2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Iowa

The 2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Iowa were held on November 6, 2018, to elect the four U.S. representatives from the State of Iowa, one from each of the state's four congressional districts. The elections coincided with the gubernatorial election, as well as other elections to the House of Representatives, elections to the United States Senate, and various state and local elections. The state congressional delegation flipped from a 3–1 Republican majority to a 3–1 Democratic majority.

2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Iowa

← 2016 November 6, 2018 (2018-11-06) 2020 →
All 4 Iowa seats to the United States House of Representatives
Majority party Minority party   Party Democratic Republican Last election 1 3 Seats won 3 1 Seat change 2 2 Popular vote 664,676 612,338 Percentage 50.5% 46.5% Swing 6.05% 7.11%
Party gains Democratic   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80% Republican   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80% District results Democratic   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80% Republican   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80% County results      Democratic hold      Democratic gain      Republican hold

This was the first time the Democrats won the majority of Iowa's seats since 2010, and the first time they won the popular vote in the state since 2012. As of 2025, these results were also the last time the Democrats would achieve either due to Iowa's significant shift towards the GOP.

Overview

Statewide

Party		Candidates	Votes		Seats
			No.	%	No.	+/–	%
	Democratic	4	664,676	50.48%	3	2	75.00%
	Republican	4	612,338	46.51%	1	2	25.00%
	Libertarian	4	29,894	2.27%	0		0.00%
	Independent	3	5,100	0.39%	0		0.00%
	Legal Marijuana Now	1	2,015	0.15%	0		0.00%
	Green	1	1,888	0.14%	0		0.00%
	Write-in		732	0.06%	0		0.00%
Total		17	1,316,643	100.00%	4		100.00%

Popular vote Democratic   50.48% Republican   46.51% Libertarian   2.27% Other   0.74%

House seats Democratic   75.00% Republican   25.00%

By district

Results of the 2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Iowa by district:^[1]

District	Democratic		Republican		Others		Total		Result
	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%
District 1	170,342	50.96%	153,442	45.91%	10,459	3.13%	334,243	100.0%	Democratic gain
District 2	171,446	54.79%	133,287	42.60%	8,180	2.61%	312,913	100%	Democratic hold
District 3	175,642	49.30%	167,933	47.14%	12,666	3.56%	356,241	100.0%	Democratic gain
District 4	147,246	47.04%	157,676	50.37%	8,123	2.59%	313,045	100.0%	Republican hold
Total	664,676	50.49%	612,338	46.51%	39,428	3.00%	1,316,442	100.0%

District 1

2018 Iowa's 1st congressional district election

← 2016 2020 →

Nominee Abby Finkenauer Rod Blum Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 170,342 153,442 Percentage 51.0% 45.9%

County results Finkenauer:      50–60% Blum:      40–50%      50–60%

U.S. Representative before election Rod Blum Republican Elected U.S. Representative Abby Finkenauer Democratic

See also: Iowa's 1st congressional district

Incumbent Republican Rod Blum, who had represented the district since 2015, ran for re-election. He was re-elected with 54% of the vote in 2016. The district had a PVI of D+1.

The 1st district went for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election with a 49% to 45% margin, after voting for Barack Obama with a 56% to 43% margin in 2012.^[2]

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Rod Blum, incumbent U.S. Representative

Results

2018 Iowa's 1st congressional district Republican primary results by county:

Map legend

•   Blum—100%
•   Blum—≥90%

Republican primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Rod Blum (incumbent)	14,737	98.9
	Republican	Write-ins	167	1.1
Total votes			14,904	100.0

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Abby Finkenauer, state representative^[3]

Eliminated in primary

• Thomas Heckroth, former staffer for United States Senator Tom Harkin^[4][5]
• George Ramsey III, former military recruiter^[5]
• Courtney Rowe, engineer and Bernie Sanders delegate at the 2016 state convention^[6]

Declined

• Jeff Danielson, state senator^[7][8]
• Liz Mathis, state senator^[9]
• Brent Oleson, Linn County Supervisor^[7][10]
• Steve Sodders, former state senator^[11]
• Stacey Walker, Linn County Supervisor^[4][10]

