2002 Iowa Senate election

The 2002 Iowa State Senate elections took place as part of the biennial 2002 United States elections. Iowa voters elected state senators in 35 of the state senate's 50 districts—all 25 of the odd-numbered seats were up for regularly scheduled elections and, due to the oddities of redistricting following the 2000 Census, 10 of the even-numbered sears were up as well. State senators serve four-year terms in the Iowa State Senate, with half of the seats traditionally up for election each cycle.

2002 Iowa Senate election

← 2000 November 5, 2002 2004 →
35 out of 50 seats in the Iowa State Senate 26 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Mary Kramer Michael Gronstal Party Republican Democratic Leader's seat 30th 50th Last election 30 20 Seats before 29[a] 21 Seats after 29 21 Seat change
President of the Senate before election Mary Kramer Republican Elected President of the Senate Mary Kramer Republican

The primary election on June 4, 2002, determined which candidates appeared on the November 5, 2002 general election ballot. Primary election results can be obtained here.^[2] General election results can be obtained here.^[3]

Following the previous 2000 Iowa Senate election, Republicans had control of the Iowa state Senate with 30 seats to Democrats' 20 seats. On March 12, 2002, a special election in district 10 resulted in Amanda Ragan flipping a seat in favor of the Democrats. Therefore, on election day in November 2002, Republicans controlled 29 seats and Democrats had 21. To reclaim control of the chamber from Republicans, the Democrats needed to net 5 Senate seats. Republicans maintained control of the Iowa State Senate following the 2002 general election with the balance of power remaining unchanged with Republicans holding 29 seats and Democrats having 21 seats.

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[4]	Lean R	October 4, 2002

Summary of Results

• NOTE: 15 of the even-numbered districts did not have elections in 2002 so they are not listed here.
• Also note, an asterisk (*) after a Senator's name indicates they were an incumbent re-elected, but to a new district number due to redistricting.

State Senate District	Incumbent	Party		Elected Senator	Party
1st[5]	Steven D. Hansen		Dem	Steve Warnstadt		Democratic
2nd[6]	John Redwine		Rep	Kenneth Veenstra*[b]		Republican
3rd[7]	Kenneth Veenstra		Rep	David Johnson		Republican
5th[8]	Mary Lou Freeman		Rep	Stewart Iverson*[c]		Republican
7th[9]	Michael Sexton		Rep	Amanda Ragan*[d]		Democratic
8th[10]	E. Thurman Gaskill		Rep	Mark Zieman*[e]		Republican
9th[11]	Stewart Iverson		Rep	Bob Brunkhorst		Republican
11th[12]	John W. Jensen		Rep	William Dotzler		Democratic
13th[13]	Patricia M. Harper		Dem	Roger Stewart		Democratic
15th[14]	Betty A. Soukup		Dem	Robert Dvorsky*[f]		Democratic
16th[15]	Mark Zieman		Rep	Julie Hosch		Republican
17th[16]	Thomas L. Flynn		Dem	Wally Horn*[g]		Democratic
19th[17]	Sheldon L. Rittmer		Rep	Chuck Larson		Republican
20th[18]	Tom Fiegen		Dem	John Putney		Republican
21st[19]	Maggie Tinsman		Rep	Dennis Black*[h]		Democratic
23rd[20]	Joe Bolkcom		Dem	Herman Quirmbach		Democratic
25th[21]	Robert Dvorsky		Dem	Daryl Beall		Democratic
27th[22]	Wally Horn		Dem	Ron Wieck		Republican
28th[23]	Andy McKean		Rep	James Seymour		Republican
29th[24]	Dennis Black		Dem	Nancy Boettger*[i]		Republican
30th[25]	Neal Schuerer		Rep	Mary Kramer*[j]		Republican
31st[26]	Johnie Hammond		Dem	Matt McCoy*[k]		Democratic
33rd[27]	Jeff Lamberti		Rep	Jack Hatch		Democratic
34th[28]	Matt McCoy		Dem	Dick Dearden*[l]		Democratic
35th[29]	Dick Dearden		Dem	Jeff Lamberti*[m]		Republican
37th[30]	Mary Kramer		Rep	Doug Shull		Republican
39th[31]	David G. Lord		Rep	Joe Bolkcom*[n]		Democratic
40th[32]	Jerry Behn		Rep	Richard F. Drake*[o]		Republican
41st[33]	Nancy Boettger		Rep	Maggie Tinsman*[p]		Republican
42nd[34]	Michael Gronstal		Dem	Bryan Sievers		Republican
43rd[35]	Hubert Houser		Rep	Joe M. Seng		Democratic
44th[36]	Jeff Angelo		Rep	Thomas G. Courtney		Democratic
45th[37]	Bill Fink		Dem	David Miller*[q]		Republican
47th[38]	David Miller		Rep	Keith A. Kreiman		Democratic
49th[39]	Mark Shearer		Dem	Hubert Houser*[r]		Republican

