016 presidential and U.S. House elections

This district was one of 13 Democratic-held U.S. House districts that Donald Trump (R) won in the 2016 presidential election. Some were expected to be among the House's most competitive elections in 2018.

2018 election results in Democratic-held U.S. House districts won by Donald Trump in 2016
District	Incumbent	2018 winner	2018 margin	2016 presidential margin	2012 presidential margin
Arizona's 1st	Tom O'Halleran	Tom O'Halleran	D+7.7	Trump+1.1	Romney+2.5
Iowa's 2nd	Dave Loebsack	Dave Loebsack	D+12.2	Trump+4.1	Obama+13.1
Illinois' 17th	Cheri Bustos	Cheri Bustos	D+23.6	Trump+0.7	Obama+17.0
Minnesota's 1st	Tim Walz	Jim Hagedorn	R+0.4	Trump+14.9	Obama+1.4
Minnesota's 7th	Collin Peterson	Collin Peterson	D+4.3	Trump+30.8	Romney+9.8
Minnesota's 8th	Rick Nolan	Pete Stauber	R+5.5	Trump+15.6	Obama+5.5
New Hampshire's 1st	Carol Shea-Porter	Chris Pappas	D+11.7	Trump+1.6	Obama+1.6
New Jersey's 5th	Josh Gottheimer	Josh Gottheimer	D+11.7	Trump+1.1	Romney+3.1
Nevada's 3rd	Jacky Rosen	Susie Lee	D+9.1	Trump+1.0	Obama+0.8
New York's 18th	Sean Patrick Maloney	Sean Patrick Maloney	D+10.2	Trump+1.9	Obama+4.3
Pennsylvania's 8th	Matt Cartwright	Matt Cartwright	D+9.2	Trump+9.6	Obama+11.9
Pennsylvania's 14th	Conor Lamb	Guy Reschenthaler	R+15.9	Trump+29.0	Romney+17.7
Wisconsin's 3rd	Ron Kind	Ron Kind	D+19.4	Trump+4.5	Obama+11.0

Click here to see the 25 Republican-held U.S. House districts that Hillary Clinton (D) won.

Click here to see an overview of all split-ticket districts in the 2016 presidential and U.S. House elections.

District history

2016

See also: Iowa's 2nd Congressional District election, 2016

Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated this race as safely Democratic. Incumbent Dave Loebsack (D) defeated Chris Peters (R) in the general election on November 8, 2016. Neither candidate faced a primary challenger in June.

U.S. House, Iowa District 2 General Election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Dave Loebsack Incumbent	53.7%	198,571
	Republican	Christopher Peters	46.2%	170,933
	N/A	Write-in	0.1%	528
Total Votes				370,032
Source: Iowa Secretary of State

2014

See also: Iowa's 2nd Congressional District elections, 2014

The 2nd Congressional District of Iowa held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 4, 2014. Dave Loebsack (D) defeated Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R) in the general election.

U.S. House, Iowa District 2 General Election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Dave Loebsack Incumbent	52.5%	143,431
	Republican	Mariannette Miller-Meeks	47.4%	129,455
	Write-in	Other	0.2%	443
Total Votes				273,329
Source: Iowa Secretary of State Official Results

Pivot Counties

See also: Pivot Counties by state

Thirty-one of 99 Iowa counties—31 percent—are Pivot Counties. Pivot Counties are counties that voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012 and for Donald Trump (R) in 2016. Altogether, the nation had 206 Pivot Counties, with most being concentrated in upper midwestern and northeastern states.

