Iowa State Senate District 41

Iowa State Senate District 41 is represented by Kerry Gruenhagen (R).

As of the 2020 Census, Iowa state senators represented an average of 63,848 residents. After the 2010 Census, each member represented 61,076 residents.

About the chamber

Members of the Iowa State Senate serve four-year terms and are not subject to term limits. Half of the senate is up for re-election every two years. Iowa state senators assume office on the first day of January which is not a Sunday or legal holiday.^[1]^[2]

Qualifications

See also: State legislature candidate requirements by state

The Iowa Constitution states, "Senators shall be chosen for the term of four years, at the same time and place as representatives; they shall be twenty-five years of age, and possess the qualifications of representatives as to residence and citizenship."^[3]

Salaries

See also: Comparison of state legislative salaries

State legislative salaries, 2024^[4]
Salary	Per diem
$25,000/year	$178/day for legislators who live outside of Polk County. $133.50/day for legislators who live within Polk County.

Vacancies

See also: How vacancies are filled in state legislatures

If there is a vacancy in the Iowa General Assembly, the vacant seat must be filled by a special election. The governor of Iowa is required within five days of a vacancy in the General Assembly to call for a special election. If the vacancy happens in session or within 45 days of the session convening, the governor must call for an election as soon as possible with at least an 18-day notice. All other special elections require a 40-day notice as long the election does not happen on the same day as a school election within the district.^[5]

See sources: Iowa Code § 69.14

2016 pivot county

See also: Pivot Counties and Legislative districts intersecting with Pivot Counties

This district was one of 710 state legislative districts that, based on boundaries adopted after the 2010 census, intersected with one or more Pivot Counties. These 206 Pivot Counties voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012.

The 206 Pivot Counties were located in 34 states. Iowa, with 31, had the most such counties. At that time, the partisan makeup of state legislative districts intersecting with Pivot Counties was slightly more Republican than the overall partisan makeup of state legislatures throughout the country.^[6]

District map

Redistricting

2020 redistricting cycle

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.^[7] 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:^[8]

one member selected by the majority leader of the Iowa State Senate
one member selected by the majority leader of the Iowa House of Representatives
one member selected by the minority leader of the Iowa State Senate
one member selected by the minority leader of the Iowa House of Representatives
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)."^[8]

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.^[8]

State law establishes the following criteria for both congressional and state legislative districts:^[8]

Districts must be "convenient and contiguous."
Districts must "preserve the integrity of political subdivisions like counties and cities."
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."^[8]

Iowa State Senate District 41
until January 2, 2023

Click a district to compare boundaries.

Iowa State Senate District 41
starting January 3, 2023

Click a district to compare boundaries.

Elections

2022

See also: Iowa State Senate elections, 2022

General election

General election for Iowa State Senate District 41

Kerry Gruenhagen defeated Deb VanderGaast in the general election for Iowa State Senate District 41 on November 8, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Kerry Gruenhagen (R)	58.1	13,179
	Deb VanderGaast (D)	41.8	9,480
	Other/Write-in votes	0.1	15

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 22,674
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Iowa State Senate District 41

Deb VanderGaast defeated Nikole Tutton in the Democratic primary for Iowa State Senate District 41 on June 7, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Deb VanderGaast	74.1	1,739
	Submit photo	Nikole Tutton	25.8	606
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	2

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,347
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Iowa State Senate District 41

Kerry Gruenhagen defeated Alan Weets in the Republican primary for Iowa State Senate District 41 on June 7, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Kerry Gruenhagen	59.0	2,068
	Submit photo	Alan Weets	41.0	1,437
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	2

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 3,507
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2021

See also: Iowa state legislative special elections, 2021

On January 26, 2021, Mary Stewart (D) and Adrian Dickey (R) faced off in a special election to fill the remaining two years of a four-year term in Iowa State Senate District 41. The seat became vacant after Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R) resigned effective January 2, 2021, in order to be seated provisionally in the U.S. House of Representatives.^[9]^[10]

The Iowa Democratic and Republican Parties nominated Stewart and Dickey at special district conventions. ^[11]^[12] The independent and third-party candidate filing deadline was January 12.^[13] No other candidates filed to run.^[14]

Stewart, a community college administrator, described herself as an "educator, a community activist and a leader."^[15] Dickey, president of a transportation company, said he was a "[f]ather of two, volunteer firefighter, business owner, and lifelong resident of Packwood."^[16]

In 2018, Miller-Meeks defeated Stewart 51.7% to 48.1% for the open seat. In 2014, incumbent Mark Chelgren (R) defeated Steve Siegel (D) by a margin of 1.8 percentage points.

Miller-Meeks was certified as the winner of the general election for Iowa's 2nd Congressional District on November 30, 2020, after a recount showed her defeating Rita Hart (D) by six votes.

The 41st District intersects with two retained pivot counties (counties that voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012 and Donald Trump (R) in 2016 and 2020): Jefferson County and Wapello County.