The Iowa Senate:
Iowa's Senate is one half of the legislating body in the State of Iowa. The House of Representatives and Iowa Senate combined represent the legislative branch of Iowa government. The Senate is empowered to create laws and establish the state budget. Elected senators are responsible for passing bills on public policy, setting levels for state spending, raising and lowering taxes and voting to uphold or override gubernatorial vetoes. Senators are also responsible for approving agency appointments made by the governor.
The Senate is comprised of 50 individuals, representing individual districts throughout Iowa. All senators are elected to serve a four-year term on a staggered basis of odd and even districts. Typically, 25 would be up for election each two-year cycle. In 2022, due to redistricting, 34 are up for election.
Currently, Republicans control the majority in the chamber, with 32 elected representatives against the Democrats' elected 18.
Balance of Power:
Counting AP race calls as of 2:30 p.m. Central Wednesday afternoon, all but one of Iowa's Senate seats has been called by The AP. The current balance is 33 members of the GOP and 16 members of the Democratic party.
In the 2022 election cycle, a total of eight candidates are running unopposed. With sitting senators added (even-numbered districts are not on the ballot), prior to election results being reported, there are 16 members of the GOP and 8 members of the Democratic party known to be part of the new Senate. These individuals include:
| District: Candidate - Party | District: Candidate - Party | District: Candidate - Party |
| District 2: Jeff Taylor - Republican | District 3: Lynn Evans - Republican (unopposed) | District 4: Tim Kraayenbrink - Republican (unopposed) |
| District 4: Dave Rowley - Republican (unopposed) | District 7: Kevin Alons - Republican (unopposed) | District 8: Mark Costello - Republican |
| District 10: Dan Dawson - Republican | District 12: Amy Sinclair - Republican | District 15: Tony Bisignano - Democrat (unopposed) |
| District 18: Janet Petersen - Democrat | District 20: Nate Boulton - Democrat | District 22: Brad Zaun - Republican |
| District 24: Jesse Green - Republican | District 26: Jeff Edler - Republican | District 28: Dennis Guth - Republican |
| District 31: Bill Dotzler - Democrat (unopposed) | District 32: Mike Klimesh - Republican | District 34: Dan Zumbach - Republican |
| District 36: Pam Jochum - Democrat | District 38: Eric Giddens - Democrat | District 43: Zach Wahls - Democrat (unopposed) |
| District 48: Mark Lofgren - Republican | District 49: Cindy Winckler - Democrat (unopposed) | District 50: Jeff Reichman - Republican |
Election Results
Redistricting
In a special session in late 2021, the Iowa Legislature approved new district maps for representation for the next 10 years. These maps were created by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency, utilizing data from the 2020 Census. Following redistricting, senators and district numbers may change, and several legislators have chosen to retire or move to continue to represent a district if reelected.
