1998 Iowa Senate election

1998 Iowa Senate election

← 1996 November 3, 1998 2000 →
25 out of 50 seats in the Iowa State Senate 26 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Mary Kramer Michael Gronstal Party Republican Democratic Leader's seat 37th 42nd Last election 29 21 Seats before 28 22[a] Seats after 30 20 Seat change 2 2
President of the Senate before election Mary Kramer Republican Elected President of the Senate Mary Kramer Republican

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v t e

The 1998 Iowa State Senate elections took place as part of the biennial 1998 United States elections. Iowa voters elected state senators in half of the state senate's districts—the 25 odd-numbered state senate districts. State senators serve four-year terms in the Iowa State Senate, with half of the seats up for election each cycle. A statewide map of the 50 state Senate districts in the year 1998 is provided by the Iowa General Assembly here.

The primary election on June 2, 1998, determined which candidates appeared on the November 3, 1998 general election ballot. Primary election results can be obtained here.^[2] General election results can be obtained here.^[3]

Following the previous election in 1996, Republicans had control of the Iowa state Senate with 29 seats to Democrats' 21 seats. In a special election in District 13 in 1997 to fill a vacancy created by Sen. Jim Lind's (R) resignation, Democratic candidate Patricia M. "Pat" Harper (D) flipped the seat for her party. Therefore, on election day 1998, Republicans held 28 seats to Democrats' 22.

To reclaim control of the chamber from Republicans, the Democrats needed to net 4 Senate seats.

Republicans strengthened their control of the Iowa State Senate following the 1998 general election by netting two seats, resulting in Republicans holding 30 seats and Democrats having 20 seats after the election.

• NOTE: The 25 even-numbered districts did not have elections in 1998 so they are not listed here.

State Senate District	Incumbent	Party		Elected Senator	Party
1st	Steven D. Hansen		Dem	Steven D. Hansen		Democratic
3rd	Wilmer Rensink		Rep	Kenneth Veenstra		Republican
5th	Mary Lou Freeman		Rep	Mary Lou Freeman		Republican
7th	Rod Halvorson		Dem	Mike Sexton		Republican
9th	Stewart Iverson		Rep	Stewart Iverson		Republican
11th	John Jensen		Rep	John Jensen		Republican
13th	Patricia M. "Pat" Harper		Dem	Patricia M. "Pat" Harper		Democratic
15th	Allen Borlaug		Rep	Betty A. Soukup		Democratic
17th	Thomas L. Flynn		Dem	Thomas L. Flynn		Democratic
19th	Sheldon L. Rittmer		Rep	Sheldon L. Rittmer		Republican
21st	Maggie Tinsman		Rep	Maggie Tinsman		Republican
23rd	Mary Neuhauser		Dem	Joe Bolkcom		Democratic
25th	Robert Dvorsky		Dem	Robert Dvorsky		Democratic
27th	Wally Horn		Dem	Wally Horn		Democratic
29th	Dennis Black		Dem	Dennis Black		Democratic
31st	Johnie Hammond		Dem	Johnie Hammond		Democratic
33rd	William D. Palmer		Dem	Jeff Lamberti		Republican
35th	Dick Dearden		Dem	Dick Dearden		Democratic
37th	Mary Kramer		Rep	Mary Kramer		Republican
39th	Jo Ann M. Douglas		Rep	Jo Ann M. Johnson[b]		Republican
41st	Nancy Boettger		Rep	Nancy Boettger		Republican
43rd	Derryl McLaren		Rep	Derryl McLaren		Republican
45th	Bill Fink		Dem	Bill Fink		Democratic
47th	Donald Gettings		Dem	David P. Miller		Republican
49th	Tom Vilsack		Dem	Mark Shearer		Democratic

Source:^[4]

• Reminder: Only odd-numbered Iowa Senate seats were up for election in 1998; therefore, even-numbered seats did not have elections in 1998 & are not shown.

District 1 • District 3 • District 5 • District 7 • District 9 • District 11 • District 13 • District 15 • District 17 • District 19 • District 21 • District 23 • District 25 • District 27 • District 29 • District 31 • District 33 • District 35 • District 37 • District 39 • District 41 • District 43 • District 45 • District 47 • District 49

• Note: If a district does not list a primary, then that district did not have a competitive primary (i.e., there may have only been one candidate file for that district).

