DES MOINES, Iowa — A new crop of freshman state lawmakers will soon start at the Iowa Statehouse, after they were elected Tuesday.
According to the unofficial results, Republicans picked up three seats in the Iowa House of Representatives and retained their 34 seat majority in the Iowa Senate.
Overall, Tuesday saw a good number of flipped seats along with some historic firsts.
Local 5 caught up with some of the challengers that won who will now push for change on behalf of their respective districts.
Matt Blake
In Senate District 22, which includes Urbandale and Johnston, Democrat Matt Blake beat Republican incumbent Brad Zaun, a senator who has served for the past 20 years. Blake credits his victory to a talented group of volunteers and his efforts to advocate for issues his district cares about.
Blake was the only Democrat to unseat a Republican incumbent in the Iowa Senate.
“Democrats need to make sure that we are getting our message across to voters and that we're running high quality candidates, which I think we did a lot of this election, and making sure that we get people to the polls," Blake said.
David Blom
At just 26 years old, Republican David Blom will no doubt be one of the youngest members of the Iowa House of Representatives. He defeated two-term Democrat incumbent Sue Cahill in House District 52.
Blom believes he won because of his efforts going door-to-door throughout the district hearing about the issues that matter most to constituents.
“I'm honored to be given the opportunity by the people in Marshall County and the voters to have a mandate to deliver lower taxes, high quality jobs, fully fund every student's education and advocate on behalf of veterans in our community," Blom said.
Aime Wichtendahl
Democrat Aime Wichtendahl is now Iowa’s first transgender state lawmaker after her win in House District 80. Wichtendahl is no stranger to making history as she became Iowa’s first transgender elected official in 2015 when she won a Hiawatha City Council seat.
Wichtendahl defeated Republican John Thompson for the seat which was previously held by Democrat Art Staed, who resigned to run for an open Iowa Senate seat.
“I've always said I think that there's 10% of people who would vote against you for being the first trans person," Wichtendahl said. "There's about 10% of people who vote for you just because you are. But 80% or so, the rest of the people, want to know what exactly what you're going to do for them.”