Sweeney wins election to replace Dix in Iowa Senate

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the political affiliation of Senate Minority Leader Janet Petersen. She is a Democrat.

Annette Sweeney, a former state legislator with strong ties to agriculture, won a special election Tuesday to replace Republican state Sen. Bill Dix, who resigned in March after video surfaced of him kissing a female lobbyist in a Des Moines tavern.

Sweeney, 60, a Republican who lives near Alden, defeated Democrat Tracy Freese, 35, of Dike, a marketing professional and chair of the Grundy County Democratic Party.

The vote was 4,742 to 3,726, or 56 percent for Sweeney to 44 percent for Freese, according to the Iowa Secretary of State's office. Her election means Republicans will hold 29 seats in the Iowa Senate. Democrats hold 20 seats and there is one independent.

Sweeney is expected to be sworn into office next week to represent Senate District 25 as the 2018 session of the Iowa Legislature nears adjournment. The district covers Hardin and Grundy counties, and parts of Butler and Story counties. Sweeney carried three of the counties, but trailed Freese in the Story County portion of the district.

Sweeney joins Sen. Amy Sinclair, R-Allerton, as one of two Republican women in the Senate. There are five Democratic women in the Senate.

Sweeney and Freese could face off again in November's general election. Both are candidates in their respective party's primary elections in June. Sweeney is being challenged for the GOP primary nomination by Chad Buss of Parkersburg.

Sweeney farms with her husband, Dave, and is the mother of two sons. She served in the Iowa House from 2009 through 2013. She also worked for four months as state director of rural development for the U.S. Department of Agriculture before resigning in March to launch her state Senate campaign.

In the past, Sweeney has been executive director of the Iowa Angus Association and worked as a school teacher. She has also been a 4-H leader, and has been involved with the Hardin County Extension Council, Iowa Soybean Ag-Urban Leadership Initiative, and several other farm-related groups.

Sweeney, Freese and their backers had worked hard during the short campaign, knocking on doors with supporters and placing phone calls to voters throughout the district. Registered Republican voters outnumber Democrats by nearly a 2-1 margin in District 25, which had appeared to give Sweeney a big edge heading into the contest.

Freese, who is married with three children, had originally planned a Senate campaign this year with the goal of opposing Dix in November's general election. She said a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by former Iowa Senate Republican Communications Director Kirsten Anderson spurred her to run. When Dix resigned she decided to campaign in the special election.

Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a statement congratulating Sweeney, calling her a role model for women across the state.

"She has spent her entire life working on behalf of rural communities, and I look forward to her joining the State Senate and partnering with our team to build a better Iowa," Reynolds said.

Senate Minority Leader Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines, thanked Freese and her supporters for a race that she described as an uphill climb from the start. She said President Donald Trump had won the district by 26 percent in the 2016 election, but Democrats worked hard on Freese's behalf during the brief campaign.

“While the vote total didn't flip this seat from red to blue, it shows Democratic enthusiasm is growing, and that we’re in a strong position to compete in the November election," Petersen said.