Shipley retains Iowa House seat in District 82

FAIRFIELD - Iowa House Representative Jeff Shipley has held off challenger Phil Miller in a close race for District 82.

Shipley, a Republican first elected to the House in 2018, earned 7,768 votes (50 percent) to Miller's 7,598 (49 percent).

The district covers all of Davis and Van Buren County, and the western two-thirds of Jefferson County including Fairfield. At 10:30 p.m., all precincts in Davis County and Van Buren County were reporting, but Jefferson County did not report its results until 11:30 p.m. The report from Davis County showed Shipley with 2,432 votes (62 percent of the county's total) to Miller's 1,504 (38 percent), while in Van Buren County Shipley had an even larger advantage of 2,425 votes (66 percent) to Miller's 1,262 (34 percent).

Miller did better in Jefferson County, but it was not enough to earn the victory. Miller received 4,832 votes (62 percent) in Jefferson County to Shipley's 2,911.

Shipley told The Union Tuesday night that he felt 'at peace” watching the results come in and even before knowing the final tally.

'I'm happy with my record of service, and whatever the voters decide is fine by me,” he said.

Shipley said his opponent, Miller, was performing 'very strong” relative to the rest of the ticket.

'So that's humiliating, but I need more humility anyway,” he said.

Miller could not be reached for comment.

This race is a rematch between the two candidates from 2018 when Shipley narrowly defeated Miller in an election that was so close Miller asked for a recount, after the initial vote showed him trailing Shipley by 34 votes, 6,111 to 6,077.

After the recount, which was conducted only in Jefferson County, the recount board discovered 15 ballots that were not counted at first. Nine were for Shipley, and six were for Miller.