In a shocking twist of electoral fate, Iowa Democrats managed to pry a state Senate seat from the GOP’s clenched fists this week, abruptly ending the Republicans’ iron-fisted supermajority. The upset has already sent shockwaves across the state, where “business as usual” has long meant one party rubber-stamping the other party’s dreams of banning books, regulating pronouns, and ensuring ethanol remains the closest thing Iowa has to holy water.
Local Republicans responded with disbelief, likening the defeat to “losing the butter cow at the State Fair.” One strategist was overheard muttering that the party “should’ve focused less on fighting imaginary drag queens and more on, you know, voters.”
Meanwhile, Democrats are cautiously celebrating, aware their newfound relevance in Des Moines could vanish at the speed of a campaign promise. Still, for at least one brief, shining moment, Iowa’s minority party remembered what winning feels like—and it tasted sweeter than corn syrup.
