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Iowa election preview, 2024
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Last updated: Oct. 4, 2024
Thousands of general elections are taking place across the United States on Nov. 5, 2024. Those elections include offices at the federal, state, and local levels. This is one of 50 pages in which Ballotpedia previews the elections happening in each state as part of the Daily Brew’s 50 states in 25 days series.
This page provides an overview of all elections happening in Iowa within our coverage scope on Nov. 5, 2024. Those elections include offices for four U.S. Representatives, 25 state Senators, 100 state representatives, one state supreme court justice, and four intermediate appellate court judges. Additionally, there are two statewide ballot measures on the ballot in Iowa. On this page, you will also find information regarding:
- How to vote in Iowa
- The elected offices that Iowa voters can expect to see on their ballots
- The races in Iowa that Ballotpedia is covering as battlegrounds
- The ballot measures that voters in Iowa will decide on
- Ballotpedia's Sample Ballot Lookup Tool
- The partisan balance of Iowa's congressional delegation and state government
- Past presidential election results in Iowa
- The competitiveness of legislative elections in Iowa
- The candidates who are on the ballot in Iowa
Voting information
- See also: Voting in Iowa
What's on the ballot?
2024 elections
- See also: Iowa elections, 2024
Iowa voters will elect four U.S. Representatives. All four incumbents are running for re-election.
There are no state executive offices up for election.
All 100 seats in the state House and 25 seats in the state Senate are up for election. There are 13 open seats in the state House and four in the state Senate.
One seat on the Iowa Supreme Court and four seats on the Iowa Intermediate Appellate Court are up for retention elections.
Below is a list of Iowa elections covered by Ballotpedia in 2024. Click the links to learn more about each type:
| Iowa elections, 2024 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Office | Elections? | More information |
| U.S. Senate | — | — |
| U.S. House | ✓ | Click here |
| Congress special election | — | — |
| Governor | — | — |
| Other state executive | — | — |
| State Senate | ✓ | Click here |
| State House | ✓ | Click here |
| Special state legislative | — | — |
| State Supreme Court | ✓ | Click here |
| Intermediate appellate courts | ✓ | Click here |
| School boards | — | — |
| Municipal government | ✓ | Click here |
| Recalls | — | — |
| Ballot measures | ✓ | Click here |
| Local ballot measures | — | — |
Legend: ✓ election(s) / — no elections
Subject to Ballotpedia's scope
Your ballot
- See also: Sample Ballot Lookup
Noteworthy elections
As of Oct. 4, 2024, Ballotpedia has identified one election as a battleground race. Those are the races that we expect to have a meaningful effect on the balance of power in governments or to be particularly competitive or compelling.
- Iowa's 3rd Congressional District election, 2024: Incumbent Zach Nunn (R) and Lanon Baccam (D) are running. In 2022, Nunn’s margin of victory was 0.7 percentage points. As of Oct. 4, 2024, four major election forecasters differed in their ratings for the general election, with one rating it Toss-up, one rating it Likely Republican, and two rating it Lean Republican.
Ballot measures
- See also: Iowa 2024 ballot measures
Voters will decide on two statewide ballot measures in Iowa.
| Type | Title | Description | Result | Yes Votes | No Votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amendment 1 | Prohibit the state and local governments from allowing noncitizens to vote and allow 17-year-olds who will be 18 by the general election to vote in primaries |
|
1,150,332 (77%) |
341,034 (23%) |
|
| Amendment 2 | Provides that if the governor dies, resigns, or is removed from office, the lieutenant governor would assume the office of governor for the remainder of the term, thereby creating a vacancy in the office of lieutenant governor |
|
1,190,003 (81%) |
278,282 (19%) |
Five ballot measures were on the ballot in Iowa from 2000 to 2020. Voters approved two measures and defeated three.
State analysis
Partisan balance
Republicans represent all four districts each in Iowa's U.S. House delegation. In the U.S. House, Republicans have a 220-212 majority with three vacancies.
Both of Iowa's U.S. Senators—Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst—are Republicans. Democrats have a majority in the U.S. Senate. There are 47 Democrats, 49 Republicans, and four independents. Three independents caucus with the Democratic Party, and one other counts towards the Democratic majority for committee purposes.
