With a MAGA governor and supermajorities in both chambers, there has been virtually no check on the rightwing’s power in Iowa. Rightwing lawmakers have used their governing power to pass one of the nation’s most extreme and dangerous abortion bans, gut child labor laws that protect kids from exploitative and unsafe working conditions, and strip public schools of funding.
Some of the rightwing’s policy priorities in recent legislative sessions include:
In August 2025, The States Project helped flip a key State Senate seat to break the rightwing supermajority in the chamber, giving lawmakers the ability to block some of the governor’s actions. This November, we must do everything we can to break the supermajority in the House.
Because Iowa’s MAGA governor will not seek reelection in 2026, voters will have the opportunity to elect a governor committed to improving lives in November. Our work to prevent a supermajority will ensure that if a Democratic governor is elected, they’ll have the power to veto the most harmful policies that reach their desk.
We believe it will be possible to both elect a Democratic governor and protect their veto power. Given the clear and present danger of the Trump presidency, we cannot afford to miss this opportunity to protect Iowans from federal overreach. While achieving our goal won’t be easy, we believe breaking the rightwing supermajority in the House is in reach this November.
In August, we helped win a special election to flip Senate District 1 and break the rightwing supermajority in the chamber — delivering an 11-point victory in a district Trump won by 20 points in 2024.
All seats in the Iowa State House and half of the State Senate seats were up for election in 2024. While two out of the three candidates in districts TSP targeted won their races, the rightwing picked up three additional House seats to win a supermajority and won an additional seat in the Senate to expand their supermajority in the chamber.
While candidates in the districts we invested in outperformed Democrats overall in contested races by about 1 percent, there was one major over-performer, coming within 1 percent in a district that Biden lost by more than 20 percent. In one district we invested in, a candidate who previously lost to an incumbent two years ago, flipped their seat to join the Iowa House of Representatives.
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State lawmakers have the power to enact policies that can protect millions of Americans, and the overall direction of the country, from the worst impacts of a second Trump presidency.
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