“We had strong numbers in absentee ballots and early voting,” Giddens said. “Our our satellite voting locations in Maucker Union and the one at the Western Home, all those numbers were good in terms of Democrats that voted versus Republicans and no party.”

Giddens is proud of the turnout.

“The reason we needed to be so ambitious with that was because the election was held during spring break,” Giddens said. “Not only that students and faculty at UNI were leaving town, but it’s also spring break for our school district and families were leaving town for vacation.”

He can’t say what made the difference in voting.

“If the election had not been during spring break and many of those people who had voted early had just voted the day of, we might have still had the same result,” Giddens said. The election was a strong statement from the community, he said.

In 2020 Giddens will have to hit the campaign trail again

“It’s not all that different from the House members,” he said.