A district that has been exclusively blue for decades just flipped red as a Republican picked up the seat in a special election.
Republican Jon Dunwell, a pastor and financial professional, won a special election in Iowa on October 12th. Dunwell will now be replacing Democrat state Representative Wes Breckenridge, officially flipping a safe blue district red.
🚨 REPUBLICAN FLIP! 🚨
This is the second state legislative seat flipped by the GOP in a special election this year. https://t.co/bBOVJKxemK
— Nathan Brand (@NathanBrandWA) October 13, 2021
Unofficial results published by the Iowa Secretary of State indicate that Dunwell won the special election with 60% of the vote against his opponent, Steve Mullan.
Mullan, a Newton City Council member and retired teacher, lost to Dunwell by approximately 1,000 votes, according to reporting from the Iowa Capitol Dispatch.
“With Dunwell’s election, Republicans have grown their majority in the House — the GOP now holds 60 of 100 seats,” the report added.
While this is just one state House seat, it has two important implications. First, it is a promising sign for the GOP ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, showing that a safe blue district can be flipped by a significant margin. Second, for conservatives who are advocating for a Convention of States to amend the Constitution, Republicans need to gain a majority in state Houses in 34 states to call the convention, and need 38 to ratify any amendments that are proposed. Therefore, any state house (like Iowa) moving into a stronger Republican majority means we are one step closer to being able to call a convention.
The Convention of States website describes the reasons by we need to call a convention:
“Why call a convention of states? Simple: to bring power back to the states and the people, where it belongs. Unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. shouldn’t be allowed to make sweeping decisions that impact millions of Americans. But right now, they do. So it all boils down to one question: Who do you think should decide what’s best for you and your family? You, or the feds? We’d vote for the American people every single time.”
Tim Pool also discusses this idea, along with the significance of flipping this Iowa district, in a recent video. Watch: