When was the last time Iowa went blue? View past election results

The latest Des Moines Register/Medicom Iowa poll before the 2024 election shows Vice President Kamala Harris with a 3-point lead over former President Donald Trump in Iowa. It's the first time this election cycle that a Democrat has led a Republican for president in Iowa.

The latest Iowa poll released Saturday showed Harris leading Trump in Iowa 47% to 44%. Since March, likely Iowa voters in the 2024 general election have been surveyed four times about which presidential candidate they plan to vote for in the election. When President Joe Biden was still in the race, Trump had gained an 18 percentage point lead by June. Harris narrowed that gap in September and was now four points behind Trump.

Iowa was largely written off as a red state as both presidential candidates focused on seven battleground states. But the state has had a history as a swing state and elected Democrats in recent years.

When was the last time a Democratic presidential candidate won Iowa?

The last two presidential elections in Iowa went in favor of Trump. He beat Hillary Clinton by 9 percentage points in 2016 and defeated Biden in Iowa by 8 points in 2020.

Before voting for Trump, the state twice supported President Barack Obama's candidacy. In 2012, Obama beat Republican candidate and U.S. Senator Mitt Romney by 6 points and former U.S. Senator John McCain by 9 points in 2008.

Iowa also helped propel Obama's candidacy when he won the 2008 Iowa caucuses.

Aside from Republican George Bush winning Iowa in 2004, the Hawkeye State voted for a Democratic presidential candidate from 1988 to 2000.

When was the last time Iowa elected Democrats to the U.S. House of Representatives?

Republicans have voided all of Iowa's seats in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2022.

U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn defeated then-incumbent Democrat Cindy Axne for Iowa's 3rd Congressional District.

After the 2018 election, Democrats held three of Iowa's four congressional seats. After the 2020 election, Axne was the only Democratic member of Iowa's congressional delegation.

When was the last time Iowa elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate?

Republicans have controlled at least one of Iowa's U.S. Senate seats since U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley won his first Senate election in 1980. Grassley is now the oldest member of Congress at 91 and has served in the Senate for more than 40 years. In the 1980 election, he defeated Democrat John Culver, who had been in office since 1975.

The last Democrat to represent Iowa in the U.S. Senate was Tom Harkin, who held the seat from 1985 until his retirement in 2015. Republican Joni Ernst flipped the seat in the 2014 election cycle and has held it ever since.

When was the last time Iowa had a Democratic governor?

No Democrat has won the governor's office in Iowa since the 2006 election cycle, when Chet Culver, the Iowa secretary of state and son of former U.S. Sen. John Culver, won.

Republican Governor Terry Branstad regained the governor's seat in 2010, ending a 12-year term of Democratic governorship when he took office in January 2011. Branstad remained in office until he resigned in 2017 to serve as U.S. Ambassador to China in the Trump administration.

After his departure, Governor Kim Reynolds took over. She then won re-election in 2018 and 2022, allowing Republicans to retain the governor's seat for 12 years. She is next up for re-election in 2026 but has not yet said whether she will run.

Kate Kealey is a general assignment reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter at @Kkealey17.

When was the last time a Democratic presidential candidate won Iowa?

When was the last time Iowa elected Democrats to the U.S. House of Representatives?

When was the last time Iowa elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate?

When was the last time Iowa had a Democratic governor?

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