Source:^[40]

Detailed Results

• Reminder: All odd-numbered Iowa Senate seats were up for election in 2002 as well as 10 of the even-numbered seats due to redistricting following the 2000 Census. 15 of the even-numbered seats are not included here because they did not have elections in 2002.

District 1 • District 2 • District 3 • District 5 • District 7 • District 8 • District 9 • District 11 • District 13 • District 15 • District 16 • District 17 • District 19 • District 20 • District 21 • District 23 • District 25 • District 27 • District 28 • District 29 • District 30 • District 31 • District 33 • District 34 • District 35 • District 37 • District 39 • District 40 • District 41 • District 42 • District 43 • District 44 • District 45 • District 47 • District 49

• Note: If a district does not list a primary, then that district did not have a competitive primary (i.e., there may have only been one candidate file for that district).

District 1

Iowa Senate, District 1 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Steve Warnstadt	8,871	63.9
	Republican	Jack Voss	5,020	36.1
Total votes			13,891	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 2

Iowa Senate, District 2 Republican Primary Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Kenneth Veenstra (incumbent)[b]	5,295	56.0
	Republican	George K. Schneidermann	4,167	44.0
Total votes			9,462	100.0

Iowa Senate, District 2 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Kenneth Veenstra (incumbent)[b]	16,178	100.0
Total votes			16,178	100.0
	Republican hold

District 3

Iowa Senate, District 3 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	David Johnson	12,161	60.8
	Democratic	John D. Ryan	7,855	39.2
Total votes			20,016	100.0
	Republican hold

District 5

Iowa Senate, District 5 Democratic Primary Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Kevin J. Miskell	767	67.6
	Democratic	Darrell Determann	368	32.4
Total votes			1,135	100.0

Iowa Senate, District 5 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Stewart Iverson (incumbent)[c]	12,106	57.5
	Democratic	Kevin J. Miskell	8,959	42.5
Total votes			21,065	100.0
	Republican hold

District 7

Iowa Senate, District 7 Republican Primary Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mary Ellen Miller	2,050	56.5
	Republican	Art Wolover	1,577	43.5
Total votes			3,627	100.0

Iowa Senate, District 7 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Amanda Ragan (incumbent)[d]	11,719	60.6
	Republican	Mary Ellen Miller	6,861	35.4
	Independent	Kevin Smith	765	4.0
Total votes			19,345	100.0
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 8

Iowa Senate, District 8 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mark Zieman (incumbent)[e]	11,529	56.7
	Democratic	Lyle Otte	8,817	43.3
Total votes			20,346	100.0
	Republican hold

District 9

Iowa Senate, District 9 Republican Primary Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bob Brunkhorst	2,431	50.1
	Republican	Tom B. Hoogestraat	2,424	49.9
Total votes			4,855	100.0

Iowa Senate, District 9 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bob Brunkhorst	11,952	60.1
	Democratic	Pat Taylor	7,925	39.9
Total votes			19,877	100.0
	Republican hold

District 11

Iowa Senate, District 11 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Bill Dotzler	10,820	66.4
	Republican	Melvina B. Scott	5,482	33.6
Total votes			16,302	100.0
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 13

Iowa Senate, District 13 Democratic Primary Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Roger Tabor Stewart	1,444	70.2
	Democratic	Highland B. Nichols	614	29.8
Total votes			2,058	100.0

