Iowa Senate District 35 special election Zimmer: Whittington: }} Incumbent Republican senator
Chris Cournoyer was re-elected state senator in 2022 with 60.0 percent of the vote. She vacated the seat being appointed
lieutenant governor in December 2024. Subsequently, a special election was held in the
U.S. state of
Iowa on January 28, 2025 to elect a new member for District 35 in the
Iowa Senate, representing the counties of
Clinton,
Jackson, and
Scott. Democratic candidate
Mike Zimmer achieved an upset victory, flipping a district won by Republican nominee
Donald Trump by 21 points in the
2024 presidential election.
Candidates The following candidates were certified for the ballot: • Katie Whittington, administrative assistant (
Republican) •
Mike Zimmer, president of the
Central DeWitt School Board (
Democratic)
Results Iowa House of Representatives District 100 special election Prior to his death, District 100 was represented by
Martin Graber following
redistricting in 2023. The last election he won was in
2024, when he defeated independent candidate Nicolas Atwood with 67.6% of the vote. Lee County is one of many "pivot counties", counties which twice voted for
Barack Obama in
2008 and
2012, and subsequently swung to
Donald Trump in
2016. Lee County has since
voted again for Trump in
2020 and
2024. Subsequently, a special election was held in the
U.S. state of
Iowa on March 11, 2025 to elect a new member for District 100 in the
Iowa House of Representatives, representing a large portion of
Lee County. The election will fill a vacancy caused by the death of Republican member
Martin Graber, who unexpectedly died on January 31, 2025.
Candidates The parties nominated their candidates by convention. The Republican convention chose
Blaine Watkins, a legislative aide. Watkins won with more than 70% of the vote at the Republican meeting. Other candidates at the convention included Daniel Atwood, a platoon leader in the
Iowa National Guard, Tracy Gach, a high school teacher and businessman, and Larry Kruse, a former Lee County supervisor. The Democratic convention selected Nannette Griffin, a businesswoman and nominee for the
50th Senate District in
2024.
Results {{Election box write-in with party link {{Election box total no change
Iowa House of Representatives District 78 special election A
special election in the
U.S. state of
Iowa was held on April 29, 2025, to elect a new member to the
Iowa House of Representatives to represent District 78. The special election was called after the resignation of Democratic incumbent
Sami Scheetz following his appointment to the
Linn County Board of Supervisors. District 78 is located entirely within Linn County, representing a portion of
Cedar Rapids. On April 8, 2025, governor
Kim Reynolds issued the
writs of election, scheduling the special election for April 29. Candidates had until April 15 to file for election. No primaries are held for state legislative special elections in Iowa, so political parties must nominate candidates by convention. Independent candidates may petition to be placed on the ballot by collecting signatures.
Previous results (2022–present) Results before the 2020 redistricting cycle are not included as the current 78th district does not contain any of the old 78th district.
Candidates • Bernie Hayes, retired engineer, nominee for Iowa Senate District 33 in
2018, nominee for Iowa Senate District 39 in
2022 (
Republican) • Angel Ramirez, activist (
Democratic)
Results Decision Desk HQ called the election for Democrat
Angel Ramirez after all precincts reported. {{Election box winning candidate with party link|party=Democratic Party (US) {{Election box write-in with party link {{Election box total no change
Iowa Senate District 1 special election Rocky De Witt, the Republican incumbent senator from
Iowa's 1st Senate district died of pancreatic cancer on June 25, 2025. The election took place on August 26, 2025. The Democratic Party nominated Catelin Drey. The Republican Party nominated Christopher Prosch. Drey won the election by 10 points, flipping the seat and ending the Republicans' supermajority in the
Iowa Senate.
Results {{Election box winning candidate with party link|party=Democratic Party (US) {{Election box write-in with party link {{Election box total no change
Iowa House of Representatives District 7 special election Mike Sexton, the Republican incumbent senator from
Iowa's 7th House of Representatives district resigned September 19, 2025, after being appointed Iowa state director for
USDA Rural Development. The election took place on December 9, 2025. The Democratic Party nominated Rachel Burns. The Republican Party nominated
Wendy Larson. Larson won the election by 40 points, less than 51 point margin by Republican nominee
Donald Trump in the
2024 presidential election.
Results {{Election box write-in with party link {{Election box total no change
Iowa Senate District 16 special election Incumbent Democratic senator
Claire Celsi was re-elected state senator in 2024 with 69.5 percent of the vote. She died on October 6, 2025. Subsequently, a special election will be held on December 30, 2025 to elect a new member for District 35 in the
Iowa Senate, representing part of
Dallas and
Polk counties. Democrats nominated Renee Hardman while Republicans nominated Lucas Lifton. Hardman won the election by 43 points, more than 17 point margin by Democratic nominee
Kamala Harris in the
2024 presidential election.
Candidates •
Renee Hardman, CEO of
Lutheran Services in Iowa and
West Des Moines city councilmember (
Democratic) • Lucas Loftin, software manager (
Republican)
Results ==Local elections==