Iowa Senate Bellwether Model
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Iowa Senate

Hinson (R) vs. Turek (D) · Nov 3

– R seat · open How it works

The forecast

The prediction
About the prediction: a forecast for the Iowa U.S. Senate race built on five bellwether counties: polls and early voting now, official results on election night. The number is its margin, in points. Before election night it follows the polls; once results post, the five bellwether counties take over. The needle points to the leader; the dark arc is the likely range. Whoever gets the most votes wins; there is no runoff. Margins are in percentage points: "Turek +3" means Turek leads by 3.

–

Win chance
Likely range
Forecast, day by day
How to read this: each point is the forecast as it stood that morning, from the first day of early voting to Election Day, worked out with your current Fine-tune settings. Above the tie line Turek leads; below it Hinson leads. The shaded band is the likely range. The hollow dots are the polling average; the gap between them and the forecast is the allowance for how Iowa polls have leaned, after the early-vote adjustment. Win chance shows the chance of winning instead: above 50% Turek is favored, below it Hinson. Today's point follows the results on election night; in What-if mode a hollow circle at Election Day marks your number. Hover or tap a day for its numbers.

Numbers as a table

Things to know

Listen · two minutes

The race in two minutes

Read by Maren Holt, Pollitrack's anchor · Recorded October 24

0:00
-2:12
Read the transcript

I'm Maren Holt, and this is your Pollitrack digest on the Senate race in Iowa.

The seat is open. Joni Ernst is retiring, so on November 3 Iowa picks a new senator. Iowa alternates which name comes first from county to county, so we list them alphabetically: Republican Ashley Hinson, a congresswoman from eastern Iowa, and Democrat Josh Turek, a state representative from Council Bluffs.

The polling average has Hinson ahead by 0.5 points across eleven recent polls. Pollitrack's forecast moves that 3 points toward Hinson, because Iowa polls have understated Republicans in every race since 2018, then adjusts a little for the early vote. That leaves Hinson ahead by 3, with a 73 percent chance of finishing first and Turek at 27 percent.

Most of that lead comes from how Iowa polls have missed in the past. If they miss the same way again, Hinson's lead is larger; if they are right this time, the race is close to even.

Early voting runs through November second. So far, about 208 thousand Iowans have voted early. By Pollitrack's estimate, that is 132 percent of the 2022 midterm at the same point, and 65 percent of the 2024 presidential pace.

A big early vote does not tell us who is ahead. It tells us interest is high on both sides.

On election night, Pollitrack reads five bellwether counties, each standing in for a part of the state: Cerro Gordo for the group with Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, Warren for the Des Moines suburbs and Ames, Iowa County for the river cities and the northwest, Boone for the small cities and farm towns, and Grundy for north-central farm country.

Polls close at 8 pm Central. As those counties report, the forecast stops leaning on polls and starts reading votes. Scroll down to explore each county, or switch to What-if mode and play out your own night. I'm Maren Holt. See you on election night.

Now

Early voting
How to read this: the line adds up early votes day by day, in person and by mail. The amber line is 2026; the gray lines are past years on the same day of early voting, so a 2026 line above them means more early votes than then. Refreshed every morning and afternoon from the Iowa Secretary of State's absentee ballot report.
Numbers as a table

Cumulative early votes, in person and by mail, against the same day in 2022 and 2024.

202620242022
Early votes, share of 2024 at this point
How to read this: each bar is one county group's early votes as a share of 2024 at the same point; the black tick is Iowa overall, so a bar past the tick means that group is voting early faster than the state.
Faster than IowaSlowerIowa overall
Early voters, by which party's primaries they have voted in (2020–2026)
About this chart: Party is each early voter's registration in the Iowa Secretary of State's absentee report, not how they voted.
Context

In the news
How to read this: the headlines free news sources carry about this race, newest first, with who published each. The counts are how many stories named each candidate in the last seven days. Pollitrack reads the headlines; it does not judge them and they do not change the forecast.

The newest headlines about this race, refreshed twice a day.

