2022 Iowa gubernatorial election

For related races, see 2022 United States gubernatorial elections.

The 2022 Iowa gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 2022. Incumbent Republican Governor Kim Reynolds won re-election to a second full term, defeating Democratic nominee Deidre DeJear with 58.0% of the vote.^[1]

2022 Iowa gubernatorial election

← 2018 November 8, 2022 2026 →
Turnout	55.06% 6.09pp
Nominee Kim Reynolds Deidre DeJear Party Republican Democratic Running mate Adam Gregg Eric Van Lancker Popular vote 709,198 482,950 Percentage 58.04% 39.53%
County results Congressional district results Precinct results Reynolds:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% DeJear:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% Tie:      40–50%      No votes
Governor before election Kim Reynolds Republican Elected Governor Kim Reynolds Republican

First elected as lieutenant governor in 2010, Reynolds assumed the governorship on May 24, 2017 following the resignation of Governor Terry Branstad to become the U.S. Ambassador to China. She was elected in her own right in 2018 in what was considered a minor upset before dramatically increasing her vote share in 2022.^[2]

Reynolds flipped seven counties that had voted Democratic in the previous gubernatorial election: Black Hawk, Clinton, Des Moines, Dubuque, Jefferson, Lee, and Scott.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Kim Reynolds, incumbent governor^[3]

Declined

• Ashley Hinson, U.S. representative for Iowa's 1st congressional district and former state representative (ran for re-election)^[4]

Results

Republican primary results^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Kim Reynolds (incumbent)	185,293	99.03%
	Write-in		1,808	0.97%
Total votes			187,101	100.0%

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Deidre DeJear, small business owner and nominee for Secretary of State of Iowa in 2018^[6]

Withdrew

• Ras Smith, state representative for the 62nd district^[7][8]

Declined

• Cindy Axne, U.S. representative for Iowa's 3rd congressional district (ran for re-election)^[9]
• Abby Finkenauer, former U.S. representative for Iowa's 1st congressional district (ran for U.S. Senate)^[10][11][12]
• Rob Sand, Iowa state auditor (ran for re-election)^[13][14][15]

Endorsements

Deidre DeJear

U.S. senators

• Elizabeth Warren, U.S. senator from Massachusetts^[16]

Organizations

• Democracy for America^[17]

Results

Democratic primary results^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Deidre DeJear	145,555	99.45%
	Write-in		801	0.55%
Total votes			146,356	100.0%

Minor parties and independents

Libertarian Party

Nominee

• Rick Stewart, Libertarian nominee for U.S. Senate in 2020, Secretary of Agriculture of Iowa in 2018, and independent candidate for U.S. Senate in 2014.^[18][19] Marco Battaglia of Des Moines was Stewart's running mate.^[20]

Independents

Declared

• Robert Bond^[21]

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[22]	Solid R	July 26, 2022
Inside Elections[23]	Solid R	July 22, 2022
Sabato's Crystal Ball[24]	Safe R	June 29, 2022
Politico[25]	Solid R	August 12, 2022
RCP[26]	Likely R	January 10, 2022
Fox News[27]	Solid R	May 12, 2022
538[28]	Solid R	July 31, 2022
Elections Daily[29]	Safe R	November 7, 2022

Endorsements

Kim Reynolds (R)

Executive Branch officials

• Nikki Haley, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (2018–2019) and former governor of South Carolina (2011–2017)^[30]
• Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States (2017–2021)^[31]

U.S. senators

• Marsha Blackburn, U.S. senator from Tennessee (2019–present)^[32]
• Joni Ernst, U.S. senator from Iowa (2015–present)^[33]
• Chuck Grassley, U.S. senator from Iowa (1981–present)^[33]
• Rick Scott, U.S. senator from Florida (2019–present)^[34]

U.S. representatives

• Ashley Hinson, U.S. representative from Iowa's 1st congressional district (2021–2023)^[33]
• Mariannette Miller-Meeks, U.S. representative from Iowa's 2nd congressional district (2021–2023)^[34]

State legislators

• Chris Cournoyer, state senator from the 49th district (2019–present)^[35]
• Norlin Mommsen, state representative from the 97th district (2015–present)^[35]
• Zach Nunn, state senator from the 15th district (2019–2023) and Republican nominee for Iowa's 3rd congressional district in 2022^[33]

Organizations

• Iowa Farm Bureau^[36]
• Maggie's List^[37][31]
• National Right to Life Committee^[38]
• NRA Political Victory Fund^[39][38]
• Susan B. Anthony List^[38]

Newspapers

• Sioux City Journal^[40]

Deidre DeJear (D)

State legislators

• David Maxwell, state representative from the 76th district (2013–present) (Republican)^[41]

Individuals

• Fred Hubbell, businessman and nominee for governor in 2018^[42]

Organizations

• The Collective PAC^[43]
• EMILY's List^[44]
• Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement Action Fund^[45]
• Iowa Unity Coalition^[46]
• NARAL Pro-Choice America^[47]
• One Iowa Action^[48]

