Trump takes Iowa as nation rolls red

MARENGO — Iowa County voters chose Republican candidates in State and Federal races with a voter turnout of more than 77% as the nation voted to return Donald Trump to the White House.

Unofficial election results showed Donald Trump with 277 electoral votes as of Wednesday morning, seven more than needed to win the election.

Trump also led in the four states that were still counting votes — Michigan, Nevada, Arizona and Alaska.

Trump won Iowa County with 6,066 votes. Harris received 3,396, a difference of 63% to 35%

Robert Kennedy Jr. received 84 votes in Iowa County despite dropping out of the race and asking voters to vote for Trump instead. Libertarian Chase Oliver received 48 votes.

Benton County’s voter turnout was only 56.6%, but the majority of those also favored Trump, 7,167 (68%) to 3,208 (30%)

Kennedy received 92 votes, and Oliver 53.

Trump received 5,745 votes in Poweshiek County, and Harris received 4,048. Kennedy received 97, and Oliver, 33.

Federal races

Iowa County voters chose Republican incumbent Mariannette Miller-Meeks for the District 1 House seat 59% to 40%. Miller-Meeks received 5,546 votes, and Christina Bohannan, 3,779 in Iowa County.

As of Wednesday morning, Miller-Meeks led Bohannan by only 413 votes in District 1, with 19 of 20 counties reporting.

Ashley Hinson kept her seat in Iowa House District 2, defeating Democratic challenger Sarah Corkery by 62,000 votes.

In Poweshiek County, 5,758 voters chose the Republican incumbent and 3,590 voted for Corkery. Jody Puffett received 147.

Benton County voters also choose Hinson over Corkery, 70% to 28%. Hinson received 7,247 votes in Benton County. Corkery received 2,879, and Puffett, 160.

State

Republican Dawn Driscoll defeated Ed Chabal in State Senate District 46. Driscoll received 18,349 votes statewide; Chabal received 11,592.

In Iowa County 6,551 votes (70%) were cast for Driscoll and 2,828 (30%) for Chabal.

Republican Judd Lawler won the District 91 House seat 10,641 to 8,759 over Democrat Jay Gorsh. Lawler received 5,421 votes (59%) in Iowa County to 3,817 (41%) for Gorsh.

Republican Dean Fisher won the race for District 53 State Representative over Democrat Tommy Hexter in Poweshiek County. Fisher received 5,299 votes to Hexter’s 4,178 in Poweshiek County and won 8,877 to 6,729 in the District.

Republican Thomas Gerhold defeated Libertarian Ashley Meredith 11,668 to 4,248 in the District 84 State Representative race. Benton County voters favored Gerhold 74% to 25%, 6,741 to 2,314.

County

The two Iowa County Supervisors seats went to Republicans Seth Meyer and Abigail Maas. Meyer had 5,398 votes and Maas 5,132. Democrat Jason Grimm received 4,024.

Jacki Bolen won the Poweshiek County Board of Supervisors seat over Democrat Diana Dawley 5,299 votes to 4,094 votes. John Clayton received 519 votes.

Republican Ronald Tippett ran unopposed for the District 1 County Supervisor in Benton County and received 8,667 votes.

Bruce E. Volz won the District 3 Benton County Supervisor seat, receiving 6,986 votes (72%) while his Democratic opponent Nicholas Volk received 2,728 (28%).

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School bond

Williamsburg Community School District’s bond issue failed with only 51% of the vote in favor. The District had asked voters to approve $22 million in bonds for facilities improvements.

In Iowa County, 1,889 voted yes to the measure; 1,842 said no. Johnson County residents in the District cast 10 yes and 16 no votes.

A school bond issue needs 60% approval to pass.

Constitutional amendments

Constitutional Amendment 1, amending the Iowa Constitution to state that only U.S. citizens may vote, passed with 1.1 million votes in favor and only 326,867 against.

The amendment received 7,020 yes votes in Iowa County to 1,856 no votes, a margin of 79% to 21%

In Benton County, 7,530 voters approved (79%) and 1,951 (21%) voted no to the amendment. In Poweshiek County, 6,560 people voted yes and 2,356 voted no.

Constitutional amendment 2, allowing the lieutenant governor to act as governor if the governor is incapacitated had the approval of Iowa voters 1.1 million to 266,294.

Iowa County voters favored the measure 7,299 (83%) to 1,446 (17%). Benton County gave the amendment 7,821 favorable votes (84%) and 1,541 no votes (16%).

Poweshiek County voted 6,997 in favor and 1,774 against.