Democrat Eric Armstrong won the race for Iowa House District 20 within the state legislature this week, despite having ended his campaign in early September for health reasons. Armstrong, who was running to fill Democrat Josh Turek’s open statehouse seat since Turek ran for Iowa’s U.S. Senate seat, won the election against his Republican opponent Keith Jones with 55.2 percent of the vote compared to Jones’ 44.8 percent.
That, despite Armstrong ending his campaign several weeks ago. Iowa state law requires candidates to withdraw prior to 81 days before the general election, which would have fallen in mid-August this year. Armstrong still appeared on the ballot since his decision fell too close to Election Day to remove his name.
Despite dropping out, Armstrong still won by 865 votes. In 2024, Turek won the seat by 561 votes. While voters within House District 20 lean Democrat, having voted for Kamala Harris in 2024, the district falls within Pottawattamie County in southwestern Iowa, which President Donald Trump won by 20 points in the 2024 election, with 59 percent of the vote to Harris’ 39 percent.
"This result just speaks to the Democratic wave. Even democratic candidates who were not campaigning won," Vanderbilt University professor of political science John Geer told Newsweek on Thursday. Armstrong’s win comes amid overwhelming Democrat success during this year’s midterm elections.
Democrats flipped control of the U.S. Senate, as well as several gubernatorial seats, including in Texas and Ohio, and several state races as well. One of the flipped Senate seats was the one that Turek won against his Republican opponent Ashley Hinson.
Armstrong told the New York Times he would do his best to fill the role but was still struggling with health issues. If Armstrong is unable to serve in the role, a special election would then be held to fill the seat. Since he was on the ballot, he can't decline the seat the same way a write-in winner could, an Iowa Secretary of State spokesperson told Newsweek on Thursday.
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