Iowa Senate, District 1 General Election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Steven D. Hansen (incumbent)	8,421	61.2
	Republican	Kathleen Hoffmann	5,337	38.8
Total votes			13,758	100.0
	Democratic hold

Iowa Senate, District 3 General Election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Kenneth Veenstra	15,040	100.0
Total votes			15,040	100.0
	Republican hold

Iowa Senate, District 5 General Election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mary Lou Freeman (incumbent)	13,389	100.0
Total votes			13,389	100.0
	Republican hold

Iowa Senate, District 7 General Election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mike Sexton	9,245	51.5
	Democratic	Rod Halvorson (incumbent)	8,712	48.5
Total votes			17,957	100.0
	Republican gain from Democratic

Iowa Senate, District 9 General Election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Stewart Iverson (incumbent)	12,472	66.4
	Democratic	Jim Murra	6,300	33.6
Total votes			18,772	100.0
	Republican hold

Iowa Senate, District 11 General Election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John W. Jensen (incumbent)	14,957	100.0
Total votes			14,957	100.0
	Republican hold

Iowa Senate, District 13 General Election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Patricia Harper (incumbent)	10,469	63.6
	Republican	Mike Lanigan	5,998	36.4
Total votes			16,467	100.0
	Democratic hold

Iowa Senate, District 15 General Election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Betty Soukup	10,453	50.3
	Republican	Allen Borlaug (incumbent)	10,324	49.7
Total votes			20,777	100.0
	Democratic gain from Republican

Iowa Senate, District 17 General Election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Tom Flynn (incumbent)	13,067	100.0
Total votes			13,067	100.0
	Democratic hold

Iowa Senate, District 19 General Election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Sheldon L. Rittmer (incumbent)	10,586	100.0
Total votes			10,586	100.0
	Republican hold

Iowa Senate, District 21 Republican Primary Election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Maggie Tinsman (incumbent)	2,931	42.5
	Republican	Philip B. Allen, Jr.	2,650	47.5
Total votes			5,581	100.0

Iowa Senate, District 21 General Election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Maggie Tinsman (incumbent)	12,550	67.8
	Democratic	Tommy Jacobson	5,960	32.2
Total votes			18,510	100.0
	Republican hold

Iowa Senate, District 23 General Election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Joe Bolkcom	12,513	100.0
Total votes			12,513	100.0
	Democratic hold

Iowa Senate, District 25 General Election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Robert Dvorsky (incumbent)	13,301	64.4
	Republican	Mary Louise Howard	7,368	35.6
Total votes			20,669	100.0
	Democratic hold

Iowa Senate, District 27 General Election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Wally Horn (incumbent)	13,653	100.0
Total votes			13,653	100.0
	Democratic hold

Iowa Senate, District 29 Republican Primary Election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bruce Rhoads	1,675	62.1
	Republican	Joseph R. Hudson	552	20.5
	Republican	Rick Phillips	470	17.4
Total votes			2,697	100.0

Iowa Senate, District 29 General Election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Dennis Black (incumbent)	12,642	60.6
	Republican	Bruce Rhoads	8,216	39.4
Total votes			20,858	100.0
	Democratic hold

Iowa Senate, District 31 Republican Primary Election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Norman A. Luiken	1,735	70.3
	Republican	Jerry Litzel	733	29.7
Total votes			2,468	100.0

Iowa Senate, District 31 General Election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Johnie Hammond (incumbent)	9,428	55.6
	Republican	Norman A. Luiken	7,524	44.4
Total votes			16,952	100.0
	Democratic hold

Iowa Senate, District 33 General Election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jeff Lamberti	17,147	84.5
	Reform	Alan Palmer	3,146	15.5
Total votes			20,293	100.0
	Republican gain from Democratic

Iowa Senate, District 35 General Election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Dick Dearden (incumbent)	10,538	71.6
	Republican	Bert Wagoner, Jr.	4,172	28.4
Total votes			14,710	100.0
	Democratic hold

Iowa Senate, District 37 General Election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mary Kramer (incumbent)	13,194	51.6
	Democratic	Bill Reichardt	12,136	47.4
	Reform	Eric William Gunderson	246	1.0
Total votes			25,576	100.0
	Republican hold

Iowa Senate, District 39 General Election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jo Ann Douglas (incumbent)[b]	13,708	56.6
	Democratic	Brent A. Halling	10,513	43.4
Total votes			24,221	100.0
	Republican hold

Iowa Senate, District 41 General Election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Nancy Boettger (incumbent)	12,082	68.5
	Democratic	John L. Jensen	5,560	31.5
Total votes			17,642	100.0
	Republican hold

Iowa Senate, District 43 General Election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Derryl McLaren (incumbent)	13,685	100.0
Total votes			13,685	100.0
	Republican hold

Iowa Senate, District 45 General Election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Bill Fink (incumbent)	10,988	56.7
	Republican	Larry L. Hughes	8,387	43.3
Total votes			19,375	100.0
	Democratic hold

Iowa Senate, District 47 General Election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	David P. Miller	9,788	50.1
	Democratic	Dan Gullion	8,530	43.6
	Natural Law	Jonas Magram	1,236	6.3
Total votes			19,554	100.0
	Republican gain from Democratic

Iowa Senate, District 49 General Election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Mark Shearer	10,045	53.1
	Republican	Richard Garrels	8,881	46.9
Total votes			18,926	100.0
	Democratic hold

• United States elections, 1998
• United States House of Representatives elections in Iowa, 1998
• Elections in Iowa