Counties won by Trump in 2016 and Obama in 2012 and 2008
County	Trump margin of victory in 2016	Obama margin of victory in 2012	Obama margin of victory in 2008
Allamakee County, Iowa	24.15%	4.17%	14.25%
Boone County, Iowa	13.69%	6.64%	7.63%
Bremer County, Iowa	13.68%	2.68%	9.31%
Buchanan County, Iowa	15.02%	13.87%	18.48%
Cedar County, Iowa	17.78%	4.59%	9.64%
Cerro Gordo County, Iowa	7.66%	13.38%	20.83%
Chickasaw County, Iowa	22.94%	11.07%	20.74%
Clarke County, Iowa	28.02%	1.47%	2.25%
Clayton County, Iowa	22.78%	7.03%	17.17%
Clinton County, Iowa	5.12%	22.84%	23.03%
Des Moines County, Iowa	6.89%	18.41%	23.04%
Dubuque County, Iowa	1.23%	14.71%	20.77%
Fayette County, Iowa	19.36%	11.96%	16.60%
Floyd County, Iowa	14.84%	14.63%	21.88%
Howard County, Iowa	20.49%	20.95%	25.78%
Jackson County, Iowa	19.27%	16.89%	24.39%
Jasper County, Iowa	18.13%	7.07%	7.50%
Jefferson County, Iowa	0.47%	15.97%	20.23%
Jones County, Iowa	19.08%	7.78%	10.40%
Lee County, Iowa	16.02%	15.49%	16.01%
Louisa County, Iowa	28.37%	0.64%	4.25%
Marshall County, Iowa	8.31%	9.36%	9.35%
Mitchell County, Iowa	24.04%	3.37%	12.31%
Muscatine County, Iowa	6.26%	15.88%	15.64%
Poweshiek County, Iowa	6.53%	9.35%	11.75%
Tama County, Iowa	20.28%	7.43%	12.19%
Union County, Iowa	27.49%	3.86%	3.70%
Wapello County, Iowa	20.60%	11.88%	13.53%
Webster County, Iowa	21.52%	5.84%	8.51%
Winneshiek County, Iowa	0.79%	14.74%	22.65%
Worth County, Iowa	21.68%	14.53%	22.42%

In the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump (R) won Iowa with 51.1 percent of the vote. Hillary Clinton (D) received 41.7 percent. In presidential elections between 1848 and 2016, Iowa voted Republican 69.76 percent of the time and Democratic 30.23 percent of the time. In the five presidential elections between 2000 and 2016, Iowa voted Democratic three times and Republican the other two times.

Presidential results by legislative district

The following table details results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections by state House districts in Iowa. Click [show] to expand the table. The "Obama," "Romney," "Clinton," and "Trump" columns describe the percent of the vote each presidential candidate received in the district. The "2012 Margin" and "2016 Margin" columns describe the margin of victory between the two presidential candidates in those years. The "Party Control" column notes which party held that seat heading into the 2018 general election. Data on the results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections broken down by state legislative districts was compiled by Daily Kos.

In 2012, Barack Obama (D) won 61 out of 100 state House districts in Iowa with an average margin of victory of 19.1 points. In 2016, Hillary Clinton (D) won 35 out of 100 state House districts in Iowa with an average margin of victory of 18.8 points. Clinton won four districts controlled by Republicans heading into the 2018 elections.

In 2012, Mitt Romney (R) won 39 out of 100 state House districts in Iowa with an average margin of victory of 13.3 points. In 2016, Donald Trump (R) won 65 out of 100 state House districts in Iowa with an average margin of victory of 24.5 points. Trump won 10 districts controlled by Democrats heading into the 2018 elections.

