Campaign photo of Iowa state Sen.-elect Catelin Drey (D) (Photo source: Drey for Iowa)

Originally published on Sept. 16

The Republican supermajority in the Iowa Senate is no more. Catelin Drey became the seventeenth Democrat in the 50-member chamber on September 15.

About half of her Democratic colleagues came to watch Drey take the oath of office, including State Senator Mike Zimmer, who flipped another Republican-held district in January.

Shortly after the swearing in, Drey and Iowa Senate Minority Leader Janice Weiner spoke to reporters in the capitol rotunda.

Weiner praised the “wonderful campaign” Drey ran, focused on listening to constituents and having hundreds of conversations with voters. The Democrat won the August 26 special election by a roughly 10-point margin, even though residents of Senate district 1 (covering most of Sioux City and some other parts of Woodbury County) had voted for Donald Trump in November 2024 by about 11 points. Bleeding Heartland previously covered Drey’s campaign message and phenomenal outreach in the run-up to the special election.

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