Iowa Senate, District 13 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Roger Tabor Stewart	9,589	54.7
	Republican	Jerome F. Burken	7,586	43.3
	Libertarian	Nelson B. Morris	343	2.0
Total votes			17,518	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 15

Iowa Senate, District 15 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Robert Dvorsky (incumbent)[f]	12,827	59.6
	Republican	Jack Young	8,679	40.4
Total votes			21,506	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 16

Iowa Senate, District 16 Republican Primary Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Julie Hosch	2,278	77.2
	Republican	Katherine Kitty Dirks	674	22.8
Total votes			2,952	100.0

Iowa Senate, District 16 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Julie Hosch	11,023	51.2
	Democratic	Tom Flynn (incumbent)[s]	10,519	48.8
Total votes			21,542	100.0
	Republican hold

District 17

Iowa Senate, District 17 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Wally Horn (incumbent)[g]	14,461	100.0
Total votes			14,461	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 19

Iowa Senate, District 19 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Chuck Larson	13,375	57.1
	Democratic	Renee V. Sneitzer	10,044	42.9
Total votes			23,419	100.0
	Republican hold

District 20

Iowa Senate, District 20 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Putney	12,263	61.5
	Democratic	Donald W. Wanatee	7,678	38.5
Total votes			19,941	100.0
	Republican gain from Democratic

District 21

Iowa Senate, District 21 Democratic Primary Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Dennis Black (incumbent)[h]	2,972	71.5
	Democratic	Joe Pirillo	1,182	28.5
Total votes			4,154	100.0

Iowa Senate, District 21 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Dennis Black (incumbent)[h]	14,202	61.6
	Republican	Ken Rogers	8,854	38.4
Total votes			23,056	100.0
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 23

Iowa Senate, District 23 Democratic Primary Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Herman Quirmbach	1,555	51.4
	Democratic	Karen Bolluyt	1,473	48.6
Total votes			3,028	100.0

Iowa Senate, District 23 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Herman Quirmbach	10,541	54.5
	Republican	Barbara A. Finch	8,215	42.5
	Libertarian	Eric Cooper	586	3.0
Total votes			19,342	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 25

Iowa Senate, District 25 Republican Primary Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Cherrie Wiese	2,109	54.3
	Republican	Marvin Dick	1,778	45.7
Total votes			3,887	100.0

Iowa Senate, District 25 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Daryl Beall	11,400	58.5
	Republican	Cherrie Wiese	8,083	41.5
Total votes			19,483	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 27

Iowa Senate, District 27 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ron Wieck	9,724	52.2
	Democratic	Maurice Welte	8,912	47.8
Total votes			18,636	100.0
	Republican gain from Democratic

District 28

Iowa Senate, District 28 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	James Seymour	8,868	48.9
	Democratic	Lenee Sinnott	7,857	43.3
	Independent	Neal R. Gorham	1,413	7.8
Total votes			18,138	100.0
	Republican hold

District 29

Iowa Senate, District 29 Republican Primary Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Nancy Boettger (incumbent)[i]	3,433	50.4
	Republican	Jim Field	2,452	36.0
	Republican	Patrick J. Hall	925	13.6
Total votes			6,810	100.0

Iowa Senate, District 29 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Nancy Boettger (incumbent)[i]	13,033	61.3
	Democratic	Russell Joyce	8,236	38.7
Total votes			21,269	100.0
	Republican gain from Democratic

District 30

Iowa Senate, District 30 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mary Kramer (incumbent)[j]	17,801	89.6
	Independent	Satro Narayan	2,067	10.4
Total votes			19,868	100.0
	Republican hold

District 31

Iowa Senate, District 31 Republican Primary Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Kaye Lozier	2,597	82.2
	Republican	Barbara Stirling	564	17.8
Total votes			3,161	100.0

Iowa Senate, District 31 Democratic Primary Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Matt McCoy (incumbent)[k]	3,275	62.9
	Democratic	Chuck Gifford	1,929	37.1
Total votes			5,204	100.0

Iowa Senate, District 31 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Matt McCoy (incumbent)[k]	12,004	56.5
	Republican	Kaye Lozier	9,233	43.5
Total votes			21,237	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 33

