A Republican managed to win a House seat in Iowa that has been held for decades by Democrats, which could preclude a bad outcome for the DNC next year during the midterm elections.
At the same time, President Joe Biden’s approval ratings are tanking, due to several factors including rising inflation and gas prices, along with the ongoing border crisis and fallout from the deadly Afghanistan pullout.
“The seat, which has been held by Democrats for decades, will now be filled by a Republican for the first time since 1992,” The Daily Wire reported.
“The seat became open when the incumbent Democrat representative left for a job with the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy, and Governor Kim Reynolds (R-IA) announced a special election,” the outlet continued.
According to election reporting, GOP candidate Jon Dunwell has won about 60% of the vote.
“Community engagement is very important to me. Being out and among people is very important to me. Giving everyone a seat at the table is very important to me,” said Dunwell, a former pastor, according to the Newton Daily News.
Though it is a state House seat, the fact that it had long been held by the opposite party could mean there are national implications for Democrats ahead of next year’s primaries.
“Thank you, Jasper County, for putting your faith in me to be your voice in the Iowa Statehouse,” Dunwell, 55, said in astatement. “Throughout this campaign, I have had the honor of hearing from so many of you — those who agreed with me and those who offered opposing viewpoints. I have learned so much and am eager to get to work representing each and every one of you.”
The Daily Wire adds:
Back in 2018, the margin in the district was nearly completely flipped, with Democrat Wes Breckenridge taking 58.7% of the vote to the Republican candidate’s 41.2%. The Hill that Dunwell’s victory marked the second instance of a Republican flipping a state office since Biden took office. The other instance was a state Senate seat in Connecticut.
While turnout for the Special Election was only about 20% for eligible voters in the district, some analysts have said that Dunwell’s comfortable victory indicates a growing shift to the right in Iowa politics.
Douglas Schoen, a one-time consultant to President Bill Clinton and an adviser to Mike Bloomberg during his 2020 Democratic presidential bid, said that party is on pace to “lose big” if things stay the same.
He in an essay last month, “If the Biden administration continues to push unnecessarily big government spending initiatives and tax increases, along with weak immigration policies and an incoherent foreign policy strategy, Democrats could suffer the most substantial midterm loss of any party in recent history.”
Meanwhile, Biden’s approval rating is falling to a point where Democratic pollsters are growing increasingly concerned.
“It’s the rare poll that makes an entire party sit up and take notice. The new Iowa poll is one of those polls,” CNN’s Chris Cillizza wrote recently regarding Biden’s 31% approval in Iowa.
“Just 31% of Iowans approved of how Joe Biden is handling his duties as president while a whopping 62% disapprove,” the analyst wrote.
“Biden’s disapproval number is below the lowest ever measured by ace pollster J. Ann Selzer for former presidents Donald Trump (35%) and Barack Obama (36%),” he added.
He added that the poll “should terrify” the president’s party.
“Biden’s approval on pulling American troops out of Afghanistan stands at a meager 22%. Approval for his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic is now just 36% among Iowans,” Cillizza continued.