‘No Iowan has to fear their government anymore’: Democrats win race for governor, U.S. Senate and three House seats as voters reject candidates that just feted Trump

It became obvious almost as soon as the polls closed in the midterm election on Tuesday night that voters were electing Democrats and rejecting Republicans in numbers unseen in American politics since 1974. That year, voters rejected Republicans after the Watergate scandal, fed up with their support of a crooked president — the recently resigned Richard Nixon — and his criminal administration.

Ahead of Tuesday’s election, President Trump kept telling voters, “Pretend I’m on the ballot.” They did. 

Democrats won control of the U.S. House and Senate, thanks to victories in states where conventional wisdom, and the historical record, suggested Democrats had little chance of winning, including Iowa. But it was Josh Turek’s victory in the Iowa Senate race that guaranteed Democratic control of the Senate, when the AP called the race minutes after 10:30 p.m. 

By that time, Rob Sand had already won the governor’s race, ending 10 years of one-party control of state government. Before the night was over, Democrats also took three of Iowa’s four U.S. House seats, leaving only western Iowa’s 4th District in Republican hands. 

Democrats also cut into the Republican majorities in the Iowa Legislature. The vote count in some legislative races had not yet been reported as of noon on Wednesday, but so far Democrats have flipped 11 Republican-held seats in the House, and made a net gain of one in the Senate, where they flipped two and lost one. 

“We’re going to have a fun night tonight,” Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart said shortly before the polls closed at 8 p.m. on Tuesday night. Hart was speaking at a joint watch/victory party for Rob Sand, Josh Turek and Sarah Trone Garriott at the State Historical Building in Des Moines, and she was right. 

Governor

Two-term Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand easily defeated Republican Zach Lahn, a first-time candidate with a long history of working as a political operative in other states, to win the race for governor. Sand won 55.5 percent of the vote, while Lahn got 44.5 percent. 

Throughout the campaign, Sand stressed bipartisanship, and he did so again in his victory speech on Tuesday night. After thanking his family, his campaign team and his running mate, Crawford County Supervisor Dave Muhlbauer, Sand thanked the Republicans and independents who had supported him. He then turned his attention to his fellow Democrats.

“We’ve had a hard few years,” Sand said, and party-goers laughed. “But balanced government has been restored.” The crowd cheered and clapped loudly.

Sand said he understood some of the people in the room might not agree with his emphasis on bipartisanship, then explained his approach. 

“Well, the vast majority [of Democrats] understood that the smallest party has to appeal to reasonable-minded people in other parties, if it wants to be a coalition that reaches a majority,” he said. “Because of all of us coming together, in January, no Iowan has to fear their government anymore.”

During the campaign, and before as auditor, Sand conducted a yearly town hall tour of all Iowa’s 99 counties, and he has said he plans to continue that as governor. At the victory party, he said he hopes those town halls give him a chance to meet people who didn’t vote for him.

“I hope you introduce yourself,” Sand said. “And I hope that you tell me  — kindly  — tell me why you didn’t vote for me. I hope you also keep an open mind, cause you’re going to get to know me better over the next four years and maybe you’ll feel differently the next time.”

“I’m going to work just as hard for you, as I do for anybody else,” he assured people who didn’t vote for him. 

The governor-elect then had the crowd sing “America the Beautiful,” something he’s done at all 200 town halls around the state over the last two years. 

Sand thanked Zach Lahn for being willing to run for office, but went on to note the attacks ads Lahn and PACs supporting him had run that distorted Sand’s record, lied about his positions and even used AI-generated images of Sand doing things the candidate never did. 

Sand thanked his wife for helping to put the ads in perspective. 

“As Christine said, these lies were nothing compared to our loss on Oct. 15,” Sand said, referring to his brother-in-law Walter Lauridsen, II, who died after being struck by a car. “But they’re also nothing compared to the struggle so many Iowans go through every single day trying to provide for their families or play the difficult hand they’ve been dealt in life.”

Sand then talked about what the election results mean to him.

“Tonight Iowans across the state made their voices heard, and they voted to restore our public schools to their former glory. They voted to address our cancer crisis with real solutions, not just rhetoric, and to make public service the focus of government, not politics, by regulating, well, the people who need regulating the most: politicians,” he said.  

“More than anything else, Iowans voted for change. They voted for checks and balances. And they voted to bring transparency and accountability back to state government.”

Sand said he was looking forward to working with the Republicans who will still control the legislature next year. 

Speaking to reporters ahead of his Johnson County Town Hall meeting in September, Sand described what the first package of legislation he plans to send lawmakers will contain. 

“Accountability for politicians,” he said. “Not just term limits — yes — but age limits, banning stock trading for people who sit in elective office, mandatory prison time for people who steal a bunch of money from taxpayers, a civics test if you want to get on the ballot, cognitive tests if you’re in office, mandatory town halls if you’re in office — public ones, where there’s at least two weeks advance notice, so that anyone can come in, not matter what their party affiliation is and you take non-pre-screened questions the way you’re supposed to in a democracy.”