Labor unions

• AFL–CIO^[49]

Newspapers

• The Daily Iowan^[50]
• The Des Moines Register^[51]
• Storm Lake Times^[52]

Polling

Aggregate polls

Source of poll aggregation	Dates administered	Dates updated	Kim Reynolds (R)	Deidre DeJear (D)	Undecided [a]	Margin
FiveThirtyEight[53]	March 2 – October 19, 2022	October 20, 2022	52.6%	36.6%	10.8%	Reynolds +15.9

Graphical summary

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[b]	Margin of error	Kim Reynolds (R)	Deidre DeJear (D)	Rick Stewart (L)	Other	Undecided
Selzer & Co.[54]	October 31 – November 3, 2022	801 (LV)	± 3.5%	54%	37%	4%	2%[c]	3%
Cygnal (R)[55][A]	October 26–27, 2022	600 (LV)	± 4.0%	57%	38%	–	–	5%
Civiqs[56]	October 22–25, 2022	623 (LV)	± 5.2%	54%	42%	–	2%[d]	1%
The Tarrance Group (R)[57][B]	October 15–19, 2022	600 (LV)	± 4.1%	56%	39%	–	–	5%
Selzer & Co.[58]	October 9–12, 2022	620 (LV)	± 3.9%	52%	35%	4%	4%[e]	4%
Emerson College[59]	October 2–4, 2022	959 (LV)	± 3.1%	53%	36%	1%	2%[f]	9%
Cygnal (R)[60][A]	October 2–4, 2022	600 (LV)	± 4.0%	59%	38%	–	–	3%
Cygnal (R)[61][A]	July 13–14, 2022	600 (LV)	± 4.0%	56%	41%	–	–	3%
Selzer & Co.[62]	July 10–13, 2022	597 (LV)	± 4.0%	48%	31%	5%	5%	9%
Selzer & Co.[63]	February 28 – March 2, 2022	612 (LV)	± 4.0%	51%	43%	–	1%[g]	5%
Cygnal (R)[64][A]	February 20–22, 2022	610 (LV)	± 3.9%	55%	38%	–	–	7%

Debates

2022 Iowa gubernatorial general election debates

No.	Date	Host	Moderator	Link	Republican	Democratic
Key:  P  Participant   A  Absent   N  Non-invitee   I  Invitee  W  Withdrawn
					Kim Reynolds	Deidre DeJear
2	Oct. 18, 2022	Local ABC 5		Youtube	P	P

Results

State Senate districts results

State House district results

Swing by county

Legend

•   Democratic — +10-15%
•   Democratic — +5-10%
•   Democratic — +0-5%
•   Republican — +0-5%
•   Republican — +5-10%
•   Republican — +10-15%
•   Republican — +15-20%
•   Republican — +20-25%
•   Republican — +25-30%
•   Republican — +>30%

Trend by county

Legend

•   Democratic — +10-15%
•   Democratic — +5-10%
•   Democratic — +0-5%
•   Republican — +0-5%
•   Republican — +5-10%
•   Republican — +10-15%
•   Republican — +15-20%
•   Republican — +20-25%
•   Republican — +25-30%
•   Republican — +>30%

2022 Iowa gubernatorial election^[65]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Kim Reynolds (incumbent) Adam Gregg (incumbent)	709,198	58.04%	+7.78%
	Democratic	Deidre DeJear Eric Van Lacker	482,950	39.53%	−8.00%
	Libertarian	Rick Stewart Marco Battaglia	28,998	2.37%	+0.84%
	Write-in		718	0.06%	+0.02%
Total votes			1,220,864	100.00
Turnout			1,230,416	55.06%
Registered electors			2,234,666
	Republican hold

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Black Hawk (largest city: Waterloo)
• Clinton (largest city: Clinton)
• Des Moines (largest city: Burlington)
• Dubuque (largest city: Dubuque)
• Jefferson (largest city: Fairfield)
• Lee (largest city: Fort Madison)
• Scott (largest city: Davenport)

By congressional district

Reynolds won all four congressional districts.^[66]

District	Reynolds	DeJear	Representative
1st	55%	43%	Mariannette Miller-Meeks
2nd	57%	41%	Ashley Hinson
3rd	53%	44%	Cindy Axne (117th Congress)
			Zach Nunn (118th Congress)
4th	69%	29%	Randy Feenstra

See also

• 2022 Iowa elections

Notes

1. Calculated by taking the difference of 100% and all other candidates combined.
2. Key:
   A – all adults
   RV – registered voters
   LV – likely voters
   V – unclear
3. "Someone else" with 1%; "Don't want to tell" with 1%
4. "Someone else" with 2%
5. "Someone else" with 3%; "Would not vote" with 1%
6. "Someone else" with 2%
7. "Would not vote" (volunteered answer) with 1%

Partisan clients

1. This poll was sponsored by the Iowans for Tax Relief Foundation
2. Poll conducted for the NRSC.