West Des Moines

Democrat Renee Hardman beat Republican Lucas Loftin by more than 40 percentage points in a special election Tuesday night. Hardman's win makes her the state's first Black female state senator.

A special election to fill former state Sen. Claire Celsi's seat could help Republicans regain the supermajority they lost in August. Democratic candidate Renee Hardman and Republican candidate Lucas Loftin are running for the vacant seat in Senate District 16.

Local leaders are addressing AI’s impact on water, surveillance, transparency and more. A mostly hands-off approach at the federal level means regulating complex AI issues is–so far–evolving in a patchwork of laws.