In a poetic story that you just cannot make up, Josh Turek of Iowa became the first U.S. Senator with spina bifida, a congenital neural tube defect. Turek fills a seat held for three decades by Tom Harkin, the major sponsor of the culture-shifting Americans with Disabilities Act. Senator-elect Turek has flourished in nearly every […]

A Johnson County ballot count error left 2,017 absentee ballots out of the election-night results. Former Auditor Travis Weipert is now calling for a resignation.

Newly elected Iowa Congress members Chris McGowan, Lindsay James, Christina Bohannan, Sarah Trone Garriott and Josh Turek attend orientation Nov. 9.

Democrats swept into power last week as voters also embraced tougher criminal penalties and restrictions on bail. Why it matters: Six years after the George Floyd protests, Democrats won big without promising a return to sweeping 2020-era reforms. Some even adopted border-security rhetoric associated with Republicans. Democrats gained at least 12 state legislative chambers and won governorships in Georgia, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio and Texas. By the...

Dallas County, the Midwest's fastest-growing county, swung left in the midterms, breaking a decades-long Republican voting streak in gubernatorial and congressional elections since 2008. Why it matters: The booming Des Moines metro county is adding thousands of voters annually to its suburbs, making its changing political makeup increasingly important to candidates. By the numbers: Dallas County backed President Trump in 2024 but gave Democrat...

The trajectory of education policy in a trio of historically red states is about to see a major shake-up after voters there elected Democratic governors for the first time in decades. For years, positions on school choice LGBTQ topics in classrooms and efforts either for or against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) have expanded cultural […]

Iowa’s new congressional delegation is projected to have the largest shift to the left than any other state.

Johnson County officials recounted 36,000 ballots after finding 2,000 absentee ballots, noting that local and statewide results were unaffected.

Democrats secure the governor's office, a U.S. Senate seat, and three congressional seats in Iowa, while Republicans retain control of the state legislature.

There was a blue tsunami in the midterms. Peer inside it and you see a few powerful forces: Artificial intelligence. MAHA. Trade. Israel. In our new issue, reporters went deep on how these became four of the biggest policy disputes that defined 2026. These issues divided voters between and within political parties, spurred the expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars and scrambled campaigns all over the country from Iowa to Michigan to New York. Grab your pumpkin latte infused with collagen and topped off with raw milk — yes, that’s a real drink mentioned in our MAHA story — and read on.