Republicans flipped a historically Democrat State House seat in Iowa during Tuesday’s special election in what is the first of many red seats to come in the upcoming midterm elections.
Republican Jon Dunwell defeated Democrat Steve Mullen with a 60 percent to 40 percent margin. Republicans flipped the seat in Newton, Iowa that has been won by Democrats for several decades.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, quickly congratulated Dunwell on his victory, tweeting that “Iowans have spoken loud and clear in these last two special elections about the direction we are taking the state.”
Dunwell is the second Republican to flip a Democrat-held legislative seat since Biden took office. Republican Ryan Fazio flipped a Democrat-held Connecticut State Senate seat in August. Republican Mike Bousselot won a competitive Iowa House seat and kept it under GOP control.
Reynolds called the special election when Democrat State Rep. Wesley Breckenridge stepped down to take a job with the Iowa Law Enforcement Agency. The result expands the Republican majority in the legislature to 60 out of the 100 seats in the Iowa State House.
Democrats won the Newton seat by more than three points in 2020. Four years prior, Democrats won the seat by a much larger margin with more than 13 points.
Republicans’ sweeping victory in Iowa follows Joe Biden’s plummeting favorability among voters in the Hawkeye State. According to a Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll, only 31 percent of Iowans approve of Biden, while 62 percent disapprove. According to the poll, 53 percent of Iowans approved of Donald Trump, while 45 percent viewed him unfavorably.
Democrats’ defeat in Iowa’s special election, combined with Joe Biden’s negative approval rating is an indicator that the liberal party will be trounced by the Republican Party during the 2022 midterm elections.