Northwest Iowa — We may, or may not, know the winners of today’s (Tuesday, June 2nd) primary elections for the 4th District House, and U.S. Senate seats. That’s because at least one candidate must garner 35% of the primary vote in order to be declared the winner.
In Iowa’s 4th U.S. Congressional District, Republican incumbent Steve King is embroiled in a heated five-way primary race with challengers Randy Feenstra, Bret Richards, Steve Reeder and Jeremy Taylor. JD Scholten, who lost to King in 2018 by a mere 3 percentage points, is the lone candidate on the Democrat ballot. He’ll face the winner of the five-way Republican race this November.
In the United States Senate, Iowa’s junior Senator, Joni Ernst, is up for re-election this fall. And while Ernst is running unopposed in the Republican Primary, Democrat voters will be selecting from five candidates who desire to face her in the General election. Democrats will choose from Admiral Michael Franken, Kimberly Graham, Theresa Greenfield, Eddie Mauro and Cal Woods. Woods had earlier suspended his campaign, but his name still appears on the sample ballots seen by KIWA.
In both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate primaries, a candidate must receive at least 35% of the vote to be declared the winner, according to O’Brien County Auditor Barb Rohwer. Should no candidate reach the 35% mark, the race will be decided later this summer by the delegates to the individual party’s District Conventions.
