DES MOINES, Iowa — You can find live election results at weareiowa.com/elections, by texting RESULTS to 515-457-1026 or downloading the We Are Iowa app.
With a newly redrawn district shifting the constituent makeup and a position in the U.S. House of Representatives on the line, Cindy Axne and Zach Nunn both find themselves on the ballot for Iowa's 3rd Congressional District.
The 3rd District now includes more southern Iowa counties that historically lean Republican, which could pose a challenge to the typically Des Moines-driven voter base that elected Axne in 2018 and 2020.
According to an October Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa poll, the 3rd Congressional District will be even closer than previously predicted, with 49% of likely district voters favoring Democrats and 48% favoring Republicans.
Back in July, another Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa poll was predicting 47% for Democrats and 44% for Republicans.
The race is considered to have the potential to swing control of the U.S. House in November.
Here's what you need to know about the candidates ahead of Election Day.
Cindy Axne (D)
Incumbent Cindy Axne was elected in November 2018 as one of the first Iowa women to win election to the U.S. House.
Prior to joining politics, the 57-year-old worked for the Tribune Company, the Iowa State Government from 2005 to 2014 and ran a digital design business with her husband.
Axne ran uncontested in the 2022 June primary.
The only Democrat in Iowa's U.S. House delegation, she has spent her political career focused on combatting inflation, growing the economy, protecting access to abortion, supporting police and more.
She is currently on multiple committees and subcommittees, including the Committee on Agriculture, Subcommittee on Commodity Exchanges, Energy, and Credit and Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture.
Axne has put her name behind progressive pieces of legislation throughout the years, including COVID-19 economic relief via the American Rescue Plan and the Women's Health Protection Act. The latter would have prevented states from placing restrictions on abortion rights had it passed through Senate.
In an Oct. 6 televised debate on KCCI, Axne and Nunn discussed major topics, with Axne reaffirming her abortion rights stance.
“I think my stance on women's reproductive health is very clear. There's no one that should be making a decision for women's reproductive health than the woman. She should have the involvement of her doctor and her family as her choice — but the choice certainly belongs with her," Axne said.
She also stood by President Biden's plans to deal with inflation, adding: "We've got to make sure that we're looking at these issues that are facing Iowans straight and head on, and I've been doing that nonstop out in Washington, making sure that their voices are heard ... I know the price of gas. I know the price of milk and I sure know the price of bread because I have two boys that eat a heck of a lot of food. So I certainly understand the pain that Iowans and Americans are facing."
She faced controversy over a complaint from the Campaign Legal Center that alleged she did not disclose financial records on time. Over half a year later, the House Committee on Ethics dismissed the complaint.
Zach Nunn (R)
The state senator and Air Force pilot aims to join the U.S. House representing Iowa's 3rd Congressional District.
Nunn has been in the Legislature since 2015 and represented District 15 in the Iowa State Senate since January 2019. He has also served in three combat tours overseas and has 700 air combat hours.
In the June primary election, Nunn won 66% of the vote (totaling 30,502) to easily defeat financial services worker Nicole Hasso and Gary Leffler, who works in the construction industry, to claim the Republican nomination.
Nunn's campaign focuses on strengthening restrictions on abortion, bolstering Iowa's economy, upping police presence, supporting the agriculture industry as well as increasing national defense funds.
As a state senator, he has been on the Commerce, Labor and Business Relations, Judiciary and Ways and Means committees.
Nunn has voted in favor of conservative values frequently as a senator, with his support for a waiting period and ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy a major talking point in Axne's ad campaign that deems him too "extreme."
Nunn responded to that sentiment at the Oct. 6 debate.
"There are important things that I want to be clear on my position — I am pro life. I support the mother and the baby. And we voted repeatedly here in Iowa to provide exceptions for the health of the mother something my opponents lied about repeatedly. We provide exceptions for rape, incest, and fetal abnormalities. But additionally, we take care of the mother," he said.
Nunn also spoke against Biden's plan to forgive student loan debt up to $20,000 for many borrowers across the nation, believing it is unfair to those already working to pay off loans.
"There are others who served in the military and worked hard and served overseas to be able to afford college. And then there are some who are still paying down their college debt, doing it the right way," he said. "But the wrong way is for an illegal executive order to spend $20,000, nearly $300-plus billion that takes money that everybody else will be paying."
RELATED: No, the average taxpayer will not have to pay $2,100 to cover the cost of student loan forgiveness
Nunn was removed from Drake University student government after spying on another student with a baby monitor, as reported by the Des Moines Register, an incident included in a pro-Axne TV ad.
Nunn admitted to the use of the baby monitor, but clarified that it was to see if student leaders were violating campaign rules. At the time, Nunn was not running for re-election in the student senate.
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