Democrat Catelin Drey wins Iowa Senate special election, breaking Republican supermajority

[essentialsaltes]

Drey won with 55% of the vote to Republican Christopher Prosch's 44%, according to unofficial results from the Woodbury County Auditor's Office.

Gov. Kim Reynolds called the election to fill a vacancy in Iowa Senate District 1 after Republican Sen. Rocky De Witt died of pancreatic cancer in June. [De Witt won in 2022 with +10% over his D challenger.]

With Drey's win, Democrats now hold 17 seats in the 50-member Senate to Republicans' 33 seats — enough to break the two-thirds supermajority the GOP has enjoyed since the 2022 election.

[Other recent Iowa Democratic wins] include Democrat Mike Zimmer's surprise victory in a January special election for an eastern Iowa Senate seat

 

[essentialsaltes]

Democrat Renee Hardman wins Iowa state Senate seat, blocking GOP from reclaiming a supermajority​

Without a supermajority, the party will need to get support from at least one Democrat to approve Reynolds’ nominees. The GOP still has significant majorities in both legislative chambers.

[While this seat was previously held by a Democrat (who died), Democrats flipped two other seats this year (per OP).]

[People are saying that her win represents a 27 point improvement over Kamala Harris' performance there in 2024.]