A special election is set for Dec. 30 in Senate District 16 to fill the seat once held by Democratic state Sen. Claire Celsi, who died in October.
The district covers parts of Clive, West Des Moines and Windsor Heights. Voters can find their polling location here.
If Republicans flip the seat, the party can regain the supermajority they lost with the election of Democrat Catelin Drey in August. Republicans currently hold 33 seats in the senate, while Democrats hold 17. Regaining the supermajority means GOP senators can approve the governor's appointees without having to gain a vote from a Democratic senator, which requires 34 votes.
Democratic candidate Renee Hardman of West Des Moines and Republican candidate Lucas Loftin of Clive are running for the vacant seat.
Get to know Democratic candidate Renee Hardman
Renee Hardman, 64, of West Des Moines currently serves as the president and CEO of Lutheran Services in Iowa (LSI), a nonprofit that provides social services to immigrants, people with disabilities, children in foster care and adoptive care, along with other groups.
Hardman, who's lived in West Des Moines for close to 25 years, said she joined the senate race to prevent the Republican supermajority from being restored and to provide a balance in state government.
Hardman is serving her third term on the West Des Moines City Council. She said making child care, housing and health care affordable is a top issue for her senate campaign.
"People are struggling here, and I want to try to see if I can make an impact on the affordability of child care and affordable housing," she said. "I'm nervous about what's going to happen with Medicare. I want to be in the fight to lift my voice up to make sure that families aren't disadvantaged by Medicare changes."
Hardman said she wants to work toward expanding opportunities for higher-paying jobs in the state. She said supporting public education is also a top priority and said she doesn't support the state's educational savings account (ESA) program.
"I think that it's taking away a lot of taxpayer dollars for public education," she said. "There are people that are getting tax credits that can they don't even need it. They're already there. They have the resources. They have the money. And so I'm not a proponent of it."
The state's ESA program allows families to apply for aid to attend nonpublic schools. Currently, there is no income cap for eligibility.
Hardman previously served as CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Des Moines and currently serves as mayor pro tem of the West Des Moines City Council. When she was appointed as a council member in 2017, she was the first Black woman elected to the role.
If Hardman wins the special election, she will be the state's first Black female senator.
"I'm not running for that reason, but I will embrace it as an opportunity to shine a light of what can be done if we do the right things and position ourselves to serve and to be able to step into this role."
Hardman has served on the board of trustees at Des Moines University, the Polk County Housing Trust Fund and chaired the West Des Moines Public Safety Committee. She has also served as co-chair of a diversity, equity and inclusion task force with the Greater Des Moines Partnership and on the advisory council of Drake University's Robert D. and Billie Ray Center.
Get to know Republican candidate Lucas Loftin
Lucas Loftin, 42, of Clive said his campaign is focused on affordability and on lowering taxes.
Loftin currently works for Wright Service Corp. in software management and lives with his wife and five children. Originally from Kansas, Loftin and his wife settled in Iowa in 2015.
In a Democratic-leaning district, the Republican candidate said he's telling voters he's "just a regular guy."
"I buy groceries, I put gas in my car, I pay a mortgage. You know, all of these things," Loftin said. "Our dollars don't go as far as they used to, and everybody across the country, not just in Iowa, is feeling that."
Loftin said abolishing property taxes is a "noble goal" but one that would be complicated to reach. He thinks the state is on the right track for pushing property tax reform, but he wants to see the state spend less.
"We're spending a lot of money across the board, in funding problematic programs or problematic ideology, and I think that we need to take a serious, hard look at the dollars that the government is bringing in," Loftin said.
He thinks some administrators and teachers are teaching kids "what to think, not how to think."
"We need to bring critical thinking back to the classroom," he said. "We need to make sure that the dollars that are being pumped into the education system are being used to educate students, not indoctrinate students."
Loftin supports the state's tax-funded ESAs for students attending private schools. He said he wants dollars to follow students, whether that is in public school, private school or homeschooling.
"I think that there is a fallacy that exists that says the state is responsible for education and I don't subscribe to that," he said. "I think parents need to have a critical, central role in what their children, what students, are learning. So I'm an advocate for dollars following students. I want kids to excel."
Loftin and his wife are co-presidents of Home Educators for Excellence in Des Moines, a Christian homeschool support group in central Iowa. He's also on the board of Homeschool Iowa, which provides resources for homeschooling families and advocates for legislation supportive of homeschooling. Loftin is also on the board of his church, In His Light Ministries in Urbandale.
Loftin is endorsed by Iowa Right to Life, an organization that advocates for anti-abortion legislation and for expanding support for pregnant and new mothers.