Explore

Five county groups
How to read this: every county joins the group whose bellwether county it has moved most like since 2016. The color is the group's margin in the view you pick: where its bellwether lands if the polls are right, its 2024 President result, or, on election night, how far each county has shifted since 2024. Darker means a bigger lead: 15 points or more, 5 to 15, or under 5. Tap a group or a county to light up its group.

Every county joins the bellwether it has voted most like since 2016.

All 99 countiesBellwether county
Group · bellwetherSharePolls right

Pick a group to light up its counties.

Explore

500 possible election nights
How to read this: the forecast is replayed 500 times, each with a different random draw of its uncertainty. Each dot is five possible nights, stacked by the statewide margin in 1-point steps: blue dots are Turek wins and red dots are Hinson wins. The more dots on one side of the tie line, the likelier that candidate wins.

The forecast replayed 500 times, with every county group free to miss.

Wins per 100 nights · each dot = 5 nights

Trade-off
How to read this: pick two county groups. Left to right is one bellwether county's margin and bottom to top is another's, with the other three groups held where they are now. Each square is colored by the statewide result: blue squares are Turek wins and red squares are Hinson wins, darker for a bigger win. The black line is a statewide tie, and the amber dot is where things stand now. Hover a square for its numbers.

Explore

The five bellwethers
How to read this: each row is one county, on a scale from a big Hinson lead (left) to a big Turek lead (right). The amber mark is the tie line: if every part of Iowa shifted as much as this county did, a result there would mean a statewide tie. A dot to the right of it is good news for Turek, and to the left for Hinson; the colored bar shows how far each county is from the tie line, and toward whom. The gray ticks are the 2024 and 2018 results. The dot is where the polling average points until results post, then the real result. Drag a dot, tap anywhere on a row, or use the arrow keys to try your own numbers; the dot clicks onto the marks when you get close.

Drag a dot, or pick a scenario, to see who wins Iowa.

If the polls are right, Iowa–
CountyTie line 2024 Polls / your numberIf polls are right
Fine-tune the assumptions
Which parts of Iowa turn out
How much of the statewide vote each county group casts. The early-voting option tends to favor the cities, since rural Republicans often vote later or on Election Day.
Applies to counties that have counted only early votes so far, and shrinks as their Election Day votes come in. It adds to what each county did in 2022 and 2024. It also moves with who voted early: for each point more of a county's early voters are registered Democrats than in its record years, its Election Day votes are expected to run 0.25 points more Republican than its record says, because part of such a shift is Democrats voting earlier rather than more of them voting. Republicans say they're likelier to vote on Election Day this year.
How unsure the forecast stays even after all five counties finish counting. The default, 2 points, is wider than this method's typical miss on past races, because a new race can break from old patterns.
Taken off the polling average until results post. Iowa's final poll averages, taken the way this page takes them, have understated Republicans in every race since 2018, by 2.3 to 8 points (7.5 to 8 in both 2020 races and the 2024 presidential race). Iowa's own average is 5.6 points; the default of 3 points is that average pooled with the other states' midterm-year misses, which have come out about even. The next setting adjusts it for this year's early vote.
The "Where early votes are coming from" number above, times this weight, comes off the allowance when early votes are coming from more Democratic places than at this point in 2024 and goes onto it when they come from more Republican places. It is 0 by default: in 2022 and 2024, measured against the election two years earlier, that lean did not predict how the polls missed. Turnout level alone doesn't say which way polls will miss either: 2018's record midterm turnout broke toward Democrats, 2020's and 2024's broke toward Republicans. The places voting drift toward the Democrat late, not the Republican: big urban counties cast their in-person early votes last, so the mix of places voting moved 0.2 to 1.9 points toward Democratic places over the final eleven days in 2022 and 2024.
Reference

County guides

Why each county was picked and what to watch.

