IOWA CITY — Democrats on Tuesday retained a narrow majority in the state Senate, winning a fiercely contested special election in Senate District 18.
Democratic candidate Liz Mathis, a former television anchor from Robins, pulled off the win over GOP candidate and rural Cedar Rapids businesswoman Cindy Golding by a margin of 55.8 percent to 43.52 percent, with all 40 precincts reporting.
Mathis garnered 13,184 votes to Golding’s 10,283 votes, according to unofficial tallies by the Linn County Auditor. Constitutional Party candidate Jon Tack took 151 of the 23,627 votes cast.
“Over the past 40 days, we talked with thousands of people here,” Mathis said after learning of her 2,901-vote victory. “They told us they were concerned about job creation, small business growth and education funding. We listened to them, and we built our campaign on addressing their concerns.”
Democrats backing Mathis attributed the victory to a rejection of Republican proposals, including weakening public-sector collective-bargaining rights and the end of universal preschool.
Iowa Federation of Labor President Ken Sagar called it a “clear signal that voters are rejecting the anti-education, anti-working family agenda of Gov. (Terry) Branstad and his followers in the Iowa Legislature.”
But Republicans attributed the loss to Mathis’ head start with name recognition for the short and intense campaign, and the fact that the candidates were competing for a seat vacated by a Democrat. The GOP said it would refocus its efforts on 2012.
“I wouldn’t look too deep into this election, I don’t think that it gave a lot of tells,” said state Sen. Rick Bertrand, R-Sioux City. “I think there’s going to be a lot of opportunities with a lot of retirements coming out this next session, and a lot of open seats due to realignment that I think still favors a good Republican year.”
Iowa Republicans won back the governorship, gained a 60-40 majority in the House and nearly took power in the Senate in 2010 midterm elections. Democrats will maintain their 26-24 majority in the upper chamber after Tuesday’s results.
Democrats have used the slim majority to block debate on a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, which has been legal in Iowa since 2009.
The issue mobilized special interests on both sides of the issue, but Troy Price, executive director of One Iowa, the state’s largest gay-rights organization, said same-sex marriage had very little influence on the final result.
“I think that this was a local election,” Price said. “I think people in this district were looking for a state senator that was going to vote on the issues Iowans care most about.”
Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, said he was encouraged by the win and looked forward to working with Mathis in January.
Mathis replaces Swati Dandekar, of Marion, who vacated her seat to take a position on the Iowa Utilities Board.
Hannah Hess covers government and politics for IowaPolitics.com, which is owned by the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity.
