District Of The Day 3: Iowa Senate District 23, Iowa House District 45 & 46

Senate District 23
Registration: D 10037, R 8511, N 10501, total 29129, D +1526
Incumbent: Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames; holdover seat

District Draws Itself: Ames' census population of 58,965 is just short of the ideal Senate District size of 61,076. The seat shrinks all the way into Story County, losing a few rural Boone townships. The Democratic edge of the district barely changes, and Quirmbach holds over till 2014.

House District 45
Registration: D 5304, R 4378, N 5679, total 15403, D +926
Incumbent: Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, D-Ames

House District 46
Registration: D 4733, R 4133, N 4822, total 13726, D +600
Incumbent: Lisa Heddens, D-Ames

Ames is still split into a north and south district. The east-west line across town moves south and shifts the bulk of the Iowa State campus from the southern district, 45, into the north district, 46.

46 shrinks entirely into the city limits and makes this a My District Just Not My House map for Lisa Heddens, who moved back into the district. District 45 loses the Boone County townships and gains about 300 Democrats with the line changes.

Both BW-K and Heddens get 2012 opponents from the ranks, current or recent grad, of the Iowa State College Republicans. The two contenders - recent grad Dane Nealson in 45 and current ISU CR chair Stephen Quist in 46, announced at a shared event.

Last cycle Heddens had a fairly easy 2000 vote win over Republican Chad Steenhoek last cycle. BW-K won by 1000 votes over a relatively high profile Republican, Karin Sevde, in the awful 2010 cycle.

The biggest distinction between these two parallel races is that Wessel-Kroeschell has a second opponent. Eric Cooper was the 2010 Libertarian nominee for governor, and is the only third party -- as opposed to independent -- legislative candidate in the state. Cooper ran against Heddens twice under the old map. In 2006 he won 3% in a three way contest; in 2008 he was Heddens' only opponent and pulled 21%.

July 19 Campaign Finance Report: Elect Nealson, Citizens for Wessel-Kroeschell BW-K has a solid, incumbent, $15,282.44 in the bank, with over $7000 coming in on the June-July report. Nealson has $4,243.66 on hand.

July 19 Campaign Finance Report: Quist for House, Committee to Elect Lisa Heddens Heddens has $14,761.44 on hand to Quist's $2,181.47.

Senate District 23, House District 45 & 46: District of the Day 1 - 5/25/2011 | District of the Day 2 - 3/16/2012