Iowa Senate, District 33 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jack Hatch	10,311	100.0
Total votes			10,311	100.0
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 34

Iowa Senate, District 34 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Dick Dearden (incumbent)[l]	13,366	100.0
Total votes			13,366	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 35

Iowa Senate, District 35 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jeff Lamberti (incumbent)[m]	18,117	100.0
Total votes			18,117	100.0
	Republican gain from Democratic

District 37

Iowa Senate, District 37 Republican Primary Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Doug Shull	2,030	61.8
	Republican	Brad Nordstrom	1,254	38.2
Total votes			3,284	100.0

Iowa Senate, District 37 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Doug Shull	11,126	48.9
	Democratic	Bill Fink (incumbent)[t]	10,623	46.7
	Independent	Brad Nordstrom	1,002	4.4
Total votes			22,751	100.0
	Republican hold

District 39

Iowa Senate, District 39 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Joe Bolkcom (incumbent)[n]	14,559	100.0
Total votes			14,559	100.0
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 40

Iowa Senate, District 40 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Richard F. Drake (incumbent)[o]	8,742	50.9
	Democratic	Tom Fiegen (incumbent)[u]	8,432	49.1
Total votes			17,174	100.0
	Republican hold

District 41

Iowa Senate, District 41 Republican Primary Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Maggie Tinsman (incumbent)[p]	3,213	72.7
	Republican	Niky Bowles	1,207	27.3
Total votes			4,420	100.0

Iowa Senate, District 41 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Maggie Tinsman (incumbent)[p]	16,341	84.8
	Libertarian	Mark Nelson	2,928	15.2
Total votes			19,269	100.0
	Republican hold

District 42

Iowa Senate, District 42 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bryan Sievers	10,116	52.9
	Democratic	Dennis Starling	9,013	47.1
Total votes			19,129	100.0
	Republican gain from Democratic

District 43

Iowa Senate, District 43 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Joe Seng	11,043	68.3
	Republican	John D. Gumpert	4,728	29.3
	Libertarian	Rich Moroney	385	2.4
Total votes			16,156	100.0
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 44

Iowa Senate, District 44 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Thomas G. Courtney	11,186	69.3
	Independent	Charles Schulz	4,964	30.7
Total votes			16,150	100.0
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 45

Iowa Senate, District 45 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	David Miller (incumbent)[q]	10,744	53.3
	Democratic	Mark Shearer (incumbent)[v]	9,410	46.7
Total votes			20,154	100.0
	Republican gain from Democratic

District 47

Iowa Senate, District 47 Democratic Primary Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Keith Kreiman	4,286	80.9
	Democratic	Theodore Buttel	1,015	19.1
Total votes			5,301	100.0

Iowa Senate, District 47 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Keith Kreiman	11,653	56.7
	Republican	Galen M. Davis	8,915	43.3
Total votes			20,568	100.0
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 49

Iowa Senate, District 49 General Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Hubert Houser (incumbent)[r]	15,572	100.0
Total votes			15,572	100.0
	Republican gain from Democratic

1. Democrat Amanda Ragan won a special election in March 2002 to fill a vacancy in District 10 that had been held by Republican Merlin Bartz.^[1]
2. Redistricted from district 3 to 2.
3. Redistricted from district 9 to 5.
4. Redistricted from district 10 to 7.
5. Redistricted from district 16 to 8.
6. Redistricted from district 25 to 15.
7. Redistricted from district 27 to 17.
8. Redistricted from district 29 to 21.
9. Redistricted from district 41 to 29.
10. Redistricted from district 37 to 30.
11. Redistricted from district 34 to 31.
12. Redistricted from district 35 to 34.
13. Redistricted from district 33 to 35.
14. Redistricted from district 23 to 39.
15. Redistricted from district 24 to 40.
16. Redistricted from district 21 to 41.
17. Redistricted from district 47 to 45.
18. Redistricted from district 43 to 49.
19. Redistricted from district 17 to 16.
20. Redistricted from district 45 to 37.
21. Redistricted from district 20 to 40.
22. Redistricted from district 49 to 45.

See also

• United States elections, 2002
• United States House of Representatives elections in Iowa, 2002
• Elections in Iowa