Iowa's 4th Congressional District

Iowa's 4th Congressional District

Incumbent

Randy Feenstra

Assumed office: January 3, 2021

Iowa's 4th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives is represented by Randy Feenstra (R).

As of the 2020 Census, Iowa representatives represented an average of 798,102 residents. After the 2010 Census, each member represented 763,447 residents.

Elections

• 2030
• 2028
• 2026
• 2024
• 2022
• 2020
• 2018

See also: Iowa's 4th Congressional District election, 2030

There are no official candidates yet for this election.

See also: Iowa's 4th Congressional District election, 2028

There are no official candidates yet for this election.

See also: Iowa's 4th Congressional District election, 2026

Note: At this time, Ballotpedia is combining all declared candidates for this election into one list under a general election heading. As primary election dates are published, this information will be updated to separate general election candidates from primary candidates as appropriate.

General election

The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.

General election for U.S. House Iowa District 4

The following candidates are running in the general election for U.S. House Iowa District 4 on November 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		Randy Feenstra (R)
		Dave Dawson (D)
		Stephanie Steiner (D)
		Ashley WolfTornabane (D)
		Douglas Jensen (R)
	Submit photo	Chris McGowan (R)
		Ryan Rhodes (R)
	Submit photo	Christian Schlaefer (R)
		Matt Windschitl (R)
	Submit photo	Jermaine Decker (Independent)

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Ryan Melton (D)
• Kyle Larsen (R)

See also: Iowa's 4th Congressional District election, 2024

General election

General election for U.S. House Iowa District 4

Incumbent Randy Feenstra (R) defeated Ryan Melton (D) and Charles Aldrich (L) in the general election for U.S. House Iowa District 4 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Randy Feenstra (R)	67.0	250,522
		Ryan Melton (D)	32.7	122,175
		Charles Aldrich (L) (Write-in)	0.0	0
		Other/Write-in votes	0.3%	1,127

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 373,824
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary

Democratic primary for U.S. House Iowa District 4

Ryan Melton (D) advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Iowa District 4 on June 4, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ryan Melton	99.2	6,482
		Other/Write-in votes	0.8%	52

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 6,534
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Jay Brown (D)

Republican primary

Republican primary for U.S. House Iowa District 4

Incumbent Randy Feenstra (R) defeated Kevin Virgil (R) in the Republican primary for U.S. House Iowa District 4 on June 4, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Randy Feenstra	60.1	26,781
		Kevin Virgil	39.6	17,661
		Other/Write-in votes	0.3%	125

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 44,567
= 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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See also: Iowa's 4th Congressional District election, 2022

General election

General election for U.S. House Iowa District 4

Incumbent Randy Feenstra (R) defeated Ryan Melton (D) and Bryan Holder (Liberty Caucus) in the general election for U.S. House Iowa District 4 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Randy Feenstra (R)	67.3	186,467
		Ryan Melton (D)	30.4	84,230
		Bryan Holder (Liberty Caucus)	2.2	6,035
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1%	276

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 277,008
= 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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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Kyle Grossman (L)
• Ryan O'Leary (Independent)

Democratic primary

Democratic primary for U.S. House Iowa District 4

Ryan Melton (D) advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Iowa District 4 on June 7, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ryan Melton	99.7	20,794
		Other/Write-in votes	0.3%	69

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 20,863
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary

Republican primary for U.S. House Iowa District 4

Incumbent Randy Feenstra (R) advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Iowa District 4 on June 7, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Randy Feenstra	98.9	51,271
		Other/Write-in votes	1.1%	596

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 51,867
= 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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See also: Iowa's 4th Congressional District election, 2020

General election

General election for U.S. House Iowa District 4

Randy Feenstra (R) defeated J.D. Scholten (D) in the general election for U.S. House Iowa District 4 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Randy Feenstra (R)	62.0	237,369
		J.D. Scholten (D)	37.8	144,761
		Other/Write-in votes	0.2%	892

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 383,022
= 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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Democratic primary

Democratic primary for U.S. House Iowa District 4

J.D. Scholten (D) advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Iowa District 4 on June 2, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		J.D. Scholten	99.6	46,370
		Other/Write-in votes	0.4%	166

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 46,536
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary

Republican primary for U.S. House Iowa District 4

Randy Feenstra (R) defeated incumbent Steve King (R), Jeremy Taylor (R), Bret Richards (R), and Steve Reeder (R) in the Republican primary for U.S. House Iowa District 4 on June 2, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Randy Feenstra	45.5	37,329
		Steve King	35.8	29,366
		Jeremy Taylor	7.8	6,418
		Bret Richards	7.5	6,140
		Steve Reeder	3.1	2,528
		Other/Write-in votes	0.2%	176

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 81,957
= 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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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Aaron Thomas Krull (R)

