Northwest Iowa (RI) – A Republican has won Tuesday’s special election for a seat in the Iowa House.
Unofficial results indicate Republican Wendy Larson of Odebolt finished 40 points ahead of Democrat Rachel Burns in the district, which covers Sac, Calhoun and Pocahontas Counties and a portion of Webster County.
It was Larson’s second race in the district. She’s campaigned on protecting landowner rights in an area of the state where some property owners have opposed the Summit Carbon Solutions Pipeline. She came within 53 votes of defeating Representative Mike Sexton of Rockwell City in last year’s Republican Primary.
This fall, President Trump appointed Sexton to be state director of USDA Rural Development, but he later resigned from the Iowa House on September 19th. Larson’s win means Republicans have maintained their 67-seat supermajority in the Iowa House.
Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart says Rachel Burns, the Democrat who ran against Larson, ran a gutsy campaign and did 11 points better in the district than Kamala Harris did in 2024.
This was the fifth special election this year to fill a vacancy in the state legislature. A sixth special election on December 30th will fill the seat held by state Senator Clair Celsi, a Democrat from West Des Moines who died in October.
The 2026 Iowa legislative session begins January 12th.
KIWA Staff Photo
