DUBUQUE, Iowa — Speaking to a crowd of about 200 excited supporters, Abby Finkenauer said she can't wait to get to work in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The two-term Democratic state representative received just over 50 percent of the vote to beat incumbent U.S. Rep. Rod Blum, who garnered 45 percent, in the closely watched 1st Congressional District race Tuesday.

Finkenauer joins Cindy Axne, the winner in the 3rd Congressional District, to be the first women from Iowa to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. At 29, Finkenauer is also one of the youngest people ever voted into Congress.

Finkenauer spoke to a packed house at a victory party at 7 Hills Brewery in downtown Dubuque just after 10:30 p.m. Tuesday. Flanked by her family, she declared that her win was a rejection of fear and division and an endorsement of hope.

“I truly believe hope is the reason we got this far — and hope is the reason we still have work to do,” Finkenauer said. “You’ve asked me to be your voice in Washington, and you have my promise that I will work my tail off for you every single day.”

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Volunteers wearing campaign shirts cried in front of the stage as friends and supporters cheered. Overcome with emotions, Finkenauer mouthed, "We did it!" over shouts of, "Abby! Abby! Abby!"

“This is and always will be personal," Finkenauer said as many in the crowd joined in on the line she's used to close her events throughout the cycle.

Her first and longest hug after speaking was for her dad, whose career as a union pipefitter/welder was the basis of much of her pro-labor platform. She decided to run, she said from the podium, when Iowa Republicans voted to dismantle collective bargaining rights.

"I thought, 'This is not how we treat people in my state and in my country,'" she recalled.

Ben Ray Luján, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in a statement that Finkenauer will bring a "new energy" to Washington.

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“Abby is a champion for working families like her own,” Luján said.

Blum didn’t appear at his election night event in Peosta, but sent a statement to the Register saying that the chance to serve the 1st District was “a uniquely American opportunity.”

“My first vote in Congress was against the leadership of my own party: voting against then-sitting speaker John Boehner,” the statement read. “I urge Abby Finkenauer to similarly prove her independence from big donors and the leadership of her own party when she takes the same vote in Congress.”

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A closely watched race

The 1st Congressional District includes a swath of 20 counties in the hilly, northeast corner of the state that mixes rural towns with cities like Cedar Rapids and Dubuque.

Finkenauer's win hinged on her support in the district's urban areas, where she easily overtook Blum, according to Secretary of State data. Still, Blum won all of the district's rural counties.

Most polls and political trackers had Finkenauer leading with solid margins throughout the summer and fall, and voter registrations as of Oct. 25 favored Democrats. But the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC that backs Republican candidates, made a late-October television ad buy of about $423,000 — a move that hinted the party still had hope for this seat.

Both President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence stumped for Blum this summer, and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan hosted a private fundraiser with the congressman in late October.

The district voted for President Barack Obama by double digits in both 2008 and 2012, and then shifted right to vote for Trump by four points in the most recent election.

Trump was the first Republican presidential candidate to carry Dubuque County since Dwight Eisenhower in 1952.

For those gathered at Finkenauer's victory party, Tuesday's celebration was as much for all Democrats as it was for her. Every time an update that favored a Democrat splashed across the screen, the crowd erupted in cheers.

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Dave Loebsack, a Democrat who retained his congressional seat in the Second Congressional District on Tuesday, can't be the "lone soldier we have out there," said Jerry Nowadzky, 63, a machinist in Dubuque.

Finkenauer "stuck up for working men and women when she was down in Des Moines," he said. "If she did the job in Des Moines, she'll do it down in D.C."

Humble roots

Former Vice President Joe Biden visited Cedar Rapids a week before the election. He made the case for Finkenauer and supporting her blue-collar bona fides, saying that she came from “the same kind of home” as he did.

Finkenauer's mother worked for Dubuque Community Schools and her father was a union pipefitter who cycled in and out of work as projects came and went.

As a 10-year-old, she memorized her dad’s business agent’s name. When that name flashed on the caller ID, she knew her dad had a job, she said.

From her earliest days, Finkenauer was a news junkie. Her grandfather, a firefighter, nurtured her young love of politics, while her uncles let her pull up a chair to their Saturday night civics discussions.

After graduating from Drake University, she ran for the Iowa Statehouse while still paying off her student loans. As a legislator, she has vocally opposed the dismantling of collective bargaining and has fought for abortion rights.

Along the trail, she said she wanted to ensure access to health care and education for all, as well as invest in infrastructure and small-town main streets to create jobs.

Seeing the district as a must-win to take the U.S. House, Democrats spent a lot of time and energy in the area.

Democratic groups spend more than $2 million in the race — much more than the just over $1 million Republican groups spent.

And Finkenauer outraised Blum consistently throughout the cycle, raising $3.9 million to his $2.5 million as of Nov. 1.

After Finkenauer left the stage, "Man, I Feel Like a Woman" blared over 7 Hills' speakers, and a little girl asked her for a selfie. The girl's dad, wearing a union windbreaker, took the picture and thanked Finkenauer for her support of trades like his.

By the bar, Cassie Sikkema, of nearby Bellevue, finished up her drink.

“It was nice to be able to vote for her today," she said. "She's a young female, and we don't see enough of that in politics.”

After Tuesday, there's at least one more in eastern Iowa.

Chief Political Reporter Brianne Pfannenstiel contributed to this report.

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