1978 Iowa Senate election

← 1976 November 7, 1978 1980 →
25 out of 50 seats in the Iowa State Senate 26 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Calvin Hultman George Kinley Party Republican Democratic Leader's seat 49th 34th Last election 24 26 Seats before 24 26 Seats after 28 22 Seat change 4 4
Majority Leader before election George Kinley Democratic Elected Majority Leader Calvin Hultman Republican

Elections in Iowa
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v t e

The 1978 Iowa State Senate elections took place as part of the biennial 1978 United States elections. Iowa voters elected state senators in half of the state senate's districts—the 25 odd-numbered state senate districts. State senators serve four-year terms in the Iowa State Senate, with half of the seats up for election each cycle. A statewide map of the 50 state Senate districts in the year 1978 is provided by the Iowa General Assembly here.

The primary election on June 6, 1978 determined which candidates appeared on the November 7, 1978 general election ballot. Primary election results can be obtained here.^[1] General election results can be obtained here.^[2]

Following the previous election in 1976, Democrats had control of the Iowa state Senate with 26 seats to Republicans' 24 seats.

To take control of the chamber from Democrats, the Republicans needed to net 2 Senate seats.

Republicans flipped control of the Iowa State Senate following the 1978 general election, with Republicans claiming 28 seats and Democrats falling to 22 seats after the election (a net gain of 4 seats for the Republicans).

Summary of Results

• NOTE: The 25 even-numbered districts did not have elections in 1978 so they are not listed here.

Source:^[3]

Detailed Results

• Reminder: Only odd-numbered Iowa Senate seats were up for election in 1978; therefore, even-numbered seats did not have elections in 1978 & are not shown.

• Note: If a district does not list a primary, then that district did not have a competitive primary (i.e., there may have only been one candidate file for that district).

District 1

District 3

District 5

District 7

District 9

District 11

District 13

District 15

District 17

District 19

District 21

District 23

District 25

District 27

District 29

District 31

District 33

District 35

District 37

District 39

District 41

District 43

District 45

District 47

District 49