Republicans have a 64-36 majority in the state House and a 33-16 majority with one vacancy in the state Senate. Republicans have had a majority in state House since 2011 and in the state Senate since 2017.
Because the governor is a Republican, Iowa is one of 23 states with a Republican trifecta. It has held this status since 2017, when the Republican majority assumed office in the state Senate.
Iowa's attorney general and secretary of state are also Republicans. This makes Iowa one of 25 states with a Republican triplex. It has held this status since 2022.
Past presidential election results in Iowa
- See also: Presidential election in Iowa, 2024
How a state's counties vote in a presidential election and the size of those counties can provide additional insights into election outcomes at other levels of government including statewide and congressional races. Below, four categories are used to describe each county's voting pattern over the 2012, 2016, and 2020 presidential elections: Solid, Trending, Battleground, and New. Click [show] on the table below for examples:
| County-level voting pattern categories | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | |||||||
| Status | 2012 | 2016 | 2020 | ||||
| Solid Democratic | D | D | D | ||||
| Trending Democratic | R | D | D | ||||
| Battleground Democratic | D | R | D | ||||
| New Democratic | R | R | D | ||||
| Republican | |||||||
| Status | 2012 | 2016 | 2020 | ||||
| Solid Republican | R | R | R | ||||
| Trending Republican | D | R | R | ||||
| Battleground Republican | R | D | R | ||||
| New Republican | D | D | R | ||||
Following the 2020 presidential election, 40.1% of Iowans lived in one of the state's six Solid Democratic counties, which voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in every election from 2012 to 2020, and 31.6% lived in one of 61 Solid Republican counties. Overall, Iowa was Trending Republican, having voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2012, Donald Trump (R) in 2016, and Donald Trump (R) in 2020. Use the table below to view the total number of each type of county in Iowa following the 2020 election as well as the overall percentage of the state population located in each county type.
| Iowa county-level statistics, 2020 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solid Democratic | 6 | 40.1% | |||||
| Solid Republican | 61 | 31.6% | |||||
| Trending Republican | 32 | 28.3% | |||||
| Total voted Democratic | 6 | 40.1% | |||||
| Total voted Republican | 93 | 59.9% | |||||
State legislative competitiveness
Iowa had a Competitiveness Index of 23.7, ranking it 39th of the 44 states that held elections.
- 16 of the 125 seats up for election were open (13%).
- Seven of the 109 incumbents who ran for re-election faced contested primaries (6%).
- 65 of the 125 seats up for election were contested by both major parties (52%).
2010-2024
Hover over column headings to learn more about their contents.
| State Legislative Competitiveness Index in Iowa, 2010-2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Open seats | Incs. in contested primaries | Major party competition | Competitiveness Index | Rank | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2010 | 13.6% | 7.4% | 67.2% | 29.4 | 26 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2012 | 23.8% | 16.0% | 72.2% | 37.3 | 19 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2014 | 12.0% | 7.3% | 49.6% | 23.0 | 35 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2016 | 10.4% | 8.0% | 68.0% | 28.8 | 27 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2018 | 17.6% | 4.9% | 71.2% | 31.2 | 29 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2020 | 13.6% | 5.6% | 66.4% | 28.5 | 33 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2022 | 34.3% | 15.1% | 56.0% | 35.1 | 22 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 12.8% | 6.4% | 52.0% | 23.7 | 39 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
In 2024
Hover over column headings to learn more about their contents. Click on headings for more state-specific information.
| State Legislative Competitiveness Index in Iowa, 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chamber | Open seats | Incs. in contested primaries | Major party competition | Competitiveness Index | ||||||||||||||||||||
| House | 13.0% | 5.7% | 49.0% | 22.6 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Senate | 12.0% | 9.1% | 64.0% | 28.4 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 12.8% | 6.4% | 52.0% | 23.7 | ||||||||||||||||||||
List of candidates
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= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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 | Iowa Supreme Court (Retention election) | Nonpartisan | Won General |
Iowa Court of Appeals (Retention election) | Nonpartisan | Won General | |
 | Iowa Court of Appeals (Retention election) | Nonpartisan | Won General |
 | Iowa Court of Appeals (Retention election) | Nonpartisan | Won General |
 | Iowa Court of Appeals (Retention election) | Nonpartisan | Won General |
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
See also
Footnotes
