Republican candidate Jon Jacobsen, an attorney and former weekly radio host, won yesterday’s special election to represent Iowa House district 22 with 1,069 votes, about 44 percent, according to final unofficial results. Carol Forristall, who filed as an independent candidate after losing at the GOP special nominating convention, placed second with 803 votes (33 percent).

Almost all of the 465 write-in votes (19 percent) were presumably for the Democratic candidate Ray Stevens, who failed to submit his nominating papers on time. The Pottawattamie County Auditor’s Office will confirm the write-in results today, Mike Brownlee reported for the Omaha World-Herald. Libertarian Bryan Jack Holder received 98 votes (4 percent) in the special election.

Democratic candidate Ray Stevens will not appear on the ballot for the June 27 special election in Iowa House district 22. He missed the deadline for filing paperwork with the Iowa Secretary of State’s office.

The episode should be a wake-up call for Democratic leaders at the county and state level.

Voters in Iowa House district 22 will choose a successor to the late State Representative Greg Forristall on Tuesday, June 27, in accordance with a proclamation Governor Terry Branstad issued today. The district covers a small portion of Council Bluffs and most of Pottawattamie County outside that city (see map above).

Special district conventions, tentatively scheduled for May 30, will determine the Democratic and Republican candidates for House district 22. Forristall’s widow and longtime clerk, Carol Forristall, will seek the GOP nomination, but others are expected to compete at the Republican district convention as well. (The late State Senator Pat Ward’s widower did not win the 2012 nominating convention in Senate district 2012.) The conservative blog Iowa Statesman reported that some locals recruited Naomi Corrie to run for the seat. Corrie was heavily involved as a volunteer for former Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz and new State Senator Dan Dawson, and has “been a Council Bluffs organizer for Senator [Joni] Ernst and Lt. Gov [Kim] Reynolds.” However, Corrie ruled herself out of this race today.

The GOP will be heavily favored to hold House district 22, where more than twice as many voters are registered Republicans as Democrats. However, an activist reported on Facebook this evening that as many as a dozen people have already contacted Pottawattamie County Democratic Chair Linda Nelson to express interest in the race. Anything can happen in a low-turnout special election.

Forristall had a Democratic opponent for his first election in 2006 but did not face a Democratic challenger in his 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, or 2016 re-election bids.