Democrats continued their winning streak in key special elections this year with another victory in a contested state Senate seat in Iowa.
The party eyed the seat as a pickup opportunity to break up a Republican supermajority in the body and demonstrate further enthusiasm among the Democratic base in an off-year election. The party’s candidate in a Georgia state Senate election also appears poised to advance to a runoff against a Republican opponent in a deeply conservative district.
Here’s what to know from Tuesday night’s results.
Democrats get another notable win
The Democratic Party has been struggling to unify itself and get energized in the aftermath of its devastating loss to President Trump in the 2024 presidential election and other key races last November.
But even amid voter dissatisfaction with party leaders and disapproval with the party brand as a whole, one positive sign for Democrats has been the multiple victories they have achieved in the handful of elections this year.
Democrat Catelin Drey’s win in Iowa Senate District 1 by more than 10 points, as of the latest vote count, over Republican Christopher Prosch is just the latest in a string of Democratic electoral successes this year that is likely to give the party hope heading into the midterms.
The first one came in January in a neighboring state Senate district in Iowa, when Democrats flipped that seat from red to blue, just after Trump took office. They did the same in an equally Trump-friendly state Senate district in Pennsylvania in March.
Trump had carried both Iowa districts and the Pennsylvania one by double digits in November.
Along with a win for a contested seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Democrats have put up impressive wins in these lower-turnout off-year elections. The data is limited as far as being indicative of what’s to come in larger races later this year and next year, even in a statewide contest in a battleground like Wisconsin.
But the results give Democrats some reassurance that they have momentum with voters most likely to turn out. And the Democratic National Committee’s effort to rally voters in the district appears to have paid off.
A race with outsized impact in Iowa politics
Drey’s win will also alter the political dynamic in Des Moines in a small but significant way.
The GOP controls both houses of the state legislature, as well as the governor’s mansion. But Drey will help break a supermajority in the state Senate, which carries an important implication.
Nominees from the governor to state agencies, boards and commissions need a two-thirds vote in the state Senate for approval. With Drey’s win, the split in the Senate will now be 33 Republicans to 17 Democrats, denying the GOP that two-thirds and requiring that nominees from Reynolds need at least one Democratic vote in favor to be approved.
The two-thirds margin is also symbolic in Iowa, as that’s the amount needed to override a veto from the Gov. Kim Reynolds (R). Iowa hasn’t elected a Democratic governor in more than a decade, but Democrats are hopeful that they may have a chance to win the gubernatorial race next year, particularly as Reynolds has struggled with her popularity in office.
If they can win the office, keeping Republican control of the state legislature under two-thirds will be key to protect the governor’s veto from being overridden.
Georgia outcome will likely get punted to next month
Georgia also had a contested state Senate race Tuesday to replace former state Sen. Brandon Beach (R) after Trump chose him to become the U.S. treasurer.
Democrats have a much steeper battle in this district than they did in the Iowa one, but they’ll likely get a second chance to try to pull off an upset. Democrat Debra Shigley appears poised to advance to the runoff against one of her Republican opponents.
Shigley and a half dozen Republicans all competed on the same ballot for the seat Tuesday, and with no candidate likely to win a majority of the vote, the top two will advance to a runoff set for next month.
Shigley appears likely to finish in first, ahead of the rest of the pack, while her Republican opponent will look to unify the GOP behind their candidacy.
Winning in this seat would be likely even more challenging than in any of the other special elections where Democrats won this year. The district, located in the northern Atlanta suburbs, voted for Trump by 34 points, much higher than either of the Iowa districts or the Pennsylvania one.
Still, Shigley consolidated Democratic support behind her and appears on track to perform somewhat better than former Vice President Harris did in November, the sign Democrats are looking for in the deep red areas.
