Iowa school board elections, 2026

Iowa 2026 elections

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Elections

State profile

Additional elections

Statistics

No Iowa school districts that overlap with the nation's 100 largest cities or that are among the nation's 200 largest school districts and for which Ballotpedia provides comprehensive coverage are holding school board elections in 2026.

Recalls

See also: Recall campaigns in Iowa and School board recalls

Iowa does not allow for the recall of school board members. Click here for a list of states that do.

State profile

Demographic data for Iowa
	Iowa	U.S.
Total population:	3,121,997	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	55,857	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	91.2%	73.6%
Black/African American:	3.2%	12.6%
Asian:	2%	5.1%
Native American:	0.3%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more:	2%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	5.4%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	91.5%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	26.7%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$53,183	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	13.8%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Iowa. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in Iowa

Iowa voted for the Republican candidate in four out of the seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

Pivot Counties (2016)

Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, 31 are located in Iowa, accounting for 15.04 percent of the total pivot counties.^[1]

Pivot Counties (2020)

In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. Iowa had 31 Retained Pivot Counties, 17.13 percent of all Retained Pivot Counties.

More Iowa coverage on Ballotpedia

Election data analysis

School board election data analysis, 2025

The following analysis includes school districts that overlap with the nation's 100 largest cities or that are among the nation's 200 largest school districts and for which Ballotpedia provides comprehensive coverage.

Ballotpedia covered school board elections for four seats in one school district in Iowa in 2025. Below are some statistics about what happened in those elections. To read the full report on school board election analysis across the country in 2025, click here.

5 candidates ran for election, an average of 1.3 candidates per seat.
50% of school board incumbents ran for re-election, leaving 50% of the seats open for newcomers.
100% of incumbents were elected to new seats, winning 50% of the seats up for election.
Non-incumbent candidates won 2 of the seats.
50% of seats up for election were unopposed.

Footnotes

↑ The raw data for this study was provided by Dave Leip of Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.

[1] The raw data for this study was provided by Dave Leip of Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.

[1]

Iowa	School Boards	News and Analysis

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Iowa school board elections, 2026

Contents

Recalls

State profile

Presidential voting pattern

Pivot Counties (2016)

Pivot Counties (2020)

Election data analysis

See also

Footnotes

Information about voting

2026 Elections

2025 Elections

Election analysis

Trending

Public Policy

Information for candidates

Get Engaged

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