Iowa Primary Election Results: Hubbell Dems' Governor Pick

DES MOINES, IA — Democrats voting in Tuesday's primary election are advancing Fred Hubbell to the Nov. 6, 2018, general election, where the retired Des Moines business titan will take on Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds in her first election test for the job.

Three of Iowa's four congressional districts also saw contests. In the 3rd District, Democrat Cindy Axne will challenge incumbent Republican Rep. David Young. In the 1st District, Democrat Abby Finkenauer will go up against incumbent Republican Rod Blum.

The 1st and 3rd congressional districts are important nationally in Democrats' roadmap to flip the Republican controlled Congress.

In the 4th District, Democrat J.D. Scholten will challenge incumbent Rep. Steve King in the fall.

Before voting ended Tuesday, some Iowa voters got text messages directing them to the wrong precincts as primary Election Day voting got underway Tuesday. Some of the texts started with "tomorrow is the Democratic Primary." An early investigation by state election officials suggests the texts were sent by mistake by a campaign and were not malicious in intent, Iowa media are reporting.

Reports of the incorrect text messages came from Polk, Linn, Johnson and Black Hawk counties, where high concentrations of voters live.

Secretary of State Paul Pate tweeted about the error, directing voters to websites where they can find their polling places:

Pate called brisk activity all day at precincts across the state, and he predictdc turnout could break records as

Nate Boulton’s withdrawal from under the cloud of sexual misconduct allegations from the gubernatorial primary race didn't open a new path for four of the five others who wanted to take on Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds in the November general election.

Handing Reynolds, 58, a defeat in her first election for the office — she moved up from lieutenant governor a year ago when longtime Gov. Terry Branstad became the U.S. ambassador to China — would be a coup for Democrats. They lost control of the Statehouse to Republicans two years ago and have failed to deliver a significant win as a swing state for several election cycles. All but one of Iowa’s congressional delegation of four U.S. representatives and two U.S. senators are Republicans.

High-stakes primary races are also taking place Tuesday in two Iowa congressional districts that give Democrats a chance to pick up a couple of the 24 seats they need to take control of the U.S. House in the midterm elections.

Polls opened around 7 a.m.

Polls opened at 7 a.m. and will remain open until 9 p.m. Central Time. Iowa is a closed primary state, which means that only people registered with a political party — Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians all have primary races — can vote in their respective primaries. However, Iowans can switch parties at the polls and, if they desire, switch the registration back after voting.

The election is the first statewide test of Iowa's new voter ID law that requires voters to show personal identification at the polls. Those who don't have an ID with them will be asked to sign an oath verifying their identity under the law, which passed last year. Beginning next year, people without proper identification will have to cast a provisional ballot.

Retired businessman Fred Hubbell, 67, the Democratic frontrunner in the gubernatorial primary, has both wealth and name recognition as a member of a prominent family who once lived in Terrace Hill, now the governor’s mansion under a gift to the state from Hubbell’s relatives. A primary win by Hubbell set up a class war in the Nov. 6 general election and a sharp contrast to Reynolds, who calls attention to her humble roots in her first ad buy.

In it, Iowa’s first female governor presents herself as a struggling working mother who worked nights while her husband worked days and put her children’s educations above her own. It was 2016 before Reynolds got her degree — a bachelor of liberal studies degree from Iowa State University with three concentrations in political science, business management and communications.

When he dropped out of the race, Boulton, 38, a current state senator, was polling at around 20 percent, compared to Hubbell’s 31 percent. Four other Democrats are trying to sway Boulton voters: Cathy Glasson, 59, a nurse running on a progressive platform; Andy McGuire, 61, a doctor and former state Iowa Democrats party chairwoman; John Norris, 59, also a former state party chairman who served as former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack’s chief of staff; and Ross Wilburn, 53, a longtime school administrator and former Iowa City mayor.

Among them, Glasson may get more support from millennial voters, many of them Bernie Sanders supporters who stayed home in droves from the 2016 presidential election after Democrats nominated Hillary Clinton. Glasson has made a strong appeal among those voters with calls for raising the minimum wage, giving Iowans universal health under a “Medicare for all Iowans” plan, and legalizing and taxing recreational marijuana to improve state revenues.

All Democrats have railed against Iowa’s fetal heartbeat law, the most restrictive abortion law in the country signed by Reynolds. The law was to have taken effect on July 1, but a District Court judge on Friday temporarily put implementation on hold as a lawsuit challenging the fetal heartbeat law makes its way through the courts.

If none of the Democrats gets 35 percent, the nomination will be decided in a special convention.

Two of the state’s four congressional elections are expected to be competitive in the general election.

In the 3rd District, three Democrats are vying for the right to face incumbent U.S. Rep David Young in the November general election. They are Cindy Axen, Pete D’Alessandro and Eddie J. Morrow.

In the 1st District, Democrats Abbu Finkenaur, Thomas Heckroth, George Ramsey and Courtney L. Rowe are jockeying for the nomination and the right to challenge Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Rod Blum. Both the Cook Political Report and the University of Virginia Center For Politics Crystal Ball report call the district a toss-up in November. Finkenaur is expected to be Blum’s likely opponent.

U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack, a Democrat, is considered safe in the 2nd District. Neither party has a primary contest. In the heavily Republican 4th District, incumbent Rep. Steve King has a primary challenge from Cyndi Hanson, but is expected to win. The three Democrats vying for the right to challenge the outspokenly anti-immigrant congressman are Leann Jacobsen, John Paschen and J.D. Scholten.

For more Iowa races, see the official candidate list.

To find your poll, enter your ZIP code here.

Go here to find out more about changing your registration at the polls.

Stay with Patch on Election Night for live updates to the vote totals in the form below. All results are unofficial totals.

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