Twelfth in a series interpreting the results of Iowa’s 2024 state and federal elections.
Phil Montag is a Des Moines area activist, serves on the Iowa Unity Coalition Board of Directors, and is one of the founders of Veishea Analytics.
Every election cycle produces a wealth of public data, from polling station statistics to voter turnout figures, campaign fundraising and spending data, absentee ballot requests, and audited results. This data exists not just for politicians and media outlets, but for the public as well. It provides transparency, accountability, and evidence-based debunking of misinformation that is prevalent today. With this analysis of the 2024 Iowa State House races, we are hoping to present the data in a new way that will be easy for everyday voters to understand.
In the Iowa State House races that concluded a few weeks ago, the Republican Party of Iowa was able to campaign with a serious cash advantage, although Democrats had much more success at promoting absentee ballot requests and turning out early votes.
The combined fundraising totals for Republican candidates running for the Iowa House was a little more than $12 million. For Democrats it was $6.7 million. Those totals represent what was donated to campaigns directly as well as in-kind contributions that other organizations spent on their behalf. The fundraising graphs enclosed below represent only what was raised in 2023 and 2024. Incumbent candidates whose campaigns started 2023 with cash on hand may have spent more.
THE BIG PICTURE
Total Republican Versus Total Democrat Cash In Iowa State House Races
Top 50 Donors to Democrat House Races January 1, 2023 to December 18, 2024
Top 50 Donors to Republican House Races January 1, 2023 to December 18, 2024
The Iowa Democratic Party and the Iowa GOP were far and away the biggest contributors (mostly in the form of in-kind contributions).
Iowa Democratic Party spending on behalf of House candidates
Republican Party of Iowa spending on behalf of House candidates
LARGE ORGANIZATIONAL CONTRIBUTORS
The largest contributor to campaigns was the the Iowa State Education Association – the teachers union. The vast majority of their contributions went to House Democratic leader Jennifer Konfrst.
Removing Leader Konfrst from the chart (as well as several candidates to whom ISEA donated $10), we can see a clearer picture of how the ISEA donated.
The next largest contributor was the Associated General Contractors of Iowa, which has been the case in other election cycles. They donated to 78 different house candidates.
Donations from the Realtors Political Action Committee (RPAC) of Iowa
Iowa Health PAC
Credit Union PAC
Justice for All PAC
Iowa Farm Bureau PAC
Not surprisingly, House Speaker Pat Grassley and Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst lead in fundraising totals. You can see the relative flatlining of the money race from January until June, due to Iowa law restricting fundraising while the legislature is in session.
THE CLOSEST IOWA HOUSE RACES
While there were 100 Iowa House elections in 2024, we will focus on the ten closest ones. All were decided within an 8-point margin, and in most the margin of victory was less than 5 points.
House district 42 (Heather Matson vs. Heather Stephenson)
The race in House district 42 (southern Ankeny) between Democratic incumbent Heather Matson and challenger Republican Heather Stephenson was close in both the money race and the election results, with Matson finishing slightly ahead in a district Donald Trump carried. You can see Matson had a fundraising advantage in the beginning, but massive expenditures of $377,000 from the Republican Party of Iowa put Stephenson in the cash lead.
Top 50 donors to Matson:
Top 50 donors to Stephenson:
The map below represents the vote margin gain in House district 42, compared to 2022. For example, in the previous cycle Matson defeated Garrett Gobble in Precinct 1 by 2 votes, 718 to 716. In 2024, Matson lost to Stephenson by 6 votes 865 to 859, therefore P1 on the shows a light red Republican gain of 8 votes.
The race for absentee ballot requests was more one-sided.
House district 41: (Molly Buck vs. Ryan Weldon)
Another very close race in north Ankeny, with GOP challenger Ryan Weldon finishing just a few votes ahead of Democratic incumbent Molly Buck.
Top 50 donors to Buck:
Top 50 donors to Weldon:
The next image shows the net change in votes for each precinct between Buck / Weldon 2024 and Buck / Marvis Landon 2022.