See also: United States House of Representatives elections in Iowa, 2018

General election

General election for U.S. House Iowa District 4

Incumbent Steve King (R) defeated J.D. Scholten (D), Charles Aldrich (L), and Edward Peterson (Independent) in the general election for U.S. House Iowa District 4 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Steve King (R)	50.3	157,676
		J.D. Scholten (D)	47.0	147,246
		Charles Aldrich (L)	2.0	6,161
		Edward Peterson (Independent)	0.6	1,962
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1%	206

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 313,251 (100% 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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Democratic primary

Democratic primary for U.S. House Iowa District 4

J.D. Scholten (D) defeated Leann Jacobsen (D) and John Paschen (D) in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Iowa District 4 on June 5, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		J.D. Scholten	51.3	14,733
	Submit photo	Leann Jacobsen	32.0	9,176
		John Paschen	16.7	4,806

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 28,715
= 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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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Paul Dahl (D)

Republican primary

Republican primary for U.S. House Iowa District 4

Incumbent Steve King (R) defeated Cyndi Hanson (R) in the Republican primary for U.S. House Iowa District 4 on June 5, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Steve King	74.8	28,053
		Cyndi Hanson	25.2	9,437

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 37,490
= 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.

Previous election results

2016

See also: Iowa's 4th Congressional District election, 2016

Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated this race as safely Republican. Incumbent Steve King (R) defeated Kim Weaver (D) in the general election on November 8, 2016. King defeated Rick Bertrand in the Republican primary on June 7, 2016, while Weaver ran unopposed in the Democratic primary.

U.S. House, Iowa District 4 General Election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Steve King Incumbent	61.2%	226,719
	Democratic	Kim Weaver	38.6%	142,993
	N/A	Write-in	0.1%	547
Total Votes				370,259
Source: Iowa Secretary of State

U.S. House, Iowa District 4 Republican Primary, 2016

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Steve King Incumbent	64.7%	29,098
Rick Bertrand	35.3%	15,872
Total Votes		44,970
Source: Iowa Secretary of State

2014

See also: Iowa's 4th Congressional District elections, 2014

The 4th Congressional District of Iowa held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 4, 2014. Incumbent Steve King (R) defeated challenger Jim Mowrer (D) in the general election.

U.S. House, Iowa District 4 General Election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Steve King Incumbent	61.6%	169,834
	Democratic	Jim Mowrer	38.3%	105,504
	Write-in	Other	0.1%	295
Total Votes				275,633
Source: Iowa Secretary of State Official Results

General election candidates

• Steve King - Incumbent
• Jim Mowrer

June 3, 2014, primary results

Republican Primary

• Steve King - Incumbenta

Democratic Primary

• Jim Mowrera

Failed to file

• Linda Upmeyer: State Representative

2012

See also: Iowa's 4th Congressional District elections, 2012

The 4th congressional district of Iowa held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012. Incumbent from the 5th District, Steve King won the election in the district.

U.S. House, Iowa District 4 General Election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Steve King Incumbent	53%	200,063
	Democratic	Christie Vilsack	44.9%	169,470
	Independent	Martin James Monroe	2.2%	8,124
Total Votes				377,657
Source: Iowa Secretary of State "Official Election Results, 2012 General Election"

2010
On November 2, 2010, Tom Latham won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Bill Maske (D) and Dan Lensing (I) in the general election.

U.S. House, Iowa District 4 General Election, 2010
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Tom Latham incumbent	65.6%	152,588
	Democratic	Bill Maske	32%	74,300
	Independent	Dan Lensing	2.4%	5,499
	N/A	Write-In	0.1%	132
Total Votes				232,519

2008
On November 4, 2008, Tom Latham won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Becky Greenwald (D) in the general election.

U.S. House, Iowa District 4 General Election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Tom Latham incumbent	60.6%	185,458
	Democratic	Becky Greenwald	39.4%	120,746
Total Votes				306,204

2006
On November 7, 2006, Tom Latham won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Selden E. Spencer (D) in the general election.

U.S. House, Iowa District 4 General Election, 2006
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Tom Latham incumbent	57.2%	121,650
	Democratic	Selden E. Spencer	42.8%	90,982
Total Votes				212,632

2004
On November 2, 2004, Tom Latham won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Paul W. Johnson (D) in the general election.

U.S. House, Iowa District 4 General Election, 2004
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Tom Latham incumbent	60.9%	181,294
	Democratic	Paul W. Johnson	39%	116,121
	N/A	Write-in	0.1%	151
Total Votes				297,566

2002
On November 5, 2002, Tom Latham won re-election to the United States House. He defeated John Norris (D), Terry L. Wilson (L) and Jim Hennager (One Earth Party) in the general election.