Biggest vote source
Cerro Gordo
Tie line: Turek +1.6 · a county Trump won by 12
2024 President
Trump +11.6
2022 Senate
Grassley +9.5
2018 Governor
Reynolds +3.4
Compared with Iowa
from 0.7 points more Republican (2018) to 7.4 more Democratic (2020 Senate)

Why this county

Cerro Gordo County (Mason City) leads the group with Iowa's biggest vote sources: Polk (Des Moines), Linn (Cedar Rapids), Johnson (Iowa City) and Dallas, plus four small north Iowa counties, about 34% of the statewide vote. It isn't a big city itself. The model's search picked it because, together with the other four bellwethers, it fit past statewide results best: 0.6 points off on average. Its own swings run bigger than the cities': from the 2020 Senate race to the 2022 governor's race it moved 15.5 points toward Republicans while its group moved 6.4. This group's swing has also strayed furthest from the rest of Iowa's, about 6 points in past races, so the forecast treats it as the most uncertain group until Cerro Gordo reports.

What to look for

The tie line here is Turek +2: a result above it favors Turek, below it Hinson. Greenfield won it by 0.8 in 2020 and lost Iowa by 6.6; Hubbell lost it by 3.4 and lost Iowa by 2.7. To watch the cities directly, switch this row to Polk (tie line Turek +24.0; Harris won it by 10.8) or Linn (Turek +23.1; Harris +9.9). As stand-ins they'd have missed by 1.7 and 1.6 points in past races, but they are where the votes are. Linn is Hinson's home: she lives in Marion and was a Cedar Rapids TV reporter and anchor for more than a decade. The page has no home-county setting for Iowa, so a strong Hinson night in Linn may say more about her than about the cities.

When results come in

Iowa counts early in-person and mail ballots together as "absentee" ballots, on a separate board that can't post anything until it has counted all of them; the law staffs it to finish by 10 pm. In 2022's Senate race Cerro Gordo's absentee votes went Franken +16.5 and its final count Grassley +9.5, a 26-point gap; in 2018 the gap was 12. If only its absentee votes are in, the model expects Cerro Gordo to move about 22 points toward Hinson, plus the Election Day setting. Polk's and Linn's gaps have averaged 28 and 25 points. The order isn't fixed: in 2024 Linn posted Election Day precincts first, around 8:30 pm, and its absentee count ran to almost midnight.

Signals so far

As of October 21, registered Democrats had returned 52% of Cerro Gordo's absentee ballots and Republicans 29%, compared with 47% and 34% across all of 2022's absentee voting and 36% and 38% in 2024's. Polk (61% Democratic) and Linn (62%) show the same pattern. In June's primary, Democrats cast 46% of Cerro Gordo's Senate primary votes; statewide Turek beat Wahls 62.6% to 37.3%.

College-town and exurb test
Warren
Tie line: Hinson +7.4 · the suburbs south of Des Moines
2024 President
Trump +20.6
2022 Senate
Grassley +18.6
2018 Governor
Reynolds +7.7
Compared with Iowa
5–9 points more Republican, every race since 2016

Why this county

Warren County (Indianola, Norwalk) is suburban and exurban Des Moines. Its group pairs it with Story County (Ames, home of Iowa State) and six smaller counties running from the Des Moines exurbs to the southwest corner (Madison, Jones, Mills, Page, Fremont, Adams), about 7.5% of the statewide vote. Warren has stayed 5 to 9 points more Republican than Iowa in every statewide race since 2016, so its swing is a steady read on suburban voters who aren't in the big cities.

What to look for

The tie line here is Hinson +7: a wider Hinson margin favors Hinson, a narrower one Turek. Reynolds won it by 7.7 in 2018 and the state by 2.7. At Hinson +15 or more, Hinson is likely ahead; well under 7, Turek is. Story is the college-town alternative: tie line Turek +23.5 (Harris won it by 10.3). As the stand-in it would have missed by 1.2 points in past races, against 0.6 for Warren, partly because student turnout swings Story more than its neighbors.

When results come in

Warren's absentee votes have been far more Democratic than its final count: in 2022's Senate race they went Franken +15.0, and the final count was Grassley +18.6, a 34-point gap. If only its absentee votes are in, the model expects Warren to move about 25 points toward Hinson, plus the Election Day setting. Story's gap has averaged 26.

Signals so far

By October 21 Warren had already returned 61% as many absentee ballots as in all of 2022, the fastest pace of the five bellwethers (the others were at 46% to 48%). Registered Democrats returned 47% of them and Republicans 35%, close to 2022's mix (49% and 34%). On October 20 the county auditor said 613 voters had been mailed a second absentee ballot by mistake; both copies are flagged so only one counts. Democrats cast 42% of Warren's Senate primary votes in June.

