United States Senate election in Iowa, 2026

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← 2022
U.S. Senate, Iowa
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: March 13, 2026
Primary: June 2, 2026 General: November 3, 2026
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voting in Iowa
Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Likely Republican DDHQ and The Hill: Pending Inside Elections: Likely Republican Sabato's Crystal Ball: Likely Republican
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds U.S. House battlegrounds Federal and state primary competitiveness Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2026
See also
U.S. Senate, Iowa U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th Iowa elections, 2026 U.S. Congress elections, 2026 U.S. Senate elections, 2026 U.S. House elections, 2026 Alabama U.S. Senate raceAlaska U.S. Senate raceArkansas U.S. Senate raceColorado U.S. Senate raceDelaware U.S. Senate raceGeorgia U.S. Senate raceIdaho U.S. Senate raceIllinois U.S. Senate raceIowa U.S. Senate raceKansas U.S. Senate raceKentucky U.S. Senate raceLouisiana U.S. Senate raceMaine U.S. Senate raceMassachusetts U.S. Senate raceMichigan U.S. Senate raceMinnesota U.S. Senate raceMississippi U.S. Senate raceMontana U.S. Senate raceNebraska U.S. Senate raceNew Hampshire U.S. Senate raceNew Jersey U.S. Senate raceNew Mexico U.S. Senate raceNorth Carolina U.S. Senate raceOklahoma U.S. Senate raceOregon U.S. Senate raceRhode Island U.S. Senate raceSouth Carolina U.S. Senate raceSouth Dakota U.S. Senate raceTennessee U.S. Senate raceTexas U.S. Senate raceVirginia U.S. Senate raceWest Virginia U.S. Senate raceWyoming U.S. Senate raceSubmit

Voters in Iowa will elect one member to the U.S. Senate in the general election on November 3, 2026. The election will fill the Class II Senate seat held by Joni Ernst (R), who first took office in 2015. To learn more about other elections on the ballot, click here.

Candidates and election results

Note: The following list includes official candidates only. Ballotpedia defines official candidates as people who:

• Register with a federal or state campaign finance agency before the candidate filing deadline
• Appear on candidate lists released by government election agencies

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. Senate Iowa

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

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Chris Henry (D)
	Submit photo	Jackie Norris (D)
		Nathan Sage (D)
	Submit photo	Josh Turek (D)
		Zach Wahls (D)
		John Berman (R)
		Jim Carlin (R)
		Ashley Hinson (R)
		Joshua Smith (R)

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Joni Ernst (R)
• J.D. Scholten (D)

Candidate profiles

There are currently no candidate profiles created for this race. Candidate profiles will appear here as they are created. Encourage the candidates in this race to complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey so that their profile will appear here. You can ask candidates in this race to fill out the survey by clicking their names below:

• John Berman
• Nathan Sage
• Zach Wahls
• Jackie Norris
• Josh Turek
• Ashley Hinson

Voting information

See also: Voting in Iowa

Ballotpedia will publish the dates and deadlines related to this election as they are made available.

Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

No candidate in this race has completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Ballotpedia is seeking 100 percent participation so voters can learn more about all the candidates on their ballots.

You can ask candidates in this race to fill out the survey by clicking their names below:

• Ashley Hinson
• Jackie Norris
• John Berman
• Josh Turek
• Nathan Sage
• Zach Wahls

Campaign finance

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
Chris Henry	Democratic Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Jackie Norris	Democratic Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Nathan Sage	Democratic Party	$709,398	$375,015	$334,383	As of June 30, 2025
Josh Turek	Democratic Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Zach Wahls	Democratic Party	$656,638	$30,288	$626,350	As of June 30, 2025
John Berman	Republican Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Jim Carlin	Republican Party	$125,401	$124,689	$711	As of June 30, 2025
Ashley Hinson	Republican Party	$1,490,892	$593,635	$2,825,332	As of June 30, 2025
Joshua Smith	Republican Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2026. 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.

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.
• 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.

