Democrat Catelin Drey has flipped an open Iowa state Senate seat, delivering her party another special election victory this year and breaking the Republican supermajority in the chamber, according to a projection from Decision Desk HQ.
Drey defeated Republican Christopher Prosch in the race to replace the late Sen. Rocky De Witt (R), who died of cancer in June. While the district leans Republican and backed former President Trump by more than 11 points in 2024, Democrats saw the race as a prime pickup opportunity after a string of strong performances in down-ballot contests this year, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
The win trims the Republican majority in the Iowa Senate to 33–17. That shift is significant because it strips the GOP of its two-thirds supermajority, preventing the party from confirming the governor’s nominees on strictly party-line votes.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) invested heavily in the race, sending 30,000 volunteers to help with get-out-the-vote operations and organizing text and phone banks alongside the Iowa Democratic Party. DNC Chair Ken Martin said the party has long overlooked local races but is now rebuilding “from the ground up.”
“They are putting Republicans on notice and making it crystal clear: any Republican pushing Trump’s unpopular, extreme agenda has no place governing on behalf of Iowa families,” Martin said. “When Democrats organize everywhere, we win everywhere, and today is no exception.”
This marks the second Iowa state Senate seat Democrats have flipped in 2025. In January, the party picked up another GOP-held district that Trump had carried by more than 20 points. Democrats also secured a victory in March in a Pennsylvania state Senate district won by Trump in 2020, part of a broader trend of outperformance in special elections.
Heather Williams, president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, called Drey’s victory a “flashing warning” to Trump and Republicans nationwide.
“State legislative Democrats are delivering progress, responding to their communities’ concerns about the chaos in Washington, and providing the steady leadership voters are asking for,” Williams said. “More special elections are right on the horizon, and we’re just getting started.”
While analysts caution against reading too much into a single off-year special election, Democrats are eager to tout the result as evidence of grassroots momentum as they look to blunt Trump’s agenda in his second term.