All those measures were part of the first policy proposals Sand published in March. He didn’t repeat the full list on Tuesday night, but he did mention some of the policies, calling them, “common-sense ideas and solutions.” 

“They are broadly popular and we would all do well to pass them into reality,” he said. 

While Sand stressed bipartisanship and cooperation to achieve his goals, the losing candidate, Zach Lahn, took a different approach when he spoke to supporters on Tuesday night.

“The fight is just beginning right now,” Lahn said. “It is only just beginning right now.” 

Lahn’s speech could have passed for a victory speech, if the couple of passing mentions of his loss had been deleted and it had been delivered by a less glum candidate to a more enthusiastic crowd. 

“To the people of Iowa,” Lahn said at the end of his speech, “we’ll see you in four years.”

That seems unlikely. Lahn eked out a victory in the Republican primary by 0.77 of a percentage point, after loaning his campaign $2.5 million. In the general election, the vast majority of Lahn’s campaign contributions came from out-of-state PACs. More Iowa Republicans contributed to Rob Sand’s campaign than to Lahn’s. And finally, on Tuesday, he lost by 11 percentage points. 

Notably absent from Lahn’s speech was any reference to his running mate, Derek Wulf. After Lahn tapped Wulf as the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, Wulf’s legal problems over unpaid debts became public knowledge. So did the fact Wulf is under investigation by the Black Hawk Sheriff’s Department for some of his actions regarding his debts. 

It was a sharp contrast to the Democrats. When Sand talked about how his running mate Dave Mulbauer had helped the campaign, the crowd at the State Historical Building cheered loudly.

Senate

“After 448 days of hard work, pushing up hills, knocking doors, visiting all 99 counties, visiting small and midsized communities all across this state, and preaching the message of a better future for Iowa, together, we have made history,” Josh Turek said at the beginning of his speech on Tuesday night. 

Turek, who just finished his second term in the Iowa House representing Council Bluffs, won the Democratic primary in June over state Sen. Zach Wahls of Coralville in a landslide. He garnered 63 percent of the vote and carried 96 of Iowa’s 99 counties. 

But even after Turek’s strong showing in the primary, Republican Ashley Hinson was still considered the prohibitive favorite to replace retiring Sen. Joni Ernst at the start of the general election race. And throughout the race, Hinson maintained a cash advantage over Turek, thanks to her time in Congress. 

When the votes were tallied on Tuesday, Turek beat Hinson by 4.1 percentage points, earning 50.5 percent of the vote. Hinson won 46.1 percent, and Libertarian Thomas Laehn received 3.1 percent.

As Turek explained to the crowd at the victory party, he is used to overcoming the odds. 

Josh Turek was born with spina bifida due to his father’s exposure to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. He underwent surgery for the first time on the day he was born. Doctors told his parents their son had little chance of living a fulfilling life. But Turek proved the doctors wrong. In addition to successes in business and politics, and having a family, he was part of the U.S. wheelchair basketball team at the Paralympics, winning two gold medals. 

“As I’ve said all along, my story is truly the American dream,” Turek said in his speech. 

“Here’s my promise to each and every one of you,” he told the crowd. “First and foremost, in the United States Senate, I will fight to end this war in Iran. I will fight to end these chaotic tariffs, because they are decimating markets, killing farmers and hurting our rural communities.”

“I’m going to the U.S. Senate to fight for a livable wage, because $7.25 is not a livable wage,” he continued. “I’m going to the Senate to fight for affordable housing, to drive private equity out of housing, out of healthcare and out of nursing homes. I’m going up there to fight for affordable and accessible healthcare, because I believe that healthcare is a human right. And a part of that human right is also women’s reproductive freedom.”

“And most of all, I’m going to the U.S. Senate to fight for affordable and accessible prescription drugs, because far too often as I’ve traveled this state, I’ve heard over and over, ‘This month, it’s either taking my pills or paying my bill.’ That is wrong in the richest country on Earth.”

Turek said he will also fight for better funding for public schools, and to pass a farm bill that benefits “small family farmers and rural communities, not just Big Ag.” He also promised to address the state’s cancer crisis. 

“And I’m going to fight to address the root cause of that cancer crisis, which is our water quality crisis,” he added. 

“And maybe most importantly, I am going up to D.C. to end the corruption that we’re seeing on both sides of the aisle,” he said, concluding his list of priorities. 

Turek said he wants to overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which eliminated almost all campaign finance laws. During the race, Turek was targeted by attack ads paid for by Republican and corporate super PACs. He was one of the candidates Elon Musk spent millions trying to defeat. Musk poured a record-setting amount of money into political ads in the races he selected, but his money ultimately did not help Ashley Hinson. 

“Because in Iowa, Elon Musk does not decide our elections, Iowans do,” Turek said. “And we proved it tonight.”

Putting his own victory in context with Sand’s, and three Democratic victories in congressional races, Turek said, “We have changed the state of Iowa tonight.” 

Turek pledged to represent all Iowans, including those who didn’t vote for him. Then his speech turned introspective. 

