District Of The Day 3: Iowa Senate District 29, Iowa House District 57 & 58

Senate District 29
Registration: D 15249, R 10312, N 16344, total 41935, D +4937
Incumbent: Tod Bowman, R-Maquoketa; holdover seat

The Democrats have already picked up one House seat in this area, and are likely to claim the other.

Paired-up Senate 29 was the linchpin to a whole lot of moving and shuffling in eastern Iowa. After several months of waiting, the announcements came fast: Tom Hancock would retire and Tod Bowman would hold over. Bowman was the ONLY Democratic open seat winner of the cycle, holding the Clinton based seat for the party after Roger Stewart retired. But he only prevailed by 70 votes in November. He won his margin in his own Jackson County, and lost the Clinton County part of the district to Republican Andrew Naeve.

Bowman has two years to get to know rural Dubuque county; the solid Democratic edge should keep him safe thereafter.

House District 57
Registration: D 7289, R 5653, N 7830, total 20789, D +1636
Open seat; Steve Lukan, R-New Vienna, retiring. Uncontested.

Talk about clearing the field. Technically this is a Republican held seat. But after Lukan retired to take a job as Terry Branstad's drug czar, Democrat Nancy Dunkel of Dyersville was such a prohibitive favorite that no one else filed. Dunkel will take office in January with no primary or general election opposition. She's an Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame recipient and the first chairwoman of the Iowa Bankers Association.

The seat is almost all of Dubuque County outside the city limits. It sheds Manchester and southern Delaware County, where Lukan had found his winning margins for a decade.

July 19 Campaign Finance Report: Friends of Nancy Dunkel

House District 58
Registration: D 7960, R 4659, N 8514, total 21146, D +3301
Incumbents: Brian Moore, R-Zwingle

This... is going to be tough. Where do I start? Moore gets the number 18 most Democratic district--the most Democratic seat held by a Republican. He loses the northern Clinton County and southern Dubuque areas where he got his 138 vote winning margin last time. He got paired up with another Republican, and Lee Hein claimed the more GOP district to the west. And he has a rematch with the gut he upset last time, Democrat Tom Schueller.

Moore was living proof in 2010 that Some Dude gets elected sometimes. In June he had lost the primary for old Senate 13. The Democratic primary. A month later the GOP talked him into switching parties and getting into the house race against Schueller, who had been an unopposed winner in 2008.

July 19 Campaign Finance Report: CITIZENS FOR SCHUELLER, Brian Moore for State Representative Despite the uphill fight, Moore has taken in some cash and has $6,001.22 on hand.  Schueller has $10,121.97 ready to spend.

Senate District 29, House District 57 & 58: District of the Day 1 - 6/02/2011 | District of the Day 2 - 3/16/2012