The establishment candidate should have focused more on the Iowa Republican primary for state auditor.
Unofficial returns from the June 7 election show Mary Ann Hanusa received 79,875 votes (48.8 percent) to 83,843 votes (51.2 percent) for Todd Halbur. The result shocked me, since Hanusa had the public backing of the governor, most of Iowa’s Congressional delegation, and many state legislators, whereas Halbur was virtually unknown when he filed nominating papers in March.
But Hanusa did little to reach Republicans who turned out in large numbers this week, due to the many competitive legislative primaries around the state.
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