The 1998 Iowa State Senate elections took place as part of the biennial 1998 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 1998 is provided by the Iowa General Assemblyhere.
The primary election on June 2, 1998 determined which candidates appeared on the November 3, 1998 general election ballot. Primary election results can be obtained here.[2] General election results can be obtained here.[3]
Following the previous election in 1996, Republicans had control of the Iowa state Senate with 29 seats to Democrats' 21 seats. In a special election in District 13 in 1997 to fill a vacancy created by Sen. Jim Lind's (R) resignation, Democratic candidate Patricia M. "Pat" Harper (D) flipped the seat for her party. Therefore, on election day 1998, Republicans held 28 seats to Democrats' 22.
To reclaim control of the chamber from Republicans, the Democrats needed to net 4 Senate seats.
Republicans strengthened their control of the Iowa State Senate following the 1998 general election by netting two seats, resulting in Republicans holding 30 seats and Democrats having 20 seats after the election.
Reminder: Only odd-numbered Iowa Senate seats were up for election in 1998; therefore, even-numbered seats did not have elections in 1998 & 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).
