District Of The Day 3: Iowa Senate District 9, Iowa House District 17 & 18

Senate District 9
Registration: D 10329, R 14833, N 12834, total 38016, R +4504
Incumbent: Nancy Boettger, R-Harlan, holdover seat

Any excitement we might have seen here ended with the retirement of James Seymour, the other GOP incumbent in this paired-up seat. Boettger holds over till `14 in a district that's more Seymour's than hers. She last saw an opponent in 2002.

House District 17
Registration: D 5380, R 7487, N 6816, total 19693, R +2107
Incumbent: Matt Windschitl, R-Missouri Valley, unopposed

Windschitl gets a lot of different turf but gains a few hundred Republicans. He won the seat by knocking off Paul Wilderdyke in a 2006 primary challenge from the right, and last saw a Democratic opponent in 2008.

July 19 Campaign Finance Report: Win With Windschitl

House District 18
Registration: D 4949, R 7346, N 6018, total 18323, R +2397
Incumbent: Jason Schultz, R-Schleswig

UPDATE: Friedrichsen announced August 21 she has taken a new job and is ending her candidacy, but will remain on the ballot. Before that happened, this is what I said:

This one's interesting: it's an uphill fight for a Democrat, but Schultz has never had a general election opponent. He won the seat in a contested 2008 primary, where he was seen as the more conservative candidate. (Incumbent Clarence Hoffman had been squeezed out by Iowans For Tax Relief.) The district is centered on Denison and western Crawford County. It used to go north into Ida, now it goes south and gets all of Shelby County. The line changes cost Schultz about 300 Republicans.

Democrat Kasey Friedrichsen, who was laid off from a Workforce office closed by Branstad budget cuts, looks like a good candidate in a bad district. She easily defeated her primary opponent, Dunlap Mayor Bernard Murphy, 80-20%.

July 19 Campaign Finance Report: Friends of Jason Schultz, Friedrichsen for State Representative The incumbent has the edge with $9,166.60 on hand; Friedrichsen has $4,738.35.

Senate District 9, House District 17 & 18: District of the Day 1 - 5/05/2011 | District of the Day 2 - 3/16/2012