U.S. House, Iowa District 4 General Election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Tom Latham incumbent	54.8%	115,430
	Democratic	John Norris	43.1%	90,784
	Libertarian	Terry L. Wilson	1.4%	2,952
	One Earth Party	Jim Hennager	0.7%	1,544
	N/A	Write-in	0%	64
Total Votes				210,774

2000
On November 7, 2000, Greg Ganske won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Michael L. Huston (D), Steve Zimmerman (L) and Edwin B. Fruit (Socialist Workers) in the general election.

U.S. House, Iowa District 4 General Election, 2000
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Greg Ganske incumbent	61.4%	169,267
	Democratic	Michael L. Huston	36.7%	101,112
	Libertarian	Steve Zimmerman	1.7%	4,552
	Socialist Workers	Edwin B. Fruit	0.2%	612
	Scattering		0%	102
Total Votes				275,645

District map

Redistricting

2020-2021

See also: Redistricting in Iowa after the 2020 census

On November 4, 2021, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) signed new congressional and state legislative maps into law after the state's Legislative Services Agency had proposed them on October 21, 2021. The Iowa legislature approved the maps on October 28, 2021, by a vote of 48-1 in the state Senate and 93-2 in the state House. The legislature could only vote to approve or reject the maps and could not make any amendments. These maps took effect for Iowa's 2022 congressional and legislative elections.

How does redistricting in Iowa work? The Legislative Services Agency prepares redistricting plans for approval by the Iowa State Legislature. According to All About Redistricting, the Legislative Services Agency (LSA) consists of "civil servants committed to nonpartisanship and otherwise charged with tasks like legal and fiscal analysis of state legislation and state government oversight." The LSA is assisted by a commission, which consists of the following members:

1. one member selected by the majority leader of the Iowa State Senate
2. one member selected by the majority leader of the Iowa House of Representatives
3. one member selected by the minority leader of the Iowa State Senate
4. one member selected by the minority leader of the Iowa House of Representatives
5. one member selected by the first four members

The members of this commission cannot "hold partisan public office or an office in a political party, and none may be a relative or employee of a federal or state legislator (or the legislature as a whole)."

Working with this commission, the LSA drafts congressional and state legislative district lines. The maps are presented as a single bill to the state legislature, which may approve or reject the bill without altering it (the legislature can provide feedback). If the legislature rejects the plan, the LSA must draft a second proposal. If the legislature rejects the second proposal, the LSA must draft a third, and final, set of maps. If the legislature rejects this plan, it may then approve its own maps. Since the implementation of this process in 1980, the state legislature has never chosen not to approve an LSA proposal. Redistricting plans are also subject to gubernatorial veto. In addition, the legislature may repeal or revise the maps at any time, though it has never done so.

State law establishes the following criteria for both congressional and state legislative districts:

1. Districts must be "convenient and contiguous."
2. Districts must "preserve the integrity of political subdivisions like counties and cities."
3. Districts must "to the extent consistent with other requirements, [be] reasonably compact–defined in terms of regular polygons, comparisons of length and width, and overall boundary perimeter."

In addition, state House districts are required to be contained within state Senate districts "where possible, and where not in conflict with the criteria above." It is explicit in state law that district lines cannot be drawn "to favor a political party, incumbent, or other person or group."

2020

2024

2010-2011

This is the 4th Congressional District of Iowa after the 2001 redistricting process.

See also: Redistricting in Iowa after the 2010 census

In 2011, the Iowa State Legislature re-drew the congressional districts based on updated population information from the 2010 census.

District analysis

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

See also: FiveThirtyEight's elasticity scores

2026

Heading into the 2026 elections, based on results from the 2024 and 2020 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district is R+15. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 15 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made Iowa's 4th the 68th most Republican district nationally.

2024

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+16. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 16 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made Iowa's 4th the 79th most Republican district nationally.

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) 62.2%-36.2%.

2022

Heading into the 2022 elections, based on results from the 2020 and 2016 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was R+16. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 16 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made Iowa's 4th the 82nd most Republican district nationally.

Daily Kos calculated what the results of the 2020 presidential election in this district would have been following redistricting. Joe Biden (D) would have received 36.2% of the vote in this district and Donald Trump (R) would have received 62.2%.

2018

Heading into the 2018 elections, based on results from the 2016 and 2012 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was R+11. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 11 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made Iowa's 4th Congressional District the 125th most Republican 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 1.06. This means that for every 1 point the national political mood moved toward a party, the district was expected to move 1.06 points toward that party.

See also

• Redistricting in Iowa
• Iowa's 4th Congressional District election, 2024
• Iowa's 4th Congressional District election, 2022
• Iowa's 4th Congressional District election, 2020
• Iowa's 4th Congressional District election, 2018

External links

• GovTrack District 4

Footnotes

[show]

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)