The Daily Iowan - 11.11.2022 - Election E-Edition

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The Daily Iowan Ethics and Politics Initiative is funded by a private donor and will appear biweekly this semester. The team’s mission is to understand, interpret, analyze, and report on topics, trends and personalities that shape politics in Iowa and the U.S., and to recognize the importance of a strong ethical foundation in its pursuits.

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2022 midterm voter turnout in Iowa

The 2022 midterm election reported the second-highest voter turnout in the state since the 2018 midterm election.

Emily Delgado Politics Reporter

More than 1,220,000 Io wans voted in the midterm election on Tuesday — the second-highest turnout na tionwide. The 2018 midterm election still takes first place where 1,329,930 Iowans vot ed.

of the Secretary of State that Linn County inaccurately re ported six hundred additional ballots. The mistake did not affect the outcome of the rac es, the office report.

In addition, an entire race was left off the ballot in a township in Linn County. The race left off the ballot was the Linn County Board of Super visors.

More than 1,220,000 Io wans voted with early voting and on Election Day. Across Iowa’s four Congressional Districts, 371,223 Iowans voted using absentee bal lots. The 1st Congressional District reported the highest amount of absentee voting with 104,253 ballots received out of the 106,936 absentee ballots requested.

After the election on Tues day, Republican Rep. Mari annette Miller-Meeks kept

state Rep. Christina Bohan nan, D-Iowa City, by 160,441 votes; 37,644 of those votes were made through absen tee voting and, 122,797 were made on Election Day.

In Johnson County, 63,975 residents voted, and 25,566 out of those votes were made through absentee ballots.

Registered student voter turnout

While the official break down of the voter demo graphics won’t be made avail able until the coming weeks, Iowa City polling locations were filled with University of Iowa students voicing their opinions.

Thomas Bruner, a UI stu dent studying physics told the DI on Tuesday that he was dissatisfied with Iowa’s Republican control.

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Business Manager | Debra Plath

“My thanks to Iowans from every corner of the state who made their voices heard by voting,” Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate said in a statement.

Pate is working to audit randomly selected precincts following the election to en sure the integrity of Tues day’s results.

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• Jerod Ringwald

• Grace Smith

• Ayrton Breckenridge

• Daniel McGregor-Huyer

• Matt Sindt

• Contributed

“Post-election audits add another layer of integrity to the election process,” Pate said. “I want all Iowans to know their vote counts, and it will be counted correctly.”

Pate called for the recount of results of Des Moines County and Warren Coun ty on Wednesday because of technical difficulties, as pre viously reported by The Daily Iowan.

On Wednesday morning, it was discovered by the Office

control over the newly drawn 1st Congressional District. Miller-Meeks defeated her Democratic opponent, former

According to the John son County Auditor’s Of fice, registered voter turnout increased 36.37 percent in the east dorms and main UI campus locations on Tuesday compared to the 2018 mid term election.

Voter locations around the UI Hospitals and Clinics, the west dorms, and Melrose Street had a 20.18 percent increase in registered voter turnout.

First-time voter and UI stu dent, Kate Anthofer told the DI on Tuesday that she voted for Deidre DeJear, the Demo cratic candidate for Governor, and Mike Franken, the Demo cratic candidate for Iowa U.S. Senator.

“I would say if it had to go one way, I would say it’s definitely more of a conser vative state,” Anthofer said. “So it kind of is comforting to know that there is somewhat of a chance for Democrats, or liberal parties to still be able toplay a role in politics.”

“It negatively affects so many people like daily,” Bruner said. “You see, like cli mate change is an existential threat to society.”

Throughout the campaign months, candidates from both parties made efforts to talk to student voters.

On the first day of early voting, Bohannan and Mill er-Meeks visited the Iowa Memorial Union to talk to students about the impor tance of voting.

Hours before the elec tion on Tuesday, Bohannan walked around the UI campus talking to students and Iowa City residents.

“No one has more at stake in this election than the stu dents right here do and so I want to make sure that they know how to vote, they know where to vote,” Bohannan said. “And so my whole team was down here today really working with people educat ing them on where to go and how to vote.” emily-delgado@uiowa.edu

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BUSINESS STAFF

Photos included in this package were taken by

U.S. Congress

3rd District 4th District

Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks was reelected to represent Iowa’s 1st Congressional District late Tuesday night. She ran against Democratic state Rep. Christina Bohannan, and the incumbent won the challenge with 53.40 percent of the vote. Miller-Meeks ran on the platform of making prescription drug prices affordable to Iowans’, limiting access to abortion, and protecting Iowan’s gun rights.

Incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson won reelection with 54.08 percent of the vote in a race against Democrat Liz Mathis. Hinson campaigned on a few popular conservative ideas during this election cycle. She also emphasized parental rights in education — a prevalent issue in Iowa — being tough on crime, immigration, and inflation in her campaign.

Republican Zach Nunn unseated incumbent Democrat U.S. Rep. Cindy Axne in the 3rd Congressional District by over 2,000 votes, according to unofficial results from the Iowa Secretary of State. Nunn’s win follows several Republican victories for incumbents and challengers across the state. Nunn campaigned on strengthening first and second Amendment rights, cutting taxes, supporting police, and limiting abortion.

Republican U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra was reelected with 67.32 percent of the vote. He won against challenges from Democrat Ryan Melton and Libertarian Bryan Jack Holder. Feenstra supports former President Donald Trump’s tax cuts and Gov. Kim Reynolds’ legislative ban on U.S. sanctuary cities. Feenstra supports passing a fetal heartbeat bill, which would make abortion a criminal offense if the fetus has a heartbeat.

Senator Governor

Sen. Chuck Grassley was reelected to the U.S. Senate on Tuesday for his 41st consecutive year in the position. Grassley won a challenge from Democrat Mike Franken, earning 56.03 percent of the vote. Grassley campaigned by showcasing his fiscal responsibility and voting attendance in the Senate. If Grassley finishes out his eighth term in 2028, he will be the third longest-serving U.S. Senator in history, with 47 years in the position.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds will remain in office after winning her reelection bid on Tuesday night. She beat challenges from Democrat Deidre DeJear and Libertarian Rick Stewart with 58.06 percent of the vote. Reynolds’ campaign highlighted her record during the pandemic of implementing minimal restrictions and making masking optional in most schools before many other states. She’s also championed funding private schools through voucher programs — legislation that did not become law during the last session in the Iowa Legislature.

White Politics Reporter

Republicans swept near ly all statewide races on Tuesday night in what many candidates and vot ers called a “red wave” this midterm election. Despite the results, elected offi cials said Iowa can still be a competitive state for both parties.

As results rolled in on Tuesday night, Iowans saw more seats flipped from Democrat to Republican. Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District found new Repub lican leadership, and Io wa’s attorney general and state treasurer changed from Democrat to Repub

lican. Many state house Democratic seats also flipped.

While Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley — who has been in the Senate for 41 years — held onto his seat, he said Mike Franken was his closest challenge yet.

Franken lost to Grassley by about 150,000 votes.

“I assured him, and I want to assure all of you: I will work hard for ev ery Iowan for the next six years,” Grassley said. “And for those that didn’t sup port me in the election, Io wans are Iowans as far as I know.”

Gov. Kim Reynolds also held onto her position Tuesday night with 58.1 percent of votes compared

2022 US Senate winner by county

In the 2022 midterm election, 94 counties voted red in the U.S. Sentae race, opening the door for Sen. Chuck Grassley’s 8th term in office.

to her opponents Democrat DeJear’s 39.5 percent and Libertarian Rick SStewart’s 2.4 percent of votes.

Reynolds said she and DeJear have differences, but she respects anyone willing to put their name on the ballot.

“We both want Iowa to succeed, and that’s how it should be,” Reynolds said. “Because at the end of the day, at the end of the cam paign, we’re all Iowans and we’re all in this together.”

Iowa GOP Chairman Jeff Kaufmann said in an inter view with The Daily Iowan that the red wave was ex citing for his party, but the state is still a deep purple because Iowa has the ten dency to be a battleground swing state.

“Here’s the first thing I would do if I was a Demo crat, to be real honest with you, get every single one of those Democratic leaders, and they can make a differ ence right now by making sure that Iowa is the first in the nation for the Dem ocratic side,” Kaufmann said. “If the Democrats let that go, that’s not good for them.”

Kaufmann said that even through fully Republican leadership, Democrats can maintain relevance if they push their first-in-the-na tion caucus status. He said the parties can work to gether to ensure the presi dential election is compet itive.