2016 presidential results by state House district
District	Obama	Romney	2012 Margin	Clinton	Trump	2016 Margin	Party Control
1	30.96%	67.78%	R+36.8	22.23%	73.81%	R+51.6	R
2	41.86%	56.83%	R+15	27.53%	67.70%	R+40.2	R
3	31.57%	67.31%	R+35.7	20.73%	74.78%	R+54.1	R
4	15.63%	83.55%	R+67.9	12.95%	81.67%	R+68.7	R
5	33.00%	65.90%	R+32.9	22.28%	73.69%	R+51.4	R
6	44.39%	54.40%	R+10	32.54%	62.36%	R+29.8	R
7	46.87%	51.82%	R+5	31.96%	62.86%	R+30.9	R
8	43.04%	55.84%	R+12.8	28.52%	67.11%	R+38.6	R
9	54.26%	44.65%	D+9.6	39.33%	55.29%	R+16	D
10	40.15%	58.39%	R+18.2	25.64%	69.78%	R+44.1	R
11	42.76%	56.17%	R+13.4	30.87%	64.40%	R+33.5	R
12	46.14%	52.95%	R+6.8	30.92%	64.32%	R+33.4	R
13	54.28%	44.37%	D+9.9	42.30%	52.03%	R+9.7	D
14	59.33%	39.34%	D+20	47.69%	47.27%	D+0.4	D
15	57.12%	41.17%	D+16	41.89%	51.48%	R+9.6	D
16	52.01%	46.46%	D+5.5	41.84%	51.76%	R+9.9	R
17	41.10%	57.71%	R+16.6	25.76%	70.01%	R+44.3	R
18	41.98%	56.88%	R+14.9	28.11%	67.52%	R+39.4	R
19	40.80%	57.87%	R+17.1	36.54%	56.73%	R+20.2	R
20	48.77%	49.62%	R+0.9	35.39%	59.04%	R+23.6	R
21	45.01%	53.64%	R+8.6	29.35%	65.17%	R+35.8	R
22	36.78%	62.08%	R+25.3	29.64%	65.50%	R+35.9	R
23	40.72%	57.80%	R+17.1	27.37%	66.81%	R+39.4	R
24	39.86%	58.79%	R+18.9	25.77%	69.86%	R+44.1	R
25	44.34%	54.14%	R+9.8	34.15%	59.72%	R+25.6	R
26	50.18%	48.59%	D+1.6	39.62%	53.52%	R+13.9	D
27	47.15%	51.07%	R+3.9	30.50%	64.42%	R+33.9	R
28	47.30%	51.30%	R+4	31.76%	62.81%	R+31.1	R
29	56.05%	42.50%	D+13.6	40.78%	53.23%	R+12.5	D
30	47.66%	50.85%	R+3.2	38.47%	54.84%	R+16.4	R
31	61.55%	36.86%	D+24.7	49.75%	43.99%	D+5.8	D
32	72.88%	25.37%	D+47.5	63.69%	30.28%	D+33.4	D
33	67.30%	31.37%	D+35.9	59.50%	34.55%	D+25	D
34	68.16%	30.10%	D+38.1	60.44%	33.19%	D+27.2	D
35	77.01%	21.48%	D+55.5	70.40%	23.46%	D+46.9	D
36	65.21%	33.12%	D+32.1	63.13%	29.46%	D+33.7	D
37	43.30%	55.35%	R+12	42.10%	50.50%	R+8.4	R
38	49.33%	49.21%	D+0.1	42.85%	49.84%	R+7	R
39	43.02%	55.76%	R+12.7	43.93%	48.99%	R+5.1	R
40	49.31%	49.53%	R+0.2	50.25%	43.32%	D+6.9	D
41	67.93%	30.50%	D+37.4	69.25%	24.10%	D+45.2	D
42	49.85%	48.83%	D+1	51.15%	42.19%	D+9	R
43	50.58%	48.29%	D+2.3	52.50%	41.03%	D+11.5	R
44	42.52%	56.60%	R+14.1	44.97%	47.76%	R+2.8	R
45	60.66%	36.80%	D+23.9	57.79%	31.85%	D+25.9	D
46	59.66%	37.96%	D+21.7	57.22%	33.12%	D+24.1	D
47	52.11%	46.29%	D+5.8	38.31%	54.96%	R+16.6	R
48	47.95%	50.46%	R+2.5	36.50%	56.98%	R+20.5	R
49	46.50%	51.88%	R+5.4	36.62%	55.49%	R+18.9	R
