Iowa’s House districts, 1942-60. Compare to the present-day map I put in the Election Day post.
The reduction (again) of Iowa’s congressional districts created a race between incumbents in the new 3rd, which is one of the very few times they leave. Iowans love their incumbents. If you’re asking why Iowa has never elected a woman to Congress, this is a huge part of it. We don’t get new seats every decade like Arizona or Florida.
Since and including 1988, there have been 66 total races for U.S. House seats in Iowa. FIVE were open seats, all caused by the incumbent running for Senate or governor. The winners of those elections — Jim Nussle, Tom Latham, Leonard Boswell, Steve King, and Bruce Braley — themselves went on to win repeated terms. Here’s a rundown, going even farther back:
- 2012: Leonard Boswell (D) lost incumbent-vs-incumbent by redistricting
- 2006: Jim Leach (R) lost in national landslide for Democrats
- 2006: Jim Nussle (R) ran for governor and lost
- 2002: Greg Ganske (R) ran for Senate and lost
- 1996: Jim Lightfoot (R) ran for Senate and lost
- 1994: Neal Smith (D) lost in national landslide for Republicans
- 1994: Fred Grandy (R) ran for governor and lost in the primary
- 1992: Jim Nagle (D) lost incumbent-vs-incumbent by redistricting
- 1990: Tom Tauke (R) ran for Senate and lost
- 1986: T. Cooper Evans (R) declined to run
- 1986: Berkley Bedell (D) declined to run
- 1984: Tom Harkin (R) ran for Senate and won
- 1980: Chuck Grassley (R) ran for Senate and won
- 1978: Mike Blouin (D) lost to Tauke
- 1976: Ed Mezvinsky (D) lost to Leach
We have to go back to 1986 to find an open race that was not caused by the incumbent seeking higher office, and 1978 to find an incumbent losing his district to someone new in a non-“wave” election — but even then, the Democrats lost 15 seats that year. (BTW, those post-1980 Senate races? Harkin 4, Republicans 0.)
Four of six Iowa U.S. House seats changed hands in 1974: two Republicans suffering the consequences of Watergate, one Republican retirement, and one Democrat running for Senate. This is when Grassley and Harkin were elected to the House. There has never been that much simultaneous turnover in Iowa since.