Iowa's 3rd congressional district
Iowa's 3rd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Iowa that covers its southwest quadrant, roughly an area including Des Moines to the borders with Nebraska and Missouri.
Iowa's 3rd congressional district | |||
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Representative |
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Distribution |
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Population (2019) | 848,170 | ||
Median household income | $67,681[1] | ||
Ethnicity |
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Cook PVI | R+3[2] |
From 2003 to 2013, it encompassed Des Moines (on the western end), to the western outskirts of the metropolitan area of Cedar Falls and Waterloo (on the northeastern end), to the western outskirts of the Cedar Rapids area (on the eastern end), and to Lucas County and Monroe County (on the southern end).
The district has been represented in the United States House of Representatives by Democrat Cindy Axne since 2019. It was one of seven districts that voted for Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, while being won by a Democrat. With a Cook Partisan Voting Index rating of R+3, it is the least Republican district in Iowa.[2]
Statewide races since 2000
Election results from statewide races:
Office | Year | District | Statewide | Nationwide |
---|---|---|---|---|
President | 2000 | Al Gore 49% – George W. Bush 48% | Gore | Bush |
2004 | George W. Bush 50% – John Kerry 50% | Bush | ||
2008 | Barack Obama 54% – John McCain 44% | Obama | Obama | |
2012 | Barack Obama 51% – Mitt Romney 47% | |||
2016 | Donald Trump 48% – Hillary Clinton 45% | Trump | Trump | |
2020 | Donald Trump 49.1% – Joe Biden 49.0% | Biden |
List of members representing the district
Recent election results
Year[3] | Winner | Second | Percentage | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party affiliation | Candidate | Votes | Party affiliation | Candidate | Votes | ||
1920 | Republican | Burton E. Sweet | 67,859 | Farmer–Labor | Roy Jacobs | 1,974 | 97% – 3% |
1922 | Thomas J. B. Robinson | 34,518 | Democratic | Fred P. Hageman | 24,304 | 58% – 41% | |
1924 | 54,921 | Willis N. Birdsall | 25,215 | 69% – 31% | |||
1926 | 32,180 | Ellis E. Wilson | 13,696 | 70% – 30% | |||
1928 | 60,025 | Leo. F. Tierney | 38,469 | 61% – 39% | |||
1930 | 27,098 | W. L. Beecher | 15,908 | 63% – 37% | |||
1932 | Democratic | Albert C. Willford | 48,939 | Republican | Thomas J. B. Robinson | 47,776 | 51% – 49% |
1934 | Republican | John W. Gwynne | 42,063 | Democratic | Albert C. Willford | 35,159 | 51% – 43% |
1936 | 53,928 | 47,391 | 52% – 46% | ||||
1938 | 45,541 | W. F. Hayes | 30,158 | 60% – 40% | |||
1940 | 65,425 | Ernest J. Seemann | 43,709 | 60% – 40% | |||
1942 | 54,124 | William D. Kearney | 35,065 | 61% – 39% | |||
1944 | 74,901 | 56,985 | 58% – 42% | ||||
1946 | 48,346 | Dan J. P. Ryan | 29,661 | 62% – 38% | |||
1948 | H. R. Gross | 78,838 | 56,002 | 58% – 41% | |||
1950 | 73,490 | James O. Babcock | 40,786 | 64% – 36% | |||
1952 | 109,992 | George R. Laub | 56,871 | 66% – 34% | |||
1954 | 68,307 | 41,622 | 62% – 38% | ||||
1956 | 97,590 | Michael Micich | 69,076 | 59% – 41% | |||
1958 | 61,920 | 53,467 | 54% – 46% | ||||
1960 | 99,046 | Edward J. Gallagher, Jr. | 76,837 | 56% – 44% | |||
1962 | 66,337 | Neel F. Hill | 50,580 | 57% – 43% | |||
1964 | 83,455 | Stephen M. Peterson | 83,036 | 50.1% – 49.9% | |||
1966 | 79,343 | L. A. Pat Touchae | 48,530 | 62% – 38% | |||
1968 | 101,839 | John E. Van Eschen | 57,164 | 64% – 36% | |||
1970 | 66,087 | Lyle D. Taylor | 45,958 | 59% – 41% | |||
1972 | 109,113 | 86,848 | 56% – 44% | ||||
1974 | Chuck Grassley | 77,468 | Stephen Rapp | 74,859 | 51% – 49% | ||
1976 | 117,957 | 90,981 | 56% – 44% | ||||
1978 | 103,659 | John Knudson | 34,880 | 75% – 25% | |||
1980 | T. Cooper Evans | 107,869 | Lynn G. Cutler | 101,735 | 51% – 48% | ||
1982 | 104,072 | 83,581 | 55% – 45% | ||||
1984 | 133,737 | Joe Johnston | 86,574 | 61% – 39% | |||
1986 | Democratic | David R. Nagle | 83,504 | Republican | John McIntee | 69,386 | 55% – 45% |
1988 | 129,204 | Donald B. Redfern | 74,682 | 63% – 37% | |||
1990 | 100,947 | unopposed | 833 | 99% – 1% | |||
1992 | Republican | Jim Ross Lightfoot | 125,931 | Democratic | Elaine Baxter | 121,063 | 49% – 47% |
1994 | 111,862 | 79,310 | 58% – 41% | ||||
1996 | Democratic | Leonard Boswell | 115,914 | Republican | Mike Mahaffey | 111,895 | 49% – 48% |
1998 | 107,947 | Larry McKibben | 78,063 | 57% – 41% | |||
2000 | 156,327 | Jay Marcus | 83,810 | 63% – 34% | |||
2002 | 115,367 | Stan Thompson | 97,285 | 53% – 45% | |||
2004 | 168,007 | 136,099 | 55% – 45% | ||||
2006 | 114,689 | Jeff Lamberti | 103,182 | 52% – 47% | |||
2008 | 175,423 | Kim Schmett | 131,524 | 56% – 42% | |||
2010 | 122,147 | Brad Zaun | 111,925 | 50% – 46% | |||
2012 | Republican | Tom Latham | 202,000 | Democratic | Leonard Boswell | 168,632 | 51% – 42% |
2014 | David Young | 148,814 | Staci Appel | 119,109 | 52% – 42% | ||
2016 | 208,598 | Jim Mowrer | 155,002 | 53% – 40% | |||
2018 | Democratic | Cindy Axne | 169,888 | Republican | David Young | 164,667 | 49% – 47% |
2020 | Democratic | Cindy Axne | 219,205 | Republican | David Young | 212,997 | 49% – 48% |
2002
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Leonard Boswell* | 115,367 | 53.41 | |
Republican | Stan Thompson | 97,285 | 45.04 | |
Libertarian | Jeffrey J. Smith | 2,689 | 1.25 | |
Socialist Workers | Edwin B. Fruit | 569 | 0.26 | |
No party | Others | 75 | 0.04 | |
Total votes | 215,985 | 100.00 | ||
Turnout | ||||
Democratic hold | ||||
2004
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Leonard Boswell* | 168,007 | 55.21 | |
Republican | Stan Thompson | 136,009 | 44.72 | |
No party | Others | 213 | 0.07 | |
Total votes | 304,229 | 100.00 | ||
Turnout | ||||
Democratic hold | ||||
2006
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Leonard Boswell* | 115,769 | 51.85 | |
Republican | Jeff Lamberti | 103,722 | 46.45 | |
Socialist Workers | Helen Meyers | 3,591 | 1.61 | |
No party | Others | 205 | 0.09 | |
Total votes | 223,287 | 100.00 | ||
Turnout | ||||
Democratic hold | ||||
2008
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Leonard Boswell* | 176,904 | 56.31 | |
Republican | Kim Schmett | 132,136 | 42.06 | |
Socialist Workers | Frank Forrestal | 4,599 | 1.46 | |
No party | Others | 521 | 0.17 | |
Total votes | 314,160 | 100.00 | ||
Turnout | ||||
Democratic hold | ||||
2010
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Leonard Boswell* | 122,147 | 50.73 | |
Republican | Brad Zaun | 111,925 | 46.49 | |
Socialist Workers | Rebecca Williamson | 6,258 | 2.60 | |
No party | Others | 426 | 0.18 | |
Total votes | 240,756 | 100.00 | ||
Turnout | ||||
Democratic hold | ||||
2012
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | Tom Latham* | 202,000 | 50.56 | |||
Democratic | Leonard Boswell* | 168,632 | 42.20 | |||
Independent | Scott G. Batcher | 9,352 | 2.34 | |||
Socialist Workers | David Rosenfeld | 6,286 | 1.57 | |||
No party | Others | 572 | 0.14 | |||
Total votes | 399,561 | 100.00 | ||||
Turnout | ||||||
Republican gain from Democratic | ||||||
2014
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | David Young | 148,814 | 52.8 | |
Democratic | Staci Appel | 119,109 | 42.2 | |
Libertarian | Edward Wright | 9,054 | 3.2 | |
No party preference | Bryan Jack Holder | 4,360 | 1.5 | |
Write-ins | 729 | 0.3 | ||
Total votes | 282,066 | 100 | ||
Republican hold |
2016

Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | David Young* | 208,598 | 53.45 | |
Democratic | Jim Mowrer | 155,002 | 39.71 | |
Libertarian | Bryan Jack Holder | 15,372 | 3.94 | |
Nominated by Petition | Claudia Addy | 6,348 | 1.63 | |
Nominated by Petition | Joe Grandanette | 4,518 | 1.16 | |
Write-ins | 449 | 0.12 | ||
Total votes | 390,287 | 100.00 | ||
Republican hold |
2018

Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Cindy Axne | 169,888 | 49.0 | +9.29 | |
Republican | David Young* | 164,667 | 47.49 | -5.96 | |
Libertarian | Bryan Jack Holder | 7,005 | 2.02 | −1.92 | |
Legal Marijuana Now | Mark Elworth, Jr. | 1,906 | 0.55 | +0.55 | |
Green | Paul Knupp | 1,795 | 0.52 | +0.52 | |
Independent | Joe Grandanette | 1,271 | 0.37 | −0.79 | |
Write-ins | 178 | 0.05 | +0.00 | ||
Plurality | 5,221 | 1.51 | |||
Turnout | 346,710 | 100 | |||
Democratic gain from Republican | Swing | +15.25 | |||
2020

Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Cindy Axne (incumbent) | 219,205 | 48.9 | |
Republican | David Young | 212,997 | 47.6 | |
Libertarian | Bryan Jack Holder | 15,361 | 3.4 | |
Write-in | 384 | 0.1 | ||
Total votes | 447,947 | 100.0 | ||
Democratic hold |
Historical district boundaries

References
- General
- "My Congressional District".
- "Introducing the 2021 Cook Political Report Partisan Voter Index". The Cook Political Report. April 15, 2021. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
- "Election Statistics". 2005. Archived from the original on July 25, 2007.
- "Iowa General Election 2018". Iowa Secretary of State. Retrieved November 11, 2018.
- "General Election - 2020 Canvass Summary" (PDF). Iowa Secretary of State.
- Specific
- Martis, Kenneth C. (1989). The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
- Martis, Kenneth C. (1982). The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
- Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present