This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact The Epoch Times Reprints.
Catelin Drey, a Democrat, won an Aug. 26 special election for Iowa Senate District 1, flipping a Republican-held seat and breaking the GOP’s supermajority in the chamber.
Drey defeated Republican Christopher Prosch with 4,208 votes (55 percent) to Prosch’s 3,411 votes (44 percent), according to preliminary returns from the Woodbury County Election Department.
Turnout was 23.9 percent; 7,619 of the district’s 31,911 registered voters cast ballots. Absentee votes proved pivotal, as Drey received 1,883 to Prosch’s 1,310.
“I’m just really incredibly honored that the folks in Senate District 1 believed in this campaign as much as the team did, and I am looking forward to representing them well,” Drey told the Des Moines Register.
The seat became vacant in June after Republican state Sen. Rocky De Witt died of pancreatic cancer. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds called the special election to fill the remainder of De Witt’s term, which runs through January 2027. The seat will next be on the ballot in November 2026.
District 1, which covers Woodbury County and includes Sioux City, had been part of the Republican majority in the 50-member state Senate, where the GOP held 34 seats. Drey’s win reduces that number to 33, stripping Republicans of the two-thirds threshold required for a supermajority.
The result gives Democrats—now holding 17 seats—greater leverage.
“Sen.-elect Drey’s victory gives state Dems increased power in the chamber, including the ability to block Gov. Reynolds from making controversial gubernatorial appointments,” the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) said in a post on X.
The governor’s nominees must receive two-thirds support to be confirmed.
National Democrats hailed the victory as proof that their organizing strategy is working.
“We deployed our distributed organizing team of over 30,000 volunteers to help @IowaDemocrats and Catelin Drey’s campaign get out the vote. This is the result,” Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said in a post on X. “Make no mistake: When Democrats organize everywhere, we win everywhere.”
Republican leaders downplayed the outcome. Iowa GOP Chairman Jeff Kaufmann said in a post on X that Democrats “were so desperate for a win” that they deployed tens of thousands of volunteers and national funding to capture the seat by a slim margin. He also took a jab at Iowa Democrats’ diminished role in presidential politics.
“If @DNC thinks things are suddenly so great again for them in Iowa, they will bring back the caucuses,” Kaufmann said, referencing the party’s decision to drop Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucus status after the troubled 2020 contest.
National Democrats moved South Carolina to the leadoff spot in 2024 and relegated Iowa to a mail-in caucus, a symbolic downgrade sometimes cited by Republicans.
The DLCC said that Democrats have “overperformed” by more than 10 points on average in special elections this year, including in districts that backed President Donald Trump in 2024.
“The state legislative level is where the Democratic Party can continue to turn to find the leadership we need, and there are many special elections coming up where these leaders will shine,” DLCC President Heather Williams said.
Georgia Runoff
In Georgia, meanwhile, Debra Shigley, a Democrat, advanced to a Sept. 23 runoff after taking nearly 40 percent of the vote in a seven-candidate special election field, giving her party another chance to flip a Republican seat.
Six GOP candidates split the remaining 60 percent of the vote.
Tom Ozimek is a senior reporter for The Epoch Times. He has a broad background in journalism, deposit insurance, marketing and communications, and adult education.
