Northwest Iowa voters on Tuesday moved five office seekers onto the November election ballot in Iowa legislative races.
The voting that was counted by mid-evening turned the candidates to nominee status for the November 2 ballot.
The contested primaries involved Republican candidates in three contests, with Shane Bellefy, of Cherokee, who was seeking to oust state Senator Lynn Evans, of Aurelia, for the Iowa Senate District 3 seat; plus the Iowa Senate 5 District position, where incumbent Dave Rowley, of Spirit Lake, was vying with Stacy Besch, of Algona; and also for the Iowa House District 3 seat, where the Republican candidates were Keith Glienke, of Aurelia, and Michael Schnoes, of Sutherland.
IOWA HOUSE DISTRICT 3
Evans won the Iowa Senate District 3 nomination, after receiving 69 percent of the vote after 9:30 pm. Evans was first elected in 2022 after a three decade career in education. Bellefy is a banker.
Evans advances to take on Democrat Mike Frantz, of Storm Lake, in the November general election for Iowa Senate District 3.
IOWA SENATE DISTRICT 5
Rowley was leading with 65 percent of votes after 2 of the 6 counties were reporting win the Senate District 5 Republican primary.
Over his seven years in office, Rowley said he has fought for conservative policies to make Iowa a better place for families.
Iowa Senate 5 District encompasses Clay, Dickinson, Emmet, Kossuth and Palo Alto counties.
IOWA HOUSE DISTRICT 3
Incumbent Republican Zach Dieken of O’Brien County was not seeking re-election after four years in the Legislature.
Glienke won the House District 3 primary, earning 72 percent of the votes.
Schnoes is an industrial technology teacher at Alta-Aurelia High School. Glienke is a grain and livestock farmer.
There is no Democrat running for the Iowa House District 5 seat.Iowa House District 5 covers O’Brien, Cherokee, Buena Vista and Osceola counties.
Additionally, there were two Democratic Party primaries in Northwest Iowa .
IOWA HOUSE DISTRICT 1
In House District 1, which covers Sioux City, Democratic state representative J.D. Scholten is exiting the seat at the end of this year. Kenneth Kroll and Shawn Olorundam were the candidates seeking to succeed Scholten.
Olorundami defeated Kroll after nabbing 60 percent of the vote.
Kroll is a former television reporter. Olorundami is a Sioux City North High School teacher, who advocated for the power of organized union workers and the working class
Olorunmdami will vie for the seat in November with Republican Josh Steinhoff of Sioux City.
IOWA HOUSE DISTRICT 12
Lastly, Dustin Durbin, of Dow City defeated Brady Meyer, of Holstein, for the
Democrats nomination in Iowa House District 12, after getting 81 percent of the vote.
Durbin is an official with the Crawford County Memorial Hospital in Denson.
Iowa House District 12 covers Ida and Crawford counties. Longtime Republican officeholder Steven Holt, of Denison, is running again.