50	42.94%	55.95%	R+13	30.36%	64.36%	R+34	R
51	55.19%	43.48%	D+11.7	35.67%	58.91%	R+23.2	R
52	56.04%	42.88%	D+13.2	37.76%	56.73%	R+19	D
53	60.98%	37.92%	D+23.1	47.69%	46.65%	D+1	D
54	44.96%	53.94%	R+9	32.11%	62.71%	R+30.6	R
55	55.19%	43.44%	D+11.8	43.51%	50.62%	R+7.1	R
56	52.01%	46.73%	D+5.3	34.91%	59.80%	R+24.9	R
57	49.00%	49.98%	R+1	37.25%	57.49%	R+20.2	R
58	55.60%	43.22%	D+12.4	37.06%	57.82%	R+20.8	R
59	56.29%	42.22%	D+14.1	51.94%	40.87%	D+11.1	D
60	50.15%	48.91%	D+1.2	45.19%	48.75%	R+3.6	R
61	63.73%	35.14%	D+28.6	52.34%	42.07%	D+10.3	D
62	76.37%	22.58%	D+53.8	62.14%	32.64%	D+29.5	D
63	49.95%	48.93%	D+1	39.04%	55.06%	R+16	R
64	57.83%	41.00%	D+16.8	40.27%	53.42%	R+13.1	D
65	66.77%	31.71%	D+35.1	61.58%	31.29%	D+30.3	D
66	57.43%	41.04%	D+16.4	53.11%	39.91%	D+13.2	D
67	49.18%	49.50%	R+0.3	47.22%	45.74%	D+1.5	R
68	54.45%	44.08%	D+10.4	48.20%	44.50%	D+3.7	R
69	65.87%	32.63%	D+33.2	52.73%	40.24%	D+12.5	D
70	63.00%	35.67%	D+27.3	53.85%	39.20%	D+14.7	D
71	56.62%	42.23%	D+14.4	48.02%	46.57%	D+1.5	D
72	50.86%	47.88%	D+3	34.92%	59.56%	R+24.6	R
73	54.19%	44.65%	D+9.5	43.25%	51.15%	R+7.9	R
74	67.17%	31.21%	D+36	69.14%	24.89%	D+44.3	D
75	49.36%	49.39%	R+0	34.09%	60.12%	R+26	R
76	50.61%	47.97%	D+2.6	40.64%	53.90%	R+13.3	R
77	58.46%	40.34%	D+18.1	53.49%	39.62%	D+13.9	D
78	46.21%	51.69%	R+5.5	34.06%	60.08%	R+26	R
79	35.86%	62.79%	R+26.9	25.96%	67.84%	R+41.9	R
80	45.03%	53.56%	R+8.5	27.04%	68.71%	R+41.7	R
81	56.57%	41.86%	D+14.7	39.52%	55.89%	R+16.4	D
82	49.74%	47.90%	D+1.8	36.54%	57.76%	R+21.2	D
83	58.67%	39.72%	D+19	40.42%	53.35%	R+12.9	D
84	46.37%	52.04%	R+5.7	30.59%	63.23%	R+32.6	R
85	71.79%	26.07%	D+45.7	74.26%	19.90%	D+54.4	D
86	72.99%	24.97%	D+48	72.34%	21.06%	D+51.3	D
87	62.60%	36.08%	D+26.5	48.53%	45.49%	D+3	D
88	50.88%	47.86%	D+3	35.94%	58.76%	R+22.8	R
89	63.19%	35.77%	D+27.4	52.47%	40.86%	D+11.6	D
90	73.49%	24.97%	D+48.5	57.98%	34.93%	D+23.1	D
91	57.61%	40.97%	D+16.6	43.65%	49.75%	R+6.1	R
92	53.94%	45.00%	D+8.9	42.25%	51.61%	R+9.4	R
93	56.63%	42.22%	D+14.4	50.96%	42.21%	D+8.7	D
94	45.18%	53.87%	R+8.7	43.91%	50.10%	R+6.2	R
95	52.01%	46.69%	D+5.3	41.86%	51.59%	R+9.7	R
96	51.83%	47.01%	D+4.8	35.42%	58.91%	R+23.5	R
97	50.63%	47.95%	D+2.7	37.14%	56.46%	R+19.3	R
98	65.29%	33.50%	D+31.8	48.47%	45.38%	D+3.1	D
99	59.37%	39.28%	D+20.1	52.61%	41.12%	D+11.5	D
100	62.95%	35.58%	D+27.4	51.37%	42.25%	D+9.1	D
Total	52.23%	46.40%	D+5.8	42.23%	51.72%	R+9.5	-
Source: Daily Kos