Best overall predictor
Iowa
Tie line: Hinson +14.5 · leads the biggest group, from the Mississippi to the Missouri
2024 President
Trump +27.7
2022 Senate
Grassley +30.8
2018 Governor
Reynolds +20.1
Compared with Iowa
14–19 points more Republican since 2016

Why this county

Iowa County (Marengo, Williamsburg, the Amana Colonies) sits between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. It leads 34 counties with about 34% of the statewide vote: the Mississippi River cities (Scott/Davenport, Dubuque, Black Hawk/Waterloo), the Missouri River cities (Pottawattamie/Council Bluffs, Turek's home, and Woodbury/Sioux City) and the deep-red northwest (Sioux, Lyon). Of the five groups, this one's swing has stayed closest to the rest of the state's, about 2 points off in past races. Subtract 16.6 from Iowa County's margin and you'd never have missed the statewide result by more than 2.2 points.

What to look for

The tie line here is Hinson +14.5: a wider Hinson margin favors Hinson, a narrower one Turek. Reynolds won it by 20.1 in 2018, Grassley by 30.8 in 2022. Well under 15, Turek is likely ahead; over 25, which looks like 2022, Hinson is. Black Hawk (Waterloo) is an excellent alternate with six times the votes: tie line Turek +14.4 (Harris won it by 1.2), and as the stand-in it would have missed by 0.61 points in past races, as good as Iowa County's 0.63. Turek's home county, Pottawattamie, is in this group but isn't a stand-in; he won his Council Bluffs House seat by 6 votes after a 2022 recount and by 5 points in 2024.

When results come in

Iowa County cast about 9,600 votes in 2024, so it has little to count. Its absentee votes have still run far more Democratic than its final count: in 2022's Senate race they were close to even (Grassley +0.3), and the final was Grassley +30.8. If only its absentee votes are in, the model expects about 24 points of movement toward Hinson, plus the Election Day setting. Black Hawk's gap has averaged 20.

Signals so far

As of October 21, registered Democrats had returned 40% of Iowa County's absentee ballots and Republicans 39%. The Republican share is down from 42% across 2022's absentee voting and 47% in 2024's. Democrats cast only 32% of the county's Senate primary votes in June. Trump's October 22 rally for Hinson was set for Sioux City, in this group; he's due back in Iowa November 1.

Swing-town test
Boone
Tie line: Hinson +8.2 · small-town Iowa that swung hardest to Trump
2024 President
Trump +21.5
2022 Senate
Grassley +16.6
2018 Governor
Reynolds +2.4
Compared with Iowa
from 0.3 points more Democratic (2018) to 8.3 more Republican (2024)

Why this county

Boone County (Boone, just west of Ames) leads 45 counties of small cities and farm towns, about 22% of the statewide vote: Clinton, Jasper (Newton), Des Moines County (Burlington), Webster (Fort Dodge), Lee, Wapello (Ottumwa) and dozens of rural counties. From 2016 to 2024 this group moved 9.9 points toward Republicans in the presidential race, while Iowa as a whole moved 3.8. Boone went from matching the state in 2018 (Reynolds won it by 2.4 and Iowa by 2.7) to 8.3 points more Republican in 2024. Turek's pitch on farm costs and tariffs is aimed here.

What to look for

The tie line here is Hinson +8: a wider Hinson margin favors Hinson, a narrower one Turek. Republicans won it by 2.4 in 2018, 13.2 in the 2020 Senate race and 16.6 in 2022. Above Hinson +15, Hinson is likely ahead; well under 8, Turek is. Jasper (tie line Hinson +14.3) and Poweshiek (Grinnell, Hinson +3.7) are alternates; either would have missed by about 0.7 points as the stand-in, close to Boone's 0.6.

When results come in

In 2022's Senate race Boone's absentee votes went Franken +10.3, and the final count was Grassley +16.6, a 27-point gap; in 2018 it was 9. If only its absentee votes are in, the model expects Boone to move about 21 points toward Hinson, plus the Election Day setting. Jasper's gap has averaged 28.

