Democrat incumbents win out in JoCo Iowa House and Senate races

State Rep. Dave Jacoby, D-Coralville, handily fends off Republican challenger.

Grace Olson, News Editor

November 6, 2024

University of Iowa Students vote at Catlett Residence Hall in Iowa City during Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. Iowa polls were open from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. (Cody Blissett/The Daily Iowan)

As of early Wednesday morning, the state of Iowa had unofficially called all Iowa Senate and House of Representative races in Johnson County.

There was one Senate race in Iowa Senate District 46, with Republican incumbent State Sen. Dawn Driscoll retaining her seat and beating Democrat Ed Chabal by 1.1 percentage points and winning 52.4 percent of the vote. Chabal came in behind with 47.49 percent of the vote.

Six Iowa House Districts were up for election, with three Democrats winning and one Republican winning seats in office. One seat remains uncalled but favors the incumbent

Incumbent State Rep. Heather Hora, R-Washington, in Iowa House District 92, is in the lead with 61.07 percent of the vote, compared to Banowsky’s 38.7 percent of the vote. However, Washington County is still waiting to fully report results as of Wednesday morning.

Republican Judd Lawler beat Democrat Jay Gorsh by 2.7 percentage points and won 51.3 percent of the vote, while Gorsh won 48.6 percent.

Incumbent State. Rep. Dave Jacoby, D-Coralville, handily fended off a challenge from Republican Stephen Knoner with Jacoby winning 76 percent of the vote, compared to Knoner’s 23 percent.

Democrats and incumbent State Reps. Elinor Levin, D-Iowa City, Amy Nielsen, D-North Liberty, and Adam Zabner, D-Iowa City all ran unopposed and retained their seats.

The results come as statewide, including in tight races in the Des Moines Metro, Democrats are losing out. Statewide statehouse Democrats lost ground in the Iowa House of Representatives this election as the state overwhelming went to Trump for the third time.

On election night Iowa Speaker of the House Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford, claimed they had expanded their membership from 64 to 67, though several statehouse races in the Des Moines Metro remain too close to call.

“I’ll tell you that’s a pretty high number,” Grassley said of the expected number of new members. “We’re pretty excited about that. And I think Iowans – I feel pretty confident in saying this – House Republicans continue to represent every single county within the state and we’re excited that continues to grow.”