Iowa Elects A Majority Female Federal Delegation

With the announcement of Congresswoman Cindy Axne’s victory, Iowa will send a majority-female delegation to Congress next year for the first time in state history.

Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst was reelected, and state Rep. Ashley Hinson appears poised to win Iowa’s 1st Congressional District. The results in the 2nd District are not clear yet, but with 90.5% of precincts reporting, Rita Hart leads by less than 1 percentage point. The 4th District race is the only federal contest in Iowa not to include a female candidate. Candidates for Senate, and the 1st and 2nd congressional districts all are women.

Axne defeated former congressman David Young 49% to 47.6%.

Iowa did not elect a woman to federal office until 2014 when Republican Sen. Joni Ernst succeeded Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin. In 2018, Axne and Finkenauer made history as the first women from the state elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Nationwide, three states have majority-female congressional delegations: Nevada (four women, two men); New Hampshire (three women, one man); and Washington (seven women, five men).

“I can’t tell you how long we knocked on the door to get where we are now,” said Andy McGuire, former chair of the Iowa Democratic Party and a 2018 candidate for governor, in an interview following the June primaries.

By Elizabeth Meyer
Posted 11/3/20

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