OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
11:38 AM – Thursday, August 28, 2025
Democrat Catelin Drey recently won a special election for the Iowa Senate, flipping a Republican-held seat and ending the GOP’s supermajority in the chamber.
The election, called by Governor Kim Reynolds (R-Iowa), filled the District 1 vacancy left by Senator Rocky De Witt (R-Iowa), who passed away from pancreatic cancer in June.
Drey secured 55% of the vote, defeating Republican Christopher Prosch, who received 44%, according to “unofficial” results from the Woodbury County Auditor’s Office.
“I’m just really incredibly honored that the folks in Senate District 1 believed in this campaign as much as the team did and I am looking forward to representing them well,” Drey said in an interview following the election win.
Drey will serve the remainder of De Witt’s term, which runs through January 2027, with her seat up for election again in November 2026.
Iowa Democrats now hold 17 of the Senate’s 50 seats, compared to the Republicans’ 33 seats, which is enough to break up the veto-proof two-thirds supermajority the right has held since the 2022 election. As a result, Republicans will need at least one Democrat vote to confirm Governor Reynolds’ nominees to state agencies, boards, and commissions for the remainder of her term.
“Overwhelmingly, the main frustration point that I am hearing is that we have an affordability crisis, whether that’s housing, child care or health care,” Drey said in a pre-election interview. “And folks are really feeling that in their pocketbooks and in their spending decisions.”
Drey, 38, lives in Sioux City with her husband and their child. Her campaign emphasizes fully funding public education and expanding access to “affordable healthcare.” She has said she ran because she felt the current leaders in Des Moines “are not working for [her] daughter.” Among her endorsements is one from Planned Parenthood, which is highlighted on her campaign website.
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