William Boyd Allison was an American politician. An early leader of the Iowa Republican Party, he represented northeastern Iowa in the United States House of Representatives before representing his state in the United States Senate. By the 1890s, Allison had become one of the "big four" key Republicans who largely controlled the Senate, along with Orville H. Platt of Connecticut, John Coit Spooner of Wisconsin and Nelson W. Aldrich of Rhode Island.
Daniel Frederic Steck, was the only Iowa Democrat in the United States Senate between the American Civil War and the Great Depression. He was sworn in as senator only after an extraordinary election challenge, in which his apparent defeat at the polls by a Progressive Party ally running as a Republican was reversed by a Republican-controlled U.S. Senate over seventeen months later.
Smith Wildman Brookhart, was twice elected as a Republican to represent Iowa in the United States Senate. He was considered an "insurgent" within the Republican Party. His criticisms of the Harding and the Coolidge administrations and of business interests alienated others in the Republican caucus and led to his ouster from the Senate over an election challenge.
Albert Baird Cummins was an American lawyer and politician. He was the 18th governor of Iowa, elected to three consecutive terms and U.S. senator for Iowa, serving for 18 years. Cummins was a leader of the Progressive movement in Washington and Iowa. He fought to break up monopolies. Cummins' successes included establishing the direct primary to allow voters to select candidates instead of bosses; outlawing free railroad passes for politicians; imposing a two-cent street railway maximum fare; and abolishing corporate campaign contributions. He tried, with less success, to lower the high protective tariff in Washington.
The 1990 United States Senate elections were held on Tuesday, November 6, 1990, with the 33 seats of Class 2 contested in regular elections. Special elections were also held to fill vacancies. The Democratic Party increased its majority with a net gain of one seat from the Republican Party. The election cycle took place in the middle of President George H. W. Bush's term, and, as with most other midterm elections, the party not holding the presidency gained seats in Congress.
The 1986 United States Senate elections were elections for the United States Senate. Held on November 4, in the middle of Ronald Reagan's second presidential term, the 34 seats of Class 3 were contested in regular elections. The Republicans had to defend an unusually large number of freshman Senate incumbents who had been elected on President Ronald Reagan's coattails in 1980. Democrats won a net of eight seats, defeating seven freshman incumbents, picking up two Republican-held open seats, and regaining control of the Senate for the first time since January 1981. This remains the most recent midterm election cycle in which the sitting president's party suffered net losses while still flipping a Senate seat.
The 1954 United States Senate elections was a midterm election in the first term of Dwight D. Eisenhower's presidency. The 32 Senate seats of Class 2 were contested in regular elections, and six special elections were held to fill vacancies. Eisenhower's Republican party lost a net of two seats to the Democratic opposition. This small change was just enough to give Democrats control of the chamber with the support of an Independent who agreed to caucus with them, he later officially joined the party in April 1955.
The 1926 United States Senate elections were elections for the United States Senate that occurred in the middle of Republican President Calvin Coolidge's second term. The 32 seats of Class 3 were contested in regular elections, and special elections were held to fill vacancies. The Republican majority was reduced by seven seats.
The 1924 United States Senate elections were elections for the United States Senate which coincided with the election of Republican President Calvin Coolidge to a full term. The 32 seats of Class 2 were contested in regular elections, and special elections were held to fill vacancies. The strong economy and Coolidge's popularity helped Republican candidates increase their majority by three. Republicans would gain a further two seats through mid-term vacancies bringing their seat share to 56-39-1.
The 1912–13 United States Senate elections were held on various dates in various states. They were the last U.S. Senate elections before the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, establishing direct elections for all Senate seats. Senators had been primarily chosen by state legislatures. Senators were elected over a wide range of time throughout 1912 and 1913, and a seat may have been filled months late or remained vacant due to legislative deadlock. Some states elected their senators directly even before passage of Seventeenth Amendment. Oregon pioneered direct election and experimented with different measures over several years until it succeeded in 1907. Soon after, Nebraska followed suit and laid the foundation for other states to adopt measures reflecting the people's will. By 1912, as many as 29 states elected senators either as nominees of their party's primary or in conjunction with a general election.
David Wallace Stewart served as a United States senator from Iowa from August 7, 1926, until March 3, 1927, serving out the unexpired term of a senator who died soon after he was defeated for re-election in a Republican primary.
Lester Jesse Dickinson was a Republican United States Representative and Senator from Iowa. He was, in the words of Time magazine, "a big, friendly, white-thatched Iowa lawyer." In early 1936, he dreamed of winning the presidency. However, the only race he would enter that year would be for his own seat in the Senate which he lost.
Patrick Grassley is the Iowa State Representative from the 57th District. A Republican, Grassley has served in the Iowa House of Representatives since 2007, and as speaker of the chamber since 2020. Grassley is the grandson of U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley.
Burton Erwin Sweet was a four-term Republican U.S. Representative from Iowa's 3rd congressional district, then a wide but short chain of counties in north-central and northeastern Iowa, in the shape of a monkey wrench.
Charles Edgar Pickett was a two-term Republican U.S. Representative from Iowa's 3rd congressional district.
Claude Rodman Porter was an American politician and lawyer. He served in both chambers of the Iowa General Assembly and as a United States Attorney, and was a perennial Democratic Party runner-up to Republican victors in three races for governor of Iowa and six races for U.S. senator. In an era in which the Republican Party was so dominant in Iowa that Senator Jonathan P. Dolliver remarked that "Iowa will go Democratic when Hell goes Methodist," Porter twice came closer to winning the governorship than all but one other Democratic candidate of that era. He later served as a member of the U.S. Interstate Commerce Commission for eighteen years.
The 1932 United States Senate election in Iowa took place on November 8, 1932. Incumbent Republican Senator Smith Brookhart, a controversial progressive figure within the conservative Iowa Republican Party, was defeated in the June Republican primary by Henry A. Field. Field was in turn defeated in the general election by Democrat Louis Murphy. Brookhart also entered the general election as the candidate of the Progressive Party but finished a distant third.
The 1922 United States Senate special election in Iowa took place on November 7, 1922. Republican Smith W. Brookhart was elected to complete the unexpired term of William S. Kenyon, defeating Democrat Clyde Herring.
The 1930 United States Senate election in Iowa took place on November 4, 1930. Incumbent Democratic Senator Daniel F. Steck ran for re-election to a full term in office, but was defeated by U.S. Representative Lester J. Dickinson.
The 1966 United States Senate election in Iowa took place on November 8, 1966. Incumbent Republican Senator Jack Miller was re-elected to a second term in office over Democrat E.B. Smith.
