Democrats recently achieved a significant victory in Iowa by flipping a Republican seat in a special election, breaking the GOP’s supermajority in the state Senate. Catelin Drey won the election with 55% of the vote, increasing the number of Democratic seats to 17 in the Senate
Iowa Republicans’ supermajority in the state Senate was broken Tuesday as Democrat Catelin Drey won the special election for Iowa Senate District 1.
Drey faced off against Republican Christopher Prosch in the election, which was called to fill the seat after Sen. Rocky De Witt, R-Lawton, passed away due to pancreatic cancer in June. According to preliminary results, Drey, a 37-year-old from Sioux City, won the election by 55% to Prosch’s 44%, according to unofficial results published by the Woodbury County Auditor’s Office.
Iowa Democrats celebrated Drey’s victory, saying the Tuesday results — alongside results from other special elections this year — mark a turning point for the state party following several election cycles of overwhelming GOP victories.
Another Iowa Senate seat was flipped from Republican to Democrat in January, when Sen. Mike Zimmer, D-DeWitt, defeated Republican Katie Whittington in the special election to replace Lt. Gov. Chris Cournoyer as she joined Gov. Kim Reynolds’ administration in December 2024.