Democratic leaders in Iowa are trying to remain positive despite the red wave.

Democrat Tom Miller, the longest-serving attor ney general in Iowa his tory, lost to Republican Brenna Bird on Tuesday by about 20,000 votes.

By Thursday, nearly all statewide races were called in favor of Republicans. There is, however, one seat that Democrats may main tain hold of. Incumbent Democratic Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand is, as of Thursday night, ahead of his opponent Todd Halbur by about 2,500 votes. Until The Associated Press calls the race, voters will not know if the seat has been flipped.

Miller said during his election watch party in Des Moines that he knew

a big win from the Repub licans was coming, but he assumed the Democrats could hold a few of state wide seats.

“We withstood quite a bit, but this wave was just too big and too encom passing,” Miller said in a speech on Tuesday.

2022 Iowa gubernatorial winner by county

In the 2022 midterm election, 95 counties voted red in the gubernatorial race, and four counties voted blue..

Lauren

Infographic by Jami Martin-Trainor

Infographic by Jami Martin-Trainor

We both want Iowa to succeed, and that’s how it should be because at the end of the day, at the end of the campaign, we’re all Iowans and we’re all in this together.

— Governer Kim Reynolds

Jerod Ringwald/ The Daily Iowan Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds hugs Caleb Primrose during a watch party for Iowa Republicans after Reynolds won re-election on Election Day at the Hilton Downtown in Des Moines on Nov. 8. Reynolds will now serve her 2nd full term.

One of the closest races in Iowa this election sea son was between incumbent Democrat U.S. Rep. Cin dy Axne and her Republi can challenger Zach Nunn, where Axne lost her seat by only 2,000 votes.

Axne was not the only Democratic U.S. congressio nal candidate to lose their seat. Republicans in New York flipped four seats — the most of any state. While the race for control of the House is still too close to call, Re publicans are prepared for the flip.

Either party in the U.S. House needs 218 members to take control. As of Thurs day night, Republicans have 209 seats, and Democrats have 189 from the races the AP has already called.

As previously reported by

The DI in April of 2021, Iowa politicians and political ex perts had the same senti ment that the state could not yet be considered red.

Tim Hagle, University of Iowa associate political sci ence professor told the DI last year that Iowa is not cemented as a ruby red state with a Republican majori ty. He said from 2007-2010, Democrats controlled all three branches of the state house.

Voter Jim Vorwey from Ur bandale, Iowa, who attended the Iowa GOP watch party, said he suspected more than a red wave. He suspected a red tsunami.

“We’ve got to turn things around to where we have a government that is working for the people, instead of me trying to work for the gov

ernment. And that’s kind of what we’re seeing,” Vorwey said.

As an excited support er of the Republican party, Vorwey said Americans are wanting a change in leader ship and what their leaders prioritize. Eager said this is why the country is seeing so many seats flip to Republi can control.

“Whatever the govern ment is going to give you, it’s going to come out of somebody else’s pocket … that’s what we need to fight against,” Vorwey said. “To represent the people that are really the taxpayers, we got to represent the House, as opposed to people that are the loudest who want the House.”

lauren-white@uiowa.edu

Infographics by Jami Martin-Trainorand Marandah Mangra-Dutcher

Jerod Ringwald/ The Daily Iowan

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley takes the stage during a watch party for Iowa Republicans on Election Day at the Hilton Downtown in Des Moines on Tuesday, Nov. 8. Grassley will now serve his 8th term in office.

Iowa House of Representatives

ADAM ZABNER

Democrat Adam Zabner won the election to Iowa House 90 with 98 percent of the vote after running unopposed. This will be Zabner’s first term in the Statehouse at 23 years old. He will also be the second Latino member of the Iowa Legislature. He campaigned funding Iowa’s schools, restoring bargaining rights for unions, and making Iowa a welcoming place for immigrants.

Democrat Elinor Levin beat Republican candidate Jacob Onken in the race for Iowa House District 89, receiving 82 percent of the vote. Levin plans to strengthen public unions and public school funding, support common sense gun laws, and help create infrastructure that will lead to reliable,and support the development of high-speed internet and renewable energy.

Iowa Senate

Rep. Dave Jacoby, D-Coralville, was reelected to the Iowa House with 98 percent of the vote in an uncontested race. As a representative, Jacoby states he will use his experience in education and finance to implement core funding over a five-year period instead of the current late annual allocations used by the education system.