Endorsements

Abby Finkenauer

State legislators

• Ako Abdul-Samad, state representative^[12]
• Liz Bennett, state representative^[12]
• Timi Brown-Powers, state representative^[12]
• Pam Jochum, State Senator and former President of the Iowa Senate^[12]
• Tyler Olson, former state representative^[12]
• Janet Petersen, state senator^[12]
• Kirsten Running-Marquardt, state representative^[12]
• Ras Smith, state representative^[12]
• Todd Taylor, state representative^[12]

Individuals

• Sue Dvorsky, former Iowa Democratic Party chair^[12]

Thomas Heckroth

State legislators

• Ro Foege, former state representative^[13]
• Brian Schoenjahn, former state senator^[13]
• Steve Sodders, former state senator^[13]

Individuals

• Brent Oleson, Linn County Supervisor^[13][10]
• Peggy Sherets, Oelwein mayor^[13]

Courtney Rowe

Organizations

• Justice Democrats

Results

2018 Iowa's 1st congressional district Democratic primary results by county:

Map legend

•   Finkenauer—80–90%
•   Finkenauer—70–80%
•   Finkenauer—60–70%
•   Finkenauer—50–60%
•   Heckroth—50–60%

Democratic primary results^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Abby Finkenauer	29,745	66.8
	Democratic	Thomas Heckroth	8,516	19.1
	Democratic	Courtney Rowe	3,381	7.6
	Democratic	George Ramsey	2,837	6.4
	Democratic	Write-ins	50	0.1
Total votes			44,529	100

Libertarian primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Troy Hageman, activist

Green primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Henry Gaff, co-chair of the Iowa Green Party^[15]

Gaff was only 18, meaning he would not have met the U.S. Constitution's required minimum age of 25 to be elected to the House of Representatives.^[15]

General election

Debates

2018 Iowa's 1st congressional district debates

No.	Date	Host	Moderator	Link	Republican	Democratic
Key:  P  Participant   A  Absent   N  Not invited   I  Invited  W  Withdrawn
					Rod Blum	Abby Finkenauer
1	October 5, 2018	KWWL-TV	Ron Steele Abby Turpin	[16]	P	P
2	October 16, 2018	KGAN KXEL	Jeff Stein Nick Weig	[17]	P	P

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Rod Blum (R)	Abby Finkenauer (D)	Troy Hageman (L)	Undecided
Emerson College[18]	October 29 – November 1, 2018	353	± 5.5%	41%	53%	4%	2%
NYT Upshot/Siena College[19]	October 28–31, 2018	452	± 4.9%	39%	46%	4%	11%
The Polling Company (R-Blum)[20]	October 12–13, 2018	400	± 4.9%	43%	45%	4%	6%
The Polling Company (R-Blum)[21]	October 3–4, 2018	400	± 4.9%	43%	44%	3%	8%
NYT Upshot/Siena College[22]	September 18–20, 2018	502	± 4.6%	37%	52%	–	11%
Emerson College[23]	September 6–8, 2018	250	± 6.4%	38%	43%	–	12%
DCCC (D)[24]	February 13–14, 2018	—	—	41%	47%	–	—
Public Policy Polling (D)[25]	February 12–13, 2018	742	± 3.6%	42%	43%	–	15%
Public Policy Polling (D-Heckroth)[26]	November 2–3, 2017	737	–	42%	43%	–	16%
Public Policy Polling (D)[27]	October 6–8, 2017	1,093	± 3.0%	40%	42%	–	18%

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[28]	Lean D (flip)	November 5, 2018
Inside Elections[29]	Lean D (flip)	November 5, 2018
Sabato's Crystal Ball[30]	Lean D (flip)	November 5, 2018
RCP[31]	Lean D (flip)	November 5, 2018
Daily Kos[32]	Lean D (flip)	November 5, 2018
538[33]	Safe D (flip)	November 7, 2018
CNN[34]	Lean D (flip)	October 31, 2018
Fox News[35]	Lean D (flip)	September 21, 2018
Politico[36]	Lean D (flip)	November 2, 2018

Results

Finkenauer went on to flip the district; this was one of many victories in swing districts for Democrats in a blue wave election.