“Since I began this, I’ve been saying that it’s going to be something beautifully poetic if a man that is coming to get Sen. Harkin’s seat back, is only there because of the work he did in the United States Senate,” Turek said.

Tom Harkin worked hard to advance the rights of people with disabilities during his long career, first in the House of Representatives, then in the Senate. Turek has often talked about Harkin as an inspiration and a mentor. 

Turek called Harkin to the stage, and after the crowd finished chanting “Tom, Tom,” he talked about how the work of “one good senator” can change people’s lives. 

“I’ve seen it. Because one senator changed mine,” Turek said. “When I was 11 years old, a disabled boy living in Council Bluffs, Iowa, the great Tom Harkin changed my life and gave me, and so many other disabled Americans, an on-ramp on society.”

Turek told the crowd his goal is to be a senator like Harkin, who works for “the little guy, those who cannot afford to make a political donation.”

The U.S. House of Representatives

“We did this for the people of Iowa and for this entire country. For all our neighbors, no matter their party or who they voted for or their background,” Sarah Trone Garriot told the crowd at the Des Moines victory party. “We are bringing change for everyone.”

Trone Garriott is a Lutheran minister and part of the leadership team at the Des Moines Area Religious Council, which operates a network of food pantries and provides other services to help meet people’s basic needs. She just finished her second term in the Iowa Senate. 

The Democrat defeated two-term incumbent Republican Zach Nunn for the seat in Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District. Nunn not only had all the financial advantages that come with incumbency, and even had Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth campaigning for him at the Iowa State Fair (likely in violation of federal law) and was praised by President Trump at a rally in Dubuque on Sunday. He lost to Trone Garriott by over 7 percentage point, 53.7 percent to 46.3 percent. 

Nunn went into the race with greater name recognition than Trone Garriott, but his face may not have had the same familiarity. Nunn has consistently refused to hold in-person town halls in his district. Trone Garriott alluded to that in her victory speech. 

“People of the 3rd District, I commit to you that I will show up for you here in Iowa, so that I’m always showing up for in Washington, with open town halls in the district and an open heart to serve everyone who lives here,” she said.

One of the people of the 3rd District Trone Garriott will be serving is Mariannette Miller-Meeks, the incumbent congressmember for Iowa’s 1st Congressional District. 

When the district’s boundaries were redrawn by the Iowa Legislature after the 2020 census, Miller-Meeks’ hometown of Ottumwa ended up in the 3rd District. There’s no requirement for a member of Congress to actually live in their district — just the state the district is in — but for years, Miller-Meeks at least pretended to be a resident of the 1st District, renting an apartment in the district while still living at home in Ottumwa with her husband. She stopped doing that this year, giving up the apartment and the pretense. 

Miller-Meeks’ residency really didn’t play much of a role in this year’s campaign. Instead, University of Iowa law professor Christine Bohannan, who was running against Miller-Meeks for the third time, focused on affordability and the political corruption caused by money in politics. 

“Tonight is an emphatic rejection of the corrupt and callous party politics that tell us that we should see the worst in each other,” Bohannan told her supporters gathered at Big Grove Taproom in Iowa City, after the results came in Tuesday night. “It’s a rejection of the divisiveness that tells us that working together is weak and that cruelty is strong.”

Bohannan beat Miller-Meeks, 52.8 percent to 43.6 percent. Independent candidate Michael Bridgford received 3.6 percent of the vote. 

Democrat Lindsay James’ victory in the 2nd District means, among other things, that Iowans elected two ministers to Congress on Tuesday. James, a Presbyterian pastor and chaplain, has just finished her fourth term representing Dubuque in the Iowa House.

She faced Joe Mitchell, who held a minor position in the first Trump administration. Mitchell gained statewide attention last month for his obsequious praise of Trump at the president’s rally in Sioux City. Mitchell even presented Trump with a framed certificate, proclaiming Trump “The Man of the Century.” Trump was unimpressed by the award, and ultimately voters in the 2nd District weren’t impressed by Mitchell. James beat him, 49.5 percent to 45.6 percent.

James focused on affordability issues and her opposition to the policies of the Trump administration in her campaign. She held town halls in each of the district’s 22 counties. 

“Every Iowan who I met and shared a story with me — who shared their stories, their challenges, their joys, their accomplishments — these stories and these experiences have shaped me, and they will guide me every single day in Washington D.C.,” James said at an election night party at Stone Cliff Winery in Dubuque. 

In Iowa’s 4th Congressional District, Republican Chris McGowan, president of Siouxland Chamber of Commerce, won an easy victory over Democrat Dave Dawson, 59.1 percent to 40.9 percent. Even though he lost in a landslide, Dawson did carry Story County and Marshall County.

The 4th is one of the most solidly Republican counties in the nation. The last time western Iowa sent a Democrat to Congress was in 1982, when Tom Harkin won in Iowa’s 5th Congressional District. That district is long gone, and so are the chances of the Democrats winning in the 4th. Until, perhaps, there’s an even bigger blue wave election.

Photos: Iowa City votes on Election Day