(Photo via Wendy Larson campaign)
Republican Wendy Larson dominated the Iowa House special election race Tuesday against Democrat Rachel Burns, according to unofficial results.
Larson won about 70% of the vote to about 30% for Burns with all precincts reporting, according to the Secretary of State’s office. The House District 7 seat covers Calhoun, Pocahontas, and Sac counties, as well as a part of Webster County.
Larson celebrated her victory in a statement Tuesday, saying she was “very blessed to have the opportunity to serve House District 7.”
“Throughout this campaign, I vowed to be a common-sense, conservative leader for rural Iowa in the Statehouse,” Larson said. “I look forward to delivering on promises that I campaigned on, including protecting landowner rights, providing property tax relief, and protecting our children. I’m eager to carry the voices of House District 7 to Des Moines and deliver results for rural Iowa.”
The district holds significantly more Republican voters than Democrats — according data from the Iowa Secretary of State’s office, there are 55.1% of active registered voters in the area are registered Republicans, while 29.3% of voters do not have a party affiliation and just 15% are registered as Democrats.
The Iowa House District 7 special election was called in September by Gov. Kim Reynolds to fill the seat vacated by former Rep. Mike Sexton, R-Rockwell City. Sexton resigned from his legislative office to become the director of the Iowa U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development office.
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Larson, who ran against Sexton in the 2024 Republican primary, is a stay-at-home mother from Odebolt who serves as the chair of Femi’s Heart, a nonprofit focused on mental health advocacy and health care access created in honor of a heart transplant recipient. Larson’s daughter received a heart transplant when she was four months old in 2013.
House Speaker Pat Grassley congratulated Larson on her victory.
“Unsurprisingly, House District 7 awarded Wendy Larson a resounding victory today,” Grassley said in a statement. “Iowans continue to reject out-of-touch liberal agendas and opt instead for more of the common sense, freedom-loving approach you’ve come to know from Iowa House Republicans. We are proud to have a strong leader for House District 7 in Wendy Larson and we look forward to her joining us in the Iowa House.”
Burns, also from Odebolt, is a speech language pathologist who holds several positions serving her community, including as a volunteer firefighter and Emergency Medical Technician, as well as working as a medical examiner for Ida and Crawford counties. She has said she was motivated to run for the seat in a heavily GOP area by fellow Democrats and was encouraged by other Iowa Democrats’ successes in 2025, such as Democratic Sen. Catelin Drey‘s special election win in August.
There will be one more Iowa special election before the year ends. Voters in Iowa Senate District 16 will participate in a Dec. 30 special election to fill the seat left by Sen. Claire Celsi, who died in October after battling an undisclosed illness. Democrat Renee Hardman, a West Des Moines councilwoman and president and CEO of Lutheran Services in Iowa, is running against Republican Lucas Loftin, who serves on the boards of In His Light ministries and Homeschool Iowa, in the election.
Four other special elections have taken place earlier in 2025. Sen. Mike Zimmer of DeWitt and Drey of Sioux City, both Democrats, won in earlier Senate special elections. In the Iowa House, Rep. Blaine Watkins, R-Donnellson, won in a March special election, and Rep. Angelina Ramirez, D-Cedar Rapids, won in April.
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