Iowa U.S. Senate Campaign: Confirmation of Party Realignment in the Hawkeye State

The 2020 U.S. Senate race in Iowa, between one-term incumbent Joni Ernst (R) and challenger Theresa Greenfield (D), was a gauge of whether the Hawkeye State’s traditionally moderate politics had shifted decisively rightward in wake of President Donald J. Trump’s surprise victory there in 2016. With Republicans holding a 53–47 Senate majority, the Iowa contest was among a small number whose outcomes were unpredictable, and thus considered crucial in determining party control of the Senate. The race between two candidates with rural roots proved to be shockingly expensive, brutally ideological, and ultimately not very close. Ernst’s convincing reelection confirmed a realignment in Iowans’ political inclinations, signaling likely Republican dominance for at least the intermediate future.