Sioux City special election: Republicans choose far-right candidate for seat

A special election in Sioux City has big implications for power in the Iowa Senate. Who voters choose will have a major impact on power in the Iowa Legislature.

A special election for a single seat in the Iowa Senate—District 1, which covers most of Sioux City—could decide whether Iowa’s governor gets to stack the courts and agencies with whoever she wants or if Democrats can block her most controversial picks.

The Woodbury County Democrats meet at 6 p.m. tonight to select their candidate. Meanwhile, Republicans chose a controversial far-right candidate,  who, since selected, appears to be scrubbing content from social media accounts affiliated with him and his political strategy firm.

Republican Christopher Prosch has been outspoken about his belief that rape victims should have to carry their pregnancies to term, that 2020 presidential election was stolen, and that climate change is a “a lie.”

GOP candidate Prosch deletes conspiracy-filled social media posts and accounts following nomination

Republican candidate Christopher Prosch has been working on campaigns for over a decade. He got his start as a canvasser in Kristi Noem’s 2010 Congressional campaign. But he’s since spent his career working on campaigns across the South Dakota-Nebraska-Iowa tri-state area. 

Eight years ago, WNAX reported that Prosch, then of Vermillion, South Dakota, was named communications director of the South Dakota Republican Party. According to Legistorm, he was the legislative aide to Nebraska state Sen. Ben Hansen, a Republican, in 2021.

Prosch is the founder of Sioux Falls, South Dakota-based Felix Strategies. According to its website, Felix is a political strategy firm that specializes in “brand rehabilitation, influencer amplification, and strategic communication for Christian conservative leaders and organizations.” The firm’s website includes testimonials from 2020 election certification deniers like Seth Holehouse and conspiracy luminaries like Trevor Loudon, who can be found sharing a stage with leaders of the Proud Boys.

On a podcast Prosch hosts, he highlighted some of his views. During one conversation, he likened the Holocaust to the availability of abortion in the United States. 

“Who was worse? The Nazi Germans who killed 10 million Jews and many other people? Or the left’s policies to target an entire generation of babies to death,” he asked.

Later in the show, he said victims of rape or incest should carry pregnancies to term.

“So your solution to a tragedy is to have another tragedy. Oh, okay. So, you know, and let’s not, you know, mince words here. The baby did nothing wrong. Now if you don’t want to raise that child, that’s completely understandable,” he said, “but there’s something called adoption.”

Elsewhere on the internet, Prosch frequently repeats without evidence that there was wide-spread fraud in the 2020 election. There was not.

Screenshot taken from Christopher Prosch’s Facebook.

On his personal X account, @Pro1854, he shared posts that falsely claim there was a 9/11 World Trade Center coverup and that vaccines are unsafe. Neither are backed by available evidence.

Screenshot taken from Christopher Prosch’s X account.

Through his firm’s Facebook, he spread false information claiming that climate change is “all a lie!” While no one event is the result of climate change, extreme weather has become more intense due to a warming planet. In fact, the district he wants to represent has been plagued by massive flooding in recent years that collapsed a bridge that connects Sioux City’s Iowa and South Dakota sides.

Screenshot taken from Felix Strategies’ Facebook. Christopher Prosch is Felix’s founder.

Iowa Starting Line reached out for an interview to talk to him about his comments. Prosch did not return calls.

One seat can change a lot

Thirty-four seats is two-thirds of the Iowa Senate. Before the death of state Sen. Rocky De Witt, who held the seat, Republicans had a two-thirds majority in the chamber. If Republicans keep their majority, nothing changes. But if Democrats can pull off a surprise special election win, they would have the ability to block the confirmation of judges or even agency heads. 

“Every seat matters,” said Democratic leader Janice Weiner. 

And she’s right—this isn’t just about one district anymore.

If Democrats win this seat, they’d have 17 votes in the Senate. That’s just enough to block those appointments.

A strongly-Republican district during a strong year for Democrats

Recent history favors Republicans retaining the seat. De Witt won it for the GOP in 2022, beating Democrat Jackie Smith by 10%. During the 2020 election, the district supported Trump by nearly 3 percentage points. Most recently, in 2024, it went for Trump 11 percentage points in a year that Trump overperformed across the state. 

The most current available voter registration totals also favor Republicans. According to the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office, SD-01 in July had:

• 8,993 active registered Republicans
• 7,356 active registered Democrats 
• 6,786 active voters who are not registered with a party

However, Democratic candidates have outperformed in Trump districts recently. In January, Democrat Mike Zimmer won Senate District 35 from Republicans, a district Trump carried by 21 percentage points in 2024. And while she didn’t win, Democrat Nannette Griffin only lost her House District 100 race by 3 percentage points in a district Trump carried by 27 points. 

While that pattern is clear, Republicans are still favored for the seat.

Details on August special election

Iowa Senate District 1 seat was vacated after De Witt’s death. The Republican from Lawton served as a Woodbury County Supervisor and Sheriff. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2024 and died last month at the age of 66.

In June, Gov. Kim Reynolds set the special election for Tuesday, Aug. 26. The winner will serve out the remainder of De Witt’s term, which ends January 2027. 

Turnout will likely be low—maybe a few thousand people. 

Republicans will spend heavily to hold the seat. Senate Democrats are already pouring resources in too, hoping to keep their winning streak alive.