Republicans try to flip an Iowa Senate seat and reclaim a supermajority in year-end special election
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Some Iowans We enter 2026 with a special election on the last Tuesday of the year, voting for state senator in a race that presents an opportunity for Republicans. take back two-thirds control of the room.
Democrat Renee Hardman is facing Republican Lucas Loftin in a special election for the state Senate seat representing suburban Des Moines. The seat became vacant after the death of Democratic Senator Claire Celsi on October 6.
Just months after a Democrat flipped a Republican seat in an August special election to give Democrats 33 seats, switching the seat would once again give Republicans supermajority status. Celsi’s death left the Democratic party with 16 seats.
Senate Republicans left Des Moines with a supermajority last spring, allowing the party to easily confirm Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds’ appointments to state agencies and commissions. Hardman’s win in Tuesday’s election will limit Republicans’ power in the Senate as lawmakers prepare to return to Des Moines for the 2026 legislative session. Without a supermajority, Republicans would have to rely on the support of at least one Democrat to confirm Reynolds’ nominees.
Democrats outnumber Republicans in the district by about 3,300 voters (37 percent to 30 percent), but special elections during the holiday week could be more volatile.
Approximately one-third of registered voters in the district are affiliated with another party or are not affiliated with any political party.
Celsi won his 2024 re-election bid against a Libertarian opponent with 69% of the district’s voters. But he won a smaller majority of voters in 2022, with 58% against the Republican, who won 42% of the vote. That’s similar to Republican President Donald Trump’s share of the district last year.
Hardman, who will be the first Black woman elected to the Iowa state Senate, is the CEO of the nonprofit Iowa Lutheran Services and a member of the West Des Moines City Council. In 2007, Wright Service Corp. Loftin started as a tree pruner for Loftin, then moved into software and data project management for an environmental services company.
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Schoenbaum reported from Salt Lake City, Utah.