House district 40: Heather Sievers vs. Bill Gustoff
First-term Republican incumbent Bill Gustoff prevailed against a strong challenge from Democrat Heather Sievers.
Top 50 donors to Sievers:
Top 50 donors to Gustoff:
Net vote gains and losses by precinct, comparing Sievers/Gustoff 2024 and MacKenzie Bills/Gustoff 2022
House district 43: Tiara Mays-Sims vs. Eddie Andrews
Republican Eddie Andrews won a third term in this suburban district. He was the only Republican to win an Iowa legislative race in 2024 in a district that voted for Kamala Harris for president.
Top 50 donors to Mays-Sims:
Top 50 donors to Andrews:
House district 20: Josh Turek vs. James Wassell
Democratic incumbent Josh Turek outperformed Harris by about 13 points, winning a second term despite heavy spending by the Iowa GOP on behalf of James Wassell.
Top 50 donors to Turek:
All donors to Wassell:
House district 72: Chuck Isenhart vs. Jennifer Smith
Republicans spent heavily on behalf of Jennifer Smith, who defeated sixteen-year Democratic incumbent Chuck Isenhart lost in this district covering part of Dubuque.
Top 50 donors to Isenhart:
Top 50 donors to Smith:
House district 52: Sue Cahill vs. David Blom
Republicans did not target this district in either of Sue Cahill’s previous races for the Iowa House, but heavily funded David Blom’s successful challenge this year in a district covering the Marshalltown area.
Top 50 donors to Cahill:
Top 50 donors to Blom:
House district 59: Jeremy True vs. Christian Hermanson
Long-serving Democratic incumbent Sharon Steckman did not seek re-election this year, and Republicans heavily outspent Democrats in this district covering Mason City.
Top 50 donors to True:
Top 50 donors to Hermanson:
House district 80: Aime Wichtendahl vs. John Thompson
This House seat was open because the previous Democratic incumbent, Art Staed, ran for the Iowa Senate.
Top 50 donors to Wichtendahl:
Top 50 donors to Thompson:
House district 98: Monica Kurth vs. Nathan Ramker
In one of the most surprising Iowa legislative results from 2024, Democratic incumbent Monica Kurth barely held on, even though Republicans spent little to support challenger Nathan Ramker.
Top 50 donors to Kurth:
All donors to Ramker:
3 Comments
I really appreciate the detailed information on the role of the Iowa Farm Bureau.
That information confirms what the IFB does for the Iowa Republican Party. And the IFB is so generous, in large part, because the Iowa Republican Party is so enthusiastically the party of “Let that massive farm pollution keep on rolling.”
And yes, the Iowa Democratic Party gets criticism for not doing more for Iowa’s environment. But the Iowa Republican Party is far, FAR worse. And the IRP is rewarded for that by the IFB, as clearly shown above.
I was especially interested to see that while the Iowa Farm Bureau is not listed as an individual top contributor to most of the listed close-race House Republican candidates, the opponent of Chuck Isenhart got a special IFB boost. It’s not hard to guess one reason why.
Thank you, Chuck Isenhart, for your good environmental work and focus over the years. You tried very hard.
I have no doubt that District 72 winner Jennifer Smith will diligently carry water, so to speak, for the Iowa Farm Bureau, along with the rest of the Republicans in the Iowa House. The IFB donations to the Iowa Republican Party are an ongoing investment that really pays off.
Thank you very much for providing this analysis, Phil Montag.
PrairieFan Sun 5 Jan 2:51 PM
Nice graphs
Thanks for your new way of reporting. I like the pie charts and the top 50 lists. Something to talk about at the next Dem county central committee meetings!
IowaVoter Mon 6 Jan 9:36 AM
Thank You
Thank you IowaVoter and PrairieFan for your encouraging comments! Also thanks to Laura Belin for catching my typos, excellent editing, and helping flesh out more of the narrative on the individual races. I’m working on a similar one for the State Senate races, hoping to have it competed later in the week. If anyone has ideas on how I can analyze and visualize other aspects of voting, early voting, fundraising, spending, etc. please email me at philipjmontag@gmail.com.
Phil Montag Mon 6 Jan 9:46 AM