Drey wins Sioux City special election, breaks GOP supermajority

Catelin Drey, a first-time Democratic candidate, decisively won a special election in Sioux City that will have a significant impact on the Iowa Senate and the process of appointing state department heads.

Sioux City like much of western Iowa has been electing Republicans. But last night, a special election reversed that trend.

Democrat Catelin Drey won a seat in the Iowa Senate Tuesday night. The special election was for Iowa Senate District 1, a seat that last belonged to a Republican. A seat that Drey managed to flip.

Drey defeated Republican consultant Christopher Prosch by 4,208 to 3,411 votes—a 797 margin. Turnout in Tuesday’s election was 7,621 voters out of 31,911 registered in the district. While special elections tend to be low turnout, one in four registered voters in the district cast a ballot.

While just one seat, the victory is an important one in the Iowa Senate: it breaks Republicans’ supermajority in the chamber. That means they can no longer confirm department head appointments without at least one Democratic vote. In Iowa, nominees need a two-thirds majority (34 votes) to be confirmed. After Senator-elect Drey joins the chamber next spring, the Republican majority sits at 33-17.

“This win shows that when Democrats fight for Iowa working families, when we get out and listen to Iowans, when we field people who care deeply about their communities, we can win anywhere, including in Northwest Iowa,” Senate Democratic Leader Janice Weiner of Iowa City said in a statement.

Senate District 1 covers most of Sioux City and parts of Woodbury County. The seat became vacant after Republican Senator Rocky De Witt died of pancreatic cancer in June. De Witt had held the seat since 2022, when he defeated Democratic incumbent Jackie Smith, who had flipped the district in 2018.

By the numbers, it was the Republicans’ seat to lose. President Donald Trump carried the district by 11 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election, and registered Republicans outnumber Democrats 38% to 31% in the area.

Drey, 35, works as a marketing professional and founded the advocacy group Moms for Iowa. She focused her campaign on education funding, affordable childcare, healthcare access, and opposition to public money going to private schools through Iowa’s Education Savings Account program. She criticized the state’s declining education rankings and maternal healthcare statistics.

Prosch campaigned on eliminating the state income tax, job creation, and protecting property rights against eminent domain, particularly regarding carbon capture pipeline projects. The Republican Party ran attack ads featuring a grainy photo of Drey, claiming she supported voting rights for undocumented immigrants—allegations the party didn’t have evidence for and that Drey has called false.

A look at finance reports shows Drey outraised and outspent Prosch. She raised $165,384 and spent $75,066 between June and August, with the state Democratic Party contributing $87,706. Meanwhile, Prosch raised $20,020 and spent $18,425. The Iowa Republican Party bailed out his campaign with $161,543 in in-kind support for Prosch.

Iowa Democratic Party Chari Rita Hart pointed to the fundraising in a statement Tuesday night that reports showed Democrats from all over Iowa came together to support Drey’s campaign.

“For the fourth special election in a row, Iowa voted for change,” Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart said in a statement. “Catelin Drey will listen to the people, not the powerful, get our economy growing, and bring down costs for families.”

The election results upset Iowa Republican Party Chairman Jeff Kaufmann who had endorsed Prosch in the election. He tweeted Tuesday night, that national Democrats spent “a flood” of money and activated 30,000 volunteers. He often criticizes the party for not showing interest in the state.

“If @DNC thinks things are suddenly so great again for them in Iowa, they will bring back the caucuses,” he wrote.

The Sioux City special election was the fourth in a series of state legislative elections in Iowa this year. Democrats won two of the races, retained a seat they already held and lost a fourth.

In January, Democrat Mike Zimmer won a special election in Senate District 35, flipping a seat in a district Trump had carried by 21 points. That victory reduced the Republican Senate majority to 33-16 before Tuesday’s election.

Iowa Democrats have struggled in recent years as Iowa has trended Republican, losing control of both chambers of the legislature and most statewide offices. Some are looking to the victory as a sign of momentum heading into the 2026 legislative elections. The result also demonstrates Democratic competitiveness in districts that have moved toward Republicans in recent presidential elections, potentially affecting candidate recruitment for future races.