State overview

Partisan control

This section details the partisan control of federal and state positions in Iowa heading into the 2018 elections.

Congressional delegation

• Following the 2016 elections, Republicans held both U.S. Senate seats in Iowa.
• Republicans held three U.S. House seats in Iowa and a Democrat held the fourth.

State executives

• As of September 2018, Republicans held five of 12 state executive positions, Democrats held two, and the remaining positions were officially nonpartisan.
• The governor of Iowa was Republican Kim Reynolds. The state held elections for governor and lieutenant governor on November 6, 2018.

State legislature

• Republicans controlled both chambers of the Iowa General Assembly. They had a 58-41 majority in the state House and a 29-20 majority in the state Senate.

Trifecta status

• Iowa had a Republican trifecta, meaning that the Republican Party controlled both chambers of the state legislature and the governorship. Kim Reynolds (R) served as governor; she succeeded Terry E. Branstad, who resigned on May 24, 2017, to take the position of U.S. Ambassador to China.

2018 elections

See also: Iowa elections, 2018

Iowa held elections for the following positions in 2018:

• 4 U.S. House seats
• Governor and lieutenant governor
• 5 lower state executive positions
• 25 of 50 state Senate seats
• 100 state House seats
• 2 state legislative seats in special elections

Demographics

Demographic data for Iowa
	Iowa	U.S.
Total population:	3,121,997	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	55,857	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	91.2%	73.6%
Black/African American:	3.2%	12.6%
Asian:	2%	5.1%
Native American:	0.3%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more:	2%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	5.4%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	91.5%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	26.7%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$53,183	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	13.8%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Iowa. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

As of July 2016, Iowa's three largest cities were Des Moines (pop. est. 220,000), Cedar Rapids (pop. est. 130,000), and Davenport (pop. est. 100,000).

State election history

This section provides an overview of federal and state elections in Iowa from 2000 to 2016. All data comes from the Iowa Secretary of State website.

Historical elections

Presidential elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of the presidential election in Iowa every year from 2000 to 2016.

Election results (President of the United States), Iowa 2000-2016
Year	First-place candidate	First-place candidate votes (%)	Second-place candidate	Second-place candidate votes (%)	Margin of victory (%)
2016	Donald Trump	50.7%	Hillary Clinton	41.3%	9.4%
2012	Barack Obama	51.7%	Mitt Romney	46.0%	5.7%
2008	Barack Obama	53.7%	John McCain	44.2%	9.5%
2004	George W. Bush	49.9%	John Kerry	49.2%	0.7%
2000	Al Gore	48.5%	George W. Bush	48.2%	0.3%

U.S. Senate elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of U.S. Senate races in Iowa from 2000 to 2016. Every state has two Senate seats, and each seat goes up for election every six years. The terms of the seats are staggered so that roughly one-third of the seats are up every two years.

Election results (U.S. Senator), Iowa 2000-2016
Year	First-place candidate	First-place candidate votes (%)	Second-place candidate	Second-place candidate votes (%)	Margin of victory (%)
2016	Chuck Grassley	60.1%	Patty Judge	35.7%	24.4%
2014	Joni Ernst	51.5%	Bruce Braley	43.3%	8.2%
2010	Chuck Grassley	63.4%	Roxanne Conlin	32.8%	30.6%
2008	Tom Harkin	61.4%	Christopher Reed	36.5%	24.9%
2004	Chuck Grassley	70.2%	Arthur Small	27.9%	42.3%
2002	Tom Harkin	54.2%	Greg Ganske	43.8%	10.4%

Gubernatorial elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of the four gubernatorial elections held between 2000 and 2016. Gubernatorial elections are held every four years in Iowa.

Election results (Governor), Iowa 2000-2016
Year	First-place candidate	First-place candidate votes (%)	Second-place candidate	Second-place candidate votes (%)	Margin of victory (%)
2014	Terry Branstad	58.4%	Jack Hatch	36.9%	21.5%
2010	Terry Branstad	52.3%	Chet Culver	42.8%	9.5%
2006	Chet Culver	53.7%	Jim Nussle	44.1%	9.6%
2002	Tom Vilsack	52.7%	Doug Gross	44.5%	8.2%

Congressional delegation, 2000-2016

This chart shows the number of Democrats and Republicans who were elected to represent Iowa in the U.S. House from 2000 to 2016. Elections for U.S. House seats are held every two years.

Congressional delegation, Iowa 2000-2016
Year	Republicans	Republicans (%)	Democrats	Democrats (%)	Balance of power
2016	3	75.0%	1	25.0%	R+2
2014	3	75.0%	1	25.0%	R+2
2012	2	50.0%	2	50.0%	Split
2010	2	40.0%	3	60.0%	D+1
2008	2	40.0%	3	60.0%	D+1
2006	2	40.0%	3	60.0%	D+1
2004	4	80.0%	1	20.0%	R+3
2002	4	80.0%	1	20.0%	R+3
2000	4	80.0%	1	20.0%	R+3

Trifectas, 1992-2017

A state government trifecta occurs when one party controls both chambers of the state legislature and the governor's office.

Iowa Party Control: 1992-2025
Four years of Democratic trifectas  •  Eleven 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	25
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	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	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	R

See also

• Iowa's 2nd Congressional District election (June 5, 2018 Democratic primary)
• Iowa's 2nd Congressional District election (June 5, 2018 Republican primary)
• United States House of Representatives elections in Iowa, 2018
• United States House of Representatives elections, 2018

Footnotes

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Iowa's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Joni Ernst (R)

Chuck Grassley (R)

Representatives

District 1

Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R)

District 2

Ashley Hinson (R)

District 3

Zach Nunn (R)

District 4

Randy Feenstra (R)

Republican Party (6)