Iowa's 1st congressional district, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Abby Finkenauer	170,342	51.0
	Republican	Rod Blum (incumbent)	153,442	45.9
	Libertarian	Troy Hageman	10,285	3.1
	Write-in		174	0.0
Total votes			334,243	100.0
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 2

2018 Iowa's 2nd congressional district election

← 2016 2020 →

Nominee Dave Loebsack Christopher Peters Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 171,446 133,287 Percentage 54.8% 42.6%

County results Loebsack:      50–60%      70–80% Peters:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%

U.S. Representative before election Dave Loebsack Democratic Elected U.S. Representative Dave Loebsack Democratic

See also: Iowa's 2nd congressional district

Democratic representative Dave Loebsack, who had represented the district since 2007, was reelected to a sixth term with 54% of the vote in 2016. Loebsack ran for reelection.^[37]

The 2nd district went for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election with a 49% to 45% margin, after voting for Barack Obama with a 56% to 43% margin in 2012.^[2]

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Dave Loebsack, incumbent U.S. Representative

Results

2018 Iowa's 2nd congressional district Democratic primary results by county:

Map legend

•   Loebsack—100%
•   Loebsack—≥90%

Democratic primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Dave Loebsack (incumbent)	42,378	99.3
	Democratic	Write-ins	314	0.7
Total votes			42,692	100.0

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Christopher Peters, thoracic surgeon and nominee for this seat in 2016^[38]

Eliminated in primary

• Ginny Caligiuri, businesswoman (write-in)^[39][40]

Declined

• Bobby Kaufmann, state representative^[7]

Results

2018 Iowa's 2nd congressional district Republican primary results by county:

Map legend

•   Peters—≥90%
•   Peters—80–90%
•   Peters—70–80%
•   Peters—50–60%

Republican primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Christopher Peters	18,056	85.7
	Republican	Ginny Caligiuri (write-in)	2,839	13.5
	Republican	Other write-ins	181	0.9
Total votes			21,076	100.0

Independents

• Daniel Clark^[41]

General election

Polling

Poll source	Dates administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Dave Loebsack (D)	Christopher Peters (R)	Other	Undecided
Emerson College[18]	October 29 – November 1, 2018	373	± 5.3%	53%	40%	2%	5%
Gravis Marketing (R-Peters)[42]	September 8–11, 2018	425	± 4.8%	46%	38%	–	16%
				43%	37%	3%[43]	17%
Emerson College[23]	September 6–8, 2018	250	± 6.4%	45%	21%	–	28%

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[28]	Safe D	November 5, 2018
Inside Elections[29]	Safe D	November 5, 2018
Sabato's Crystal Ball[30]	Safe D	November 5, 2018
RCP[31]	Likely D	November 5, 2018
Daily Kos[32]	Safe D	November 5, 2018
538[33]	Safe D	November 7, 2018
Fox News[35]	Likely D	September 28, 2018
CNN[34]	Safe D	October 31, 2018
Politico[36]	Likely D	November 2, 2018

Results

Iowa's 2nd congressional district, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Dave Loebsack (incumbent)	171,446	54.8
	Republican	Christopher Peters	133,287	42.6
	Libertarian	Mark Strauss	6,181	2.0
	Independent	Daniel Clark	1,837	0.6
	Write-in		162	0.0
Total votes			312,913	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 3

2018 Iowa's 3rd congressional district election

← 2016 2020 →

Nominee Cindy Axne David Young Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 175,642 167,933 Percentage 49.3% 47.1%

County results Axne:      50–60% Young:      50–60%      60–70%

U.S. Representative before election David Young Republican Elected U.S. Representative Cindy Axne Democratic

See also: Iowa's 3rd congressional district

Incumbent Republican David Young, who had represented the district since 2015, ran for re-election. He was re-elected with 53% of the vote in 2016. The district had a PVI of D+1.

The 3rd district went for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election with a 49% to 45% margin, after voting for Barack Obama with a 51% to 47% margin in 2012.^[2]

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

• David Young, incumbent U.S. Representative

Results

2018 Iowa's 3rd congressional district Republican primary results by county:

Map legend

•   Young—100%
•   Young—≥90%

Republican primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	David Young (incumbent)	21,712	98.9
	Republican	Write-ins	234	1.1
Total votes			21,946	100

Democratic primary

After Greenfield's campaign manager was fired for forging signatures on nominating papers, she attempted to re-collect the 1,790 signatures necessary to make the ballot, but did not get enough signatures.^[44]

Candidates

Nominee

• Cindy Axne, businesswoman^[45][46]

Eliminated in primary

• Pete D'Alessandro, political consultant^[47][48][46]
• Eddie Mauro, activist^[49][46]

