The 1986 Iowa State Senate elections took place as part of the biennial 1986 United States elections. Iowa voters elected state senators in half of the state senate's districts—the 25 odd-numbered state senate districts. State senators serve four-year terms in the Iowa State Senate, with half of the seats up for election each cycle. A statewide map of the 50 state Senate districts in the year 1986 is provided by the Iowa General Assemblyhere.
The primary election on June 3, 1986 determined which candidates appeared on the November 4, 1986 general election ballot. Primary election results can be obtained here.[1] General election results can be obtained here.[2]
Following the previous election in 1984, Democrats had control of the Iowa state Senate with 29 seats to Republicans' 21 seats.
To take control of the chamber from Democrats, the Republicans needed to net 5 Senate seats.
Democrats expanded their control of the Iowa State Senate following the 1986 general election, with Democrats holding 30 seats and Republicans having 20 seats after the election (a net gain of 1 seat for the Democrats).
Reminder: Only odd-numbered Iowa Senate seats were up for election in 1986; therefore, even-numbered seats did not have elections in 1986 & are not shown.
Note: If a district does not list a primary, then that district did not have a competitive primary (i.e., there may have only been one candidate file for that district).
