Democrat Catelin Drey wins Iowa special election, removes Republican supermajority

Democratic Iowa state Senate candidate Catelin Drey won a special election on Tuesday over Republican Christopher Prosch, removing a GOP supermajority in the state’s upper chamber.

Catelin Drey wins special election for Iowa State Senate District 1https://t.co/cSIaNKxsJ1 pic.twitter.com/rPR9PHCyKL

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Drey won the election to represent Iowa’s 1^st Senate District with a reported 55.2% of the vote (4,208) with 95% of precincts reporting. Prosch secured 44.8% with 3,411 votes. The seat became vacant in June after former state Sen. Rocky De Witt (R-Lawton) died of cancer while in office. Drey received significant financial support from The States Project, an organization that focuses on funding effective state legislative campaigns. Mandara Meyers, the executive director of The States Project, told Heartland Signal that Drey’s victory underscores what is possible when resources are focused on certain candidates. “This week’s victory shows just what is possible when we put resources where they go the furthest — changing governing power in state legislatures,” Meyers said. “We need more focus and more resources to support the hard-working candidates in states to deliver more results like the one we saw this week.” Drey’s victory will ensure that Republicans cannot push through gubernatorial nominees in Iowa without support from Democrats, as nominees require a 2/3 majority in the state Senate to pass. The 37-year-old Drey is a native of Sioux City where she works as an account executive for a marketing firm. Drey made affordable child care, health care, and housing a focus of her campaign. “I want to be as available as I possibly can in the months ahead of January to make sure that I’m really taking the wishes of Senate District 1 to Des Moines and doing a good job of representing them,” Drey told the Des Moines Register after her win. President Donald Trump won the district by 11 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election, but Drey’s victory continues a trend of Democrats flipping deep-red districts this year. Mike Zimmer (D) won a special election in Iowa in January by 3.5 points, while James Malone took a Pennsylvania Senate district in March that Trump won by double digits last November. Democrats were also able to win a consequential Supreme Court election in Wisconsin in April, which retained a liberal majority on the court.