2020 was The States Project’s first election in Iowa. The top of the ticket went resoundingly for Donald Trump and Senator Joni Ernst, which deeply impacted candidates down-ballot. While one candidate we supported successfully flipped a seat, a number of other candidates outperformed Biden or Ernst, but came up short.

In a year with record turnout, however, on average Iowa’s Democratic state legislative candidates in competitive districts outperformed Biden in Iowa by almost 5 percent, an impressive feat, given that candidates in state legislative races often do not have the same name recognition as candidates at the top of the ticket.

2020

• A candidate we supported, who previously lost to an incumbent two years ago, flipped their seat to join the Iowa House of Representatives.
• While candidates we supported 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.