Did not make ballot

• Theresa Greenfield, real estate executive^[50]

Withdrew

• Austin Frerick, former Treasury Department economist^[51][52]
• Paul Knupp, psychiatric rehabilitation practitioner and minister,^[53] withdrew from the Democratic primary to join the Green party^{[citation needed]}
• Heather Ryan, nominee for KY-01 in 2008^[54][55]
• Anna Ryon, attorney with the Office of Consumer Advocate^[56]
• Mike Sherzan, businessman and candidate in 2016^[57][58]

Declined

• John Norris, former chief of staff to Governor Tom Vilsack, former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission member and nominee for IA-04 in 2002 (running for governor)^[58]

Endorsements

Austin Frerick (withdrawn)

U.S. Representatives

• Ro Khanna, U.S. Representative (CA-17)^[51]

Pete D'Alessandro

U.S. Senators

• Bernie Sanders, U.S. Senator from Vermont^[59][60]

State legislators

• Marti Anderson, state representative^[61]
• Brian Meyer, state representative^[61]

Labor unions

• National Nurses United^[62]

Organizations

• Justice Democrats
• Our Revolution^[63]
• The People for Bernie Sanders^[64]

Individuals

• Sue Dvorsky, former Iowa Democratic Committee Chair^[61]
• Derek Eadon, former Iowa Democratic Committee Chair^[61]
• Ben Jacobs, Bernie Sanders’s 2016 campaign manager^[65]

Polling

Poll source	Dates administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Cindy Axne	Pete D'Alessandro	Eddie Mauro	Undecided
Selzer & Co.[66]	May 13–16, 2018	400	± 4.9%	26%	11%	27%	36%

Results

2018 Iowa's 3rd congressional district Democratic primary results by county:

Map legend

•   Axne—70–80%
•   Axne—60–70%
•   Axne—50–60%
•   Mauro—40–50%

Democratic primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Cindy Axne	32,910	57.8
	Democratic	Eddie J. Mauro	15,006	26.4
	Democratic	Pete D'Alessandro	8,874	15.6
	Democratic	Write-ins	150	0.3
Total votes			56,940	100

General election

Debate

2018 Iowa's 3rd congressional district debates

No.	Date	Host	Moderator	Link	Republican	Democratic
Key:  P  Participant   A  Absent   N  Not invited   I  Invited  W  Withdrawn
					David Young	Cindy Axne
1	October 11, 2018	Iowa Public Television	David Yepsen	[67]	P	P

Polling

Poll source	Dates administered	Sample size	Margin of error	David Young (R)	Cindy Axne (D)	Undecided
Emerson College[18]	October 29 – November 1, 2018	380	± 5.3%	45%	46%	3%
NYT Upshot/Siena College[68]	October 25–27, 2018	504	± 4.6%	41%	43%	11%
NYT Upshot/Siena College[69]	September 27–30, 2018	502	± 4.6%	43%	44%	13%
Emerson College[23]	September 6–8, 2018	260	± 6.4%	47%	31%	15%
DCCC (D)[70]	September 4–5, 2018	575	± 4.1%	43%	46%	11%
ALG Research (D-Axne)[71]	July 8–12, 2018	500	± 4.4%	41%	45%	14%

Hypothetical polling

Poll source	Dates administered	Sample size	Margin of error	David Young (R)	Democratic candidate	Other	Undecided
PPP/Patriot Majority USA[72]	October 6–8, 2017	693	± 3.7%	44%	43%	—	—

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[28]	Tossup	November 5, 2018
Inside Elections[29]	Tossup	November 5, 2018
Sabato's Crystal Ball[30]	Lean D (flip)	November 5, 2018
RCP[31]	Tossup	November 5, 2018
Daily Kos[32]	Tossup	November 5, 2018
538[33]	Lean D (flip)	November 7, 2018
CNN[34]	Tossup	October 31, 2018
Fox News[35]	Tossup	September 21, 2018
Politico[36]	Tossup	November 2, 2018

Results

Iowa's 3rd congressional district, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Cindy Axne	175,642	49.3
	Republican	David Young (incumbent)	167,933	47.1
	Libertarian	Bryan Holder	7,267	2.0
	Legal Marijuana Now	Mark Elworth Jr.	2,015	0.6
	Green	Paul Knupp	1,888	0.5
	Independent	Joe Grandanette	1,301	0.4
	Write-in		195	0.1
Total votes			356,241	100.0
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 4

