Iowa House

2020 Election Update

Heading into the 2020 election, Republicans controlled the Iowa House 53-47. Democrats flipped one seat and lost seven seats for a net loss of six seats; Republicans now control the chamber 59-41. EveryDistrict endorsed successful Democratic challenger Eric Gjerde (HD 67). Democrats lost HDs 26, 38, 39, 58, 64, 81, and 83. EveryDistrict also endorsed Jen Pellant (HD 16), Kayla Koether (HD 55), Jennifer Kakert (HD 92), and Christian Andrews (HD 92).

The below table shows 2020 and 2018 election results for the Iowa House. The LDI scores are for the 2020 cycle. EveryDistrict will release new scores and district rankings after the redistricting process.

2018 Election Update

After the 2016 election, Republicans controlled the Iowa State House 59-41. Heading into the 2018 election, Republicans controlled the chamber 58-41 with one vacancy in a Republican-held seat.

Democrats flipped seven Republican-held seats and lost two Democratic-held seats for a five-seat gain.

Democrats flipped HD 43, HD 68, HD 42, HD 38, and HD 60. Democrats lost HD 9 and HD 82.

In April 2019, Republican Andy McKean announced he would be switching his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat. Republicans now control the chamber 53-47.

Understanding the Map

EveryDistrict’s Legislative District Index (LDI) is the gold standard of state legislative competitiveness. Our LDI ranks state legislative districts on a scale from 100 to -100, using statewide elections data. Districts with a score of 100 would vote for statewide Democratic candidates by an average of 100 points (with the Democratic candidate receiving 100% of the vote); districts with a score of -100 would vote for statewide Republican candidates by an average of 100 points (with the Republican candidate receiving 100% of the vote). For a more realistic example, a district with a score of 10 would vote for statewide Democratic candidates by an average of 10 points (meaning we would expect the Democratic state legislative candidate to win with 55% of the vote compared to the Republican winning 45% of the vote).

After the 2018 election, EveryDistrict reviewed and enhanced our LDI system, improving the accuracy of the metric with new methodologies and the most recent electoral data.

For more information about EveryDistrict’s LDI, please click here.