Incumbents prevail in local races

State Rep. Mike Sexton and State Sen. Tim Kraayenbrink will both return to the Capitol in January.
Sexton, a Republican, defeated Democratic challenger Jake Thompson 67 percent to 33 percent, getting 8,573 votes to Thompson’s 4,206 votes.
Kraayenbrink, also a Republican, defeated Democrat John O’Brien 62 percent to 38 percent. Kraayenbrink received 14,545 votes to O’Brien’s 8,924 votes.\
Early results indicated Democratic challenger J.D. Scholten might have had a chance to unseat incumbent Steve King in Iowa’s 4th Congressional District.
But by the end of the night, King had won another two-year term in the U.S. House of Representatives. He also became the lone Republican standing in the state’s delegation to the House.
King defeated Scholten by about 10,500 votes, with King receiving 157,221 to Scholten’s 146,698. King receive 50 percent of the vote to Scholten’s 47 percent, the lowest percent for King in a victory since he first ran for Congress in 2002.
According to Iowa Public Radio, King raised the issue of ending birthright citizenship, something proposed by President Donald Trump a few weeks ago, at King’s election watch party. King also talked about the reports raised about his own personal views on race, and meetings he had with far right political groups in Europe that have been characterized as having links to Nazi-views.
Scholten, according to media reports, reminded his supporters that his political heroes, Congressmen Berkley Bedell and Tom Harkin, both lost their initial campaigns.
Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds defeated Democratic challenger Fred Hubbell, garnering 50.4 percent of the vote to Hubbell’s 47.4 percent. Reynolds received nearly 40,000 more votes than Hubbell. Early results Tuesday gave Hubbell a lead of nearly 60,000 votes, but that shrank as more county results were reported.
In other state races, Secretary of State Paul Pate, a Republican, retained his position, defeating Democrat Deidre DeJear 52.9 percent to 44.7 percent. Democrat challenger Rob Sand unseated Republican Mary Mosiman to be the state’s next auditor, with 50.9 percent of the vote to 46.5 percent. Democrat Michael Fitzgerald will continue to be Iowa’s treasurer after he defeated Republican Jeremy Davis 54.8 percent to 42.8 percent. For Secretary of Agriculture, Republican Mike Naig defeated Democrat Tim Gannon 50.5 percent to 46.5 percent for his first elected term in the post to which he was appointed. Democratic Attorney General Tom Miller’s only challenger was Libertarian Marco Battaglia; Miller received 76.5 percent of the vote to Battaglia’s 22.8 percent.
Statewide voter turnout was 61 percent, with 1.3 million ballots cast.
Pick up the Nov. 14 edition of The Graphic-Advocate for a breakdown of how Calhoun County voted in these races.
All vote totals are unofficial until canvassed by the Boards of Supervisors in each county; absentee ballots postmarked by Nov. 5 will be accepted through Nov. 13.