Catelin Drey’s victory is the latest in a string of positive special election results for Iowa Democrats this year that will give the party hope that it can claw back seats in the 2026 midterms.

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Iowa Democrats have flipped a Republican-held Iowa Senate seat, breaking the GOP’s supermajority in the chamber.Democrat Catelin Drey defeated Republican Christopher Prosch in a special election for Iowa Senate District 1 in western Iowa’s Woodbury County, which includes Sioux City.Drey said her priorities in office include funding public education at a rate that keeps up wtih inflation “and trying to make life a little bit more affordable for Iowans.”

Democrat Catelin Drey has pulled off a victory in a special election for the Iowa Senate, flipping a Republican-held seat and breaking the GOP’s supermajority in the chamber for the first time in three years.

Drey won with 55% of the vote to Republican Christopher Prosch’s 44%, according to unofficial results from the Woodbury County Auditor’s Office.

Gov. Kim Reynolds called the election to fill a vacancy in Iowa Senate District 1 after Republican Sen. Rocky De Witt died of pancreatic cancer in June.

“I’m just really incredibly honored that the folks in Senate District 1 believed in this campaign as much as the team did and I am looking forward to representing them well,” Drey said in an interview with the Des Moines Register.

The western Iowa Senate seat is based in Woodbury County and includes Sioux City.

Drey will serve the remainder of De Witt’s term, which ends in January 2027. The seat will be on the ballot again in November 2026.

With Drey’s win, Democrats now hold 17 seats in the 50-member Senate to Republicans’ 33 seats — enough to break the two-thirds supermajority the GOP has enjoyed since the 2022 election.

That means Republicans will need support from at least one Democratic senator to confirm Reynolds’ nominees to state agencies, boards and commissions in the final year of her term.

Drey’s victory is the latest in a string of positive special election results for Democrats this year that will give the party hope that it can claw back seats in the 2026 midterms.

Those results include Democrat Mike Zimmer’s surprise victory in a January special election for an eastern Iowa Senate seat, as well as a narrow loss for Democrats in March in a southeast Iowa House district and a dominant win in April in a Cedar Rapids-based House seat.

In 2022, the last time Senate District 1 was on the ballot, De Witt defeated Democrat Jackie Smith by more than 10 percentage points.

“I’m incredibly proud of the organizing effort that the Woodbury County Democrats put in,” Drey said. “We had just truly an exceptional team of volunteers who dedicated every weekend from July 9 to now to knock doors in every single kind of weather. And we left it all out there.”

Who is Catelin Drey?

Drey, 37, lives in Sioux City with her husband and daughter and works as an account executive at a marketing firm.

She named high costs and education funding “that keeps pace with or exceeds inflation” as her top issues.

“Overwhelmingly the main frustration point that I am hearing is that we have an affordability crisis, whether that’s housing, child care or health care,” Drey said in an interview before the election. “And folks are really feeling that in their pocketbooks and in their spending decisions.”

Speaking after her victory, Drey said she’s eager to represent her district well.

“And right now that means funding public education with a rate that meets or exceeds inflation and trying to make life a little bit more affordable for Iowans,” she said.

Drey said she’s looking forward to talking to more voters in her district before she’s sworn into office.

“I want to be as available as I possibly can in the months ahead of January to make sure that I’m really taking the wishes of Senate District 1 to Des Moines and doing a good job of representing them,” she said.

National, state party support poured in for candidates

National Democratic groups like the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee invested resources into the race and were quick to trumpet the results.

The Democratic National Committee hosted phone and text banks in cooperation with the Iowa Democratic Party to turn voters out to support Drey.

“Iowans are seeing Republicans for who they are: self-serving liars who will throw their constituents under the bus to rubber stamp Donald Trump’s disastrous agenda — and they’re ready for change,” DNC Chair Ken Martin said in a statement.

In a statement, Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart, said “Iowa voted for change.”

“Catelin Drey will listen to the people, not the powerful, get our economy growing, and bring down costs for families,” Hart said. “Christopher Prosch and Iowa Republicans spent over $180,000 on this race while Democrats from all over Iowa came together to give money, knock doors and write postcards. Our state is ready for a new direction and Iowa Democrats will keep putting forward candidates who can deliver better representation for Iowans.”

Heather Williams, president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, said the election result “should send a flashing warning to the GOP.”

“Voters are rejecting the failing MAGA agenda and leaving Republican candidates in the dust,” Williams said in a statement. “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 — leadership that has propelled candidates like Sen.-elect Catelin Drey to victory this year. More special elections are right on the horizon, and we’re just getting started.”

Both candidates received significant fundraising support from their respective state parties.

Drey had raised $165,385 and spent $75,066 as of Aug. 21, according to her fundraising report filed with the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board.

She received $94,969 of in-kind support, $87,706 of which came from the Iowa Democratic Party. That includes spending on ad buys, postage and digital fundraising. The Woodbury County Democratic Central Committee spent $1,022 on 500 fans printed with campaign information.

Prosch had raised $20,020 and spent $18,425 as of Aug. 21, according to his fundraising reports.

The Republican Party of Iowa provided more than $160,000 worth of in-kind support for Prosch, for television, digital and radio ads, direct mail, campaign signs, social media advertising, texts, campaign literature and Pizza Ranch meals for volunteers.

Republican Party of Iowa Chair Jeff Kaufmann criticized national Democrats for investing so heavily in a race that Drey won by about 800 votes.

“National Democrats were so desperate for a win that they activated 30,000 volunteers and a flood of national money to win a state senate special election by a few hundred votes,” he said in a statement. “If the Democrats think things are suddenly so great again for them in Iowa, they will bring back the caucuses.”

(This story was updated to add new information.)

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on X at @sgrubermiller.