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Iowa's 4th Congressional District election, 2020 (June 2 Democratic primary)

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Iowa's 4th Congressional District
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Democratic primary
Republican primary
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: March 13, 2020
Primary: June 2, 2020
General: November 3, 2020
Pre-election incumbent:
Steve King (Republican)
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Voting in Iowa
Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Solid Republican
Inside Elections: Solid Republican
Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Republican
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds
U.S. House battlegrounds
Federal and state primary competitiveness
Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2020
See also
Iowa's 4th Congressional District
U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th
Iowa elections, 2020
U.S. Congress elections, 2020
U.S. Senate elections, 2020
U.S. House elections, 2020

A Democratic Party primary took place on June 2, 2020, in Iowa's 4th Congressional District to determine which Democratic candidate would run in the district's general election on November 3, 2020.

J.D. Scholten advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Iowa District 4.

Candidate filing deadline Primary election General election
March 13, 2020
June 2, 2020
November 3, 2020


Heading into the election, the incumbent was Steve King (Republican), who was first elected in 2002.

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.[1]

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

This page focuses on Iowa's 4th Congressional District Democratic primary. For more in-depth information on the district's Republican primary and the general election, see the following pages:

Election procedure changes in 2020

See also: Changes to election dates, procedures, and administration in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020

Ballotpedia provided comprehensive coverage of how election dates and procedures changed in 2020. While the majority of changes occurred as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, some changes occurred for other reasons.

Iowa modified its primary election process as follows:

  • Voting procedures: Absentee ballot application forms sent to all registered voters in the primary election. The absentee voting period was extended to open on April 23.

For a full timeline about election modifications made in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, click here.


Candidates and election results

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Iowa District 4

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of J.D. Scholten
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 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.

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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 R+11, meaning that in the previous 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.[2]

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.[3]

Campaign finance

This section contains campaign finance figures from the Federal Election Commission covering all candidate fundraising and spending in this election.[4] It does not include information on fundraising before the current campaign cycle or on spending by satellite groups. The numbers in this section are updated as candidates file new campaign finance reports. Candidates for Congress are required to file financial reports on a quarterly basis, as well as two weeks before any primary, runoff, or general election in which they will be on the ballot and upon the termination of any campaign committees.[5] The chart below contains data from financial reports submitted to the Federal Election Commission.

Name Party Receipts* Disbursements** Cash on hand Date
J.D. Scholten Democratic Party $2,913,539 $2,929,626 $53,112 As of December 31, 2020

Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2020. 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.


General election race ratings

See also: Race rating definitions and methods

Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:

  • Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
  • Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
  • Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.[6]
  • Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.

Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.[7][8][9]

Race ratings: Iowa's 4th Congressional District election, 2020
Race trackerRace ratings
November 3, 2020October 27, 2020October 20, 2020October 13, 2020
The Cook Political ReportSolid RepublicanSolid RepublicanSolid RepublicanSolid Republican
Inside Elections with Nathan L. GonzalesSolid RepublicanSolid RepublicanSolid RepublicanSolid Republican
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal BallSafe RepublicanSafe RepublicanSafe RepublicanSafe Republican
Note: Ballotpedia updates external race ratings every week throughout the election season.

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Iowa Secretary of State Website, "Voter Registration FAQ," accessed July 21, 2025
  2. ↑ Cook Political Report, "Introducing the 2017 Cook Political Report Partisan Voter Index," April 7, 2017
  3. ↑ FiveThirtyEight, "Election Update: The Most (And Least) Elastic States And Districts," September 6, 2018
  4. ↑ Fundraising by primary candidates can be found on the race's respective primary election page. Fundraising by general election candidates can be found on the race's general election page.
  5. ↑ Federal Election Commission, "2022 Quarterly Reports," accessed March 2, 2022
  6. ↑ Inside Elections also uses Tilt ratings to indicate an even smaller advantage and greater competitiveness.
  7. ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Nathan Gonzalez," April 19, 2018
  8. ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Kyle Kondik," April 19, 2018
  9. ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Charlie Cook," April 22, 2018


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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