Signals so far

As of October 21, registered Democrats had returned 46% of Boone's absentee ballots and Republicans 36%, the same mix as 2022 (47% and 36%) and nothing like 2024 (33% and 42%). Democrats cast 41% of Boone's Senate primary votes in June. The harvest is running about 20 points behind its five-year pace after a wet September, and state officials urged farmers on October 19 to vote early.

Farm-country test
Grundy
Tie line: Hinson +28.5 · four farm counties, 2% of the vote
2024 President
Trump +41.7
2022 Senate
Grassley +45.5
2018 Governor
Reynolds +33.2
Compared with Iowa
28–34 points more Republican since 2016

Why this county

Grundy County (Grundy Center), west of Waterloo, leads the smallest group: four farm counties (Dickinson, Buena Vista, Cherokee and Grundy) with 1.9% of the statewide vote. It measures the farm vote, where crop prices, tariffs and a late harvest are the issues. A 5-point move here changes the statewide margin by only about a tenth of a point, so it matters mostly as an early signal for the rural counties in the Boone and Iowa County groups.

What to look for

The tie line here is Hinson +28.5: a wider Hinson margin favors Hinson, a narrower one Turek. Reynolds won it by 33.2 in 2018, Trump by 41.7 and Grassley by 45.5. A Hinson margin under 33 would mean farm country is moving toward Turek; 40 or more means it hasn't moved. Dickinson (Okoboji, tie line Hinson +26.7) and Cherokee (Hinson +32.4) are alternates.

When results come in

Grundy's absentee voters lean Republican too, so its early-to-final gap is the smallest of the five: its 2022 Senate absentee votes went Grassley +22.0 and the final count Grassley +45.5. If only its absentee votes are in, the model expects about 16 points of movement toward Hinson, plus the Election Day setting.

Signals so far

As of October 21, registered Republicans had returned 54% of Grundy's absentee ballots and Democrats 30%, the same as 2022's mix (54% and 32%); in 2024 it was 61% and 21%. Democrats cast 27% of Grundy's Senate primary votes in June. Iowa importers paid an estimated $1.7 billion in tariffs through June; Turek blames tariffs for squeezed farm margins, and Hinson voted with Iowa's other House Republicans against overturning the tariffs on Canada.

Reference

Timeline

When results usually arrive, Central time.

Oct 14–Nov 2

Early voting. Iowa's 20-day window, in person or by mail. Watch each group's turnout in the early voting tracker above; it follows the Secretary of State's absentee report, which is saved by hand on business days, so it can lag a day. Through October 21, 167,251 ballots were back, 45% of 2022's whole absentee total. Registered Democrats returned 52% of them and Republicans 31%, like 2022 (51% and 33%) and unlike 2024 (38% and 40%). Mail ballots count only if the county auditor has them by 8 pm on Election Day.

Nov 3 · 8:00 pm

Polls close everywhere in Iowa. The first precincts were posting by 8:11 pm in 2024. Each county's absentee board can't post until it has counted every absentee ballot, including ones dropped off up to 8 pm, so a county's first number may be its absentee votes or its Election Day precincts. In 2024 Linn posted precincts around 8:30 pm and its absentee count ran to almost midnight. The page marks counties with only absentee votes counted and expects them to move a long way toward Hinson.

9:00 pm

Most counties have both kinds of votes in. The Associated Press called Iowa for Trump at 9:40 pm in 2024 and the Grassley race around 10 pm in 2022; a close race will take longer. Keep the absentee gap in mind: in 2022 Iowa's absentee votes went Franken +19.7, and the final count was Grassley +12.2.

10:00 pm–midnight

The last absentee batches and close races. Absentee boards are staffed to finish by 10 pm; a county that missed that in the last general election has to start counting the day before, which should apply to Linn this year. In 2024 the close 3rd District race was called at 11:18 pm, and at midnight the 1st District was 413 votes apart with 97% counted.

Wednesday–Nov 10

Late ballots and the county canvass. Military and overseas ballots postmarked by