2018 Iowa's 4th congressional district election

← 2016 2020 →

Nominee Steve King J. D. Scholten Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 157,676 147,246 Percentage 50.3% 47.0%

County results King:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% Scholten:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%

U.S. Representative before election Steve King Republican Elected U.S. Representative Steve King Republican

See also: Iowa's 4th congressional district

Incumbent Republican Steve King, who had represented the district since 2013, and previously represented the 5th district from 2003 to 2013, ran for re-election. He was re-elected with 61% of the vote in 2016. The district had a PVI of R+11.

The 4th district went for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election with a 61% to 34% margin, after voting for Mitt Romney with a 53% to 45% margin in 2012.^[2]

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Steve King, incumbent U.S. Representative^[73]

Eliminated in primary

• Cyndi Hanson, educational administrator^[74]

Declined

• Rick Bertrand, state senator and candidate for this seat in 2016^[75]

Results

2018 Iowa's 4th congressional district Republican primary results by county:

Map legend

•   King—80–90%
•   King—70–80%
•   King—60–70%

Republican primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Steve King (incumbent)	28,053	74.7
	Republican	Cyndi Hanson	9,437	25.1
	Republican	Write-ins	44	0.1
Total votes			37,534	100

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

• J. D. Scholten, paralegal and former professional baseball player^[76]

Eliminated in primary

• Leann Jacobsen, Spencer City Councilwoman^[77]
• John Paschen, physician^[78]

Withdrawn

• Paul Dahl, candidate for Governor in 2014^[79]
• Kim Weaver, nominee in 2016^[80]

Declined

• Dirk Deam, Iowa State University political science professor^[81]
• Chris Hall, state representative^[82]

Results

2018 Iowa's 4th congressional district Democratic primary results by county:

Map legend

•   Scholten—70–80%
•   Scholten—60–70%
•   Scholten—50–60%
•   Scholten—40–50%
•   Scholten—30–40%
•   Jacobsen—40–50%
•   Jacobsen—50–60%
•   Jacobsen—60–70%

Democratic primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	J. D. Scholten	14,733	51.3
	Democratic	Leann Jacobsen	9,176	31.9
	Democratic	John Paschen	4,806	16.7
	Democratic	Write-ins	29	0.1
Total votes			28,744	100.0

General election

King declined to debate Scholten during the general election campaign.^[83][84]

Endorsements

J. D. Scholten (D)

U.S. Senators

• Jeff Flake, U.S. Senator from Arizona (Republican)^[85]

Polling

Poll source	Dates administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Steve King (R)	J.D. Scholten (D)	Other	Undecided
NYT Upshot/Siena College[86]	October 31 – November 4, 2018	423	± 5.0%	47%	42%	1%	9%
Emerson College[18]	October 29 – November 1, 2018	356	± 5.5%	51%	42%	–	4%
Change Research (D)[87]	October 27–29, 2018	631	–	45%	44%	–	–
WPA Intelligence (R-King)[88]	October 22–24, 2018	401	± 4.9%	52%	34%	3%	11%
Expedition Strategies (D-Scholten)[89]	September 5–9, 2018	380	± 5.0%	43%	37%	–	–
Emerson College[23]	September 6–8, 2018	240	± 6.5%	41%	31%	–	16%

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[28]	Lean R	November 5, 2018
Inside Elections[29]	Likely R	November 5, 2018
Sabato's Crystal Ball[30]	Lean R	November 5, 2018
RCP[31]	Lean R	November 5, 2018
Daily Kos[32]	Likely R	November 5, 2018
538[33]	Likely R	November 7, 2018
Fox News[35]	Lean R	September 21, 2018
CNN[34]	Likely R	October 31, 2018
Politico[36]	Likely R	November 2, 2018

Results

King won by the slimmest margin of victory in his congressional electoral career.^[90]

Iowa's 4th congressional district, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Steve King (incumbent)	157,676	50.3
	Democratic	J. D. Scholten	147,246	47.0
	Libertarian	Charles Aldrich	6,161	2.0
	Independent	Edward Peterson	1,962	0.6
	Write-in		206	0.0
Total votes			313,256	100.0
	Republican hold