Race ratings: U.S. Senate election in Iowa, 2026
Race tracker	Race ratings
	9/9/2025	9/2/2025	8/26/2025	8/19/2025
The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter	Likely Republican	Likely Republican	Likely Republican	Likely Republican
Decision Desk HQ and The Hill	Pending	Pending	Pending	Pending
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales	Likely Republican	Likely Republican	Likely Republican	Likely Republican
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball	Likely Republican	Likely Republican	Likely Republican	Likely Republican
Note: Ballotpedia reviews external race ratings every week throughout the election season and posts weekly updates even if the media outlets have not revised their ratings during that week.

Ballot access

This section will contain information on ballot access related to this state's elections when it is available.

Election history

The section below details election results for this state's U.S. Senate elections dating back to 2016.

2022

See also: United States Senate election in Iowa, 2022

General election

General election for U.S. Senate Iowa

Incumbent Chuck Grassley defeated Michael Franken in the general election for U.S. Senate Iowa on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Chuck Grassley (R)	56.0	681,501
		Michael Franken (D)	43.8	533,330
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	1,815

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,216,646
= 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. Senate Iowa

Michael Franken defeated Abby Finkenauer and Glenn Hurst in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Iowa on June 7, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Michael Franken	55.2	86,527
		Abby Finkenauer	39.9	62,581
		Glenn Hurst	4.8	7,571
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	158

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 156,837
= 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Bob Krause (D)
• Dave Muhlbauer (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. Senate Iowa

Incumbent Chuck Grassley defeated Jim Carlin in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Iowa on June 7, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Chuck Grassley	73.3	143,634
		Jim Carlin	26.5	51,891
		Other/Write-in votes	0.2	312

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 195,837
= 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Andrew Foster (R)

2020

General election

General election for U.S. Senate Iowa

Incumbent Joni Ernst defeated Theresa Greenfield, Rick Stewart, and Suzanne Herzog in the general election for U.S. Senate Iowa on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Joni Ernst (R)	51.7	864,997
		Theresa Greenfield (D)	45.2	754,859
		Rick Stewart (L)	2.2	36,961
		Suzanne Herzog (Independent)	0.8	13,800
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	1,211

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,671,828
= 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. Senate Iowa

Theresa Greenfield defeated Michael Franken, Kimberly Graham, Eddie Mauro, and Cal Woods (Unofficially withdrew) in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Iowa on June 2, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Theresa Greenfield	47.7	132,001
		Michael Franken	24.9	68,851
		Kimberly Graham	15.0	41,554
		Eddie Mauro	11.0	30,400
		Cal Woods (Unofficially withdrew)	1.2	3,372
		Other/Write-in votes	0.2	514

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 276,692
= 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. Senate Iowa

Incumbent Joni Ernst advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Iowa on June 2, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Joni Ernst	98.6	226,589
		Other/Write-in votes	1.4	3,132

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 229,721
= 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Paul Rieck (R)

2016

U.S. Senate, Iowa General Election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Chuck Grassley Incumbent	60.1%	926,007
	Democratic	Patty Judge	35.7%	549,460
	Libertarian	Charles Aldrich	2.7%	41,794
	New Independent Party Iowa	Jim Hennager	1.1%	17,649
	Independent	Michael Luick-Thrams	0.3%	4,441
	N/A	Write-in	0.1%	1,685
Total Votes				1,541,036
Source: Iowa Secretary of State

Election analysis

This section will contain facts and figures related to this state's elections when those are available.

See also

Iowa	2026 primaries	2026 U.S. Congress elections
Iowa congressional delegation Voting in Iowa Iowa elections: 2026 • 2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018	Democratic primary battlegrounds Republican primary battlegrounds U.S. Senate Democratic primaries U.S. Senate Republican primaries U.S. House Democratic primaries U.S. House Republican primaries	U.S. Congress elections U.S. Senate elections U.S. House elections Special elections Ballot access

External links

• Search Google News for this topic

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)

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