Democrat Janice Weiner won the Iowa Senate District 45 election in a race against Republican Harold Weilbrenner. Weiner said she will prioritize funding for public education and increase pay for child care workers. Weiner’s platform emphasizes women’s rights and advocates for birth control, STD testing, abortion rights, and resources to help those in domestic violence situations.

Democratic Sen. Zach Wahls, D-Coralville, was reelected to Iowa Senate after running unopposed in District 43. He won 97 percent of the vote. Before his election to the Iowa Senate, Wahls advocated for LGBTQ+ rights to the Iowa state government, speaking before the Iowa House Judiciary Committee about marriage equality in 2011. Wahls sponsored bills related to funding Iowa’s small businesses and public schools.

Republican Dawn Driscoll defeated Democrat Kevin Kinney with 53.98 percent of the vote. Both Driscoll and Kinney were incumbent state senators drawn into the same district in the redistricting process. Driscoll’s campaign placed an emphasis on cutting taxes for Iowans. During her time as a state senator, Driscoll has worked to eliminate a property tax levy and the death tax.

Johnson County Board of Supervisors

Democrats Jon Green and V Fixmer-Oraiz won the two open seats for the Johnson County Board of Supervisors. Fixmer-Oraiz won 57 percent of the vote, and Green won 63 percent of the vote on Tuesday. Green and Fixmer-Oraiz ran against Republicans Phil Hemingway and Jammie Bradshaw — who won 31 percent and 25 percent of the vote, respectively, and Independent Eric Heick, who won 1.7 percent. Green campaigned on using the $29 million in funds the county received from the American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) to be “distributed in a prioritized manner,” pushing for creating more house and police reform. Fixmer-Oraiz campaigned on inclusive economic development, affordable housing, racial equity, LGBTQ+ inclusion, connectivity and mobility, climate resilience, and COVID-19 recovery.

State Auditor Secretary of State Attorney General

The State Auditor’s race has not yet been called, as of Thursday night. Incumbent Democratic Auditor Rob Sand currently leads his Republican challenger Todd Halbur, though the margin is just under 3,000 votes as of Thursday morning.

PAUL PATE

Incumbent Republican Secretary of State Paul Pate won his reelection against a challenge from Democrat Joel Miller with 60.07 percent of the vote. Pate wants to continue supporting voter ID laws, make voting accessible for active-duty military members, and reduce government bureaucracy for efficient processing for Iowa businesses.

BRENNA BIRD

ROB SAND

Republican Brenna Bird won the Attorney General’s race with 50.83 percent of the vote. Incumbent Democrat Tom Miller was the country’s longest-serving attorney general, holding the position for nearly 40 years.

TODD HALBUR

Lauren White Politics Reporter

Iowans voted to amend the state constitution to add a right to bear arms when they were given the opportunity on Tuesday night.

The amendment changes the way the right to bear arms is interpreted in the courts by adding a condition of strict scrutiny. The strict scrutiny provision means that no law can be made that will restrict the sale or ownership of fire arms unless absolutely neces sary.

According to unofficial re sults, 65 percent of Iowans voted in favor of the new amendment. A simple ma jority of voters was needed to pass the amendment.

Rep. Steve Holt, R-Denison,

proposed the amendment eight years ago. In a previous interview with The Daily Io wan, he said the amendment intends to protect the right to bear and keep arms.

Critics of the amendment say the new provisions will increase gun violence by blocking any restrictions that may come up, previously re ported by The Daily Iowan.

After going through both chambers twice and letting Iowans decide, the amend ment will go into effect im mediately and will cause the court to apply strict scrutiny to any proposed firearm leg islation.

Iowa GOP Chairman Jeff Kaufmann said he does not expect the amendment to im mediately affect our gun laws in the state.

“I think it cements the 2nd Amendment in our constitu tion,” Kaufmann said.

Amber Crow, a UI thirdyear College of Law student, said the amendment was worded in a way that may confuse Iowans into misin terpreting the provision. She said the wording on the ballot did not give enough informa tion or perspective.

“I see that there’s a lot of folks involved in politics that just prey on misinfor mation and a lack of educa tion among voters and it’s really disheartening because a constitutional amendment is such a strong thing to do,” Crow said.

Natalie Dunlapp contributed to this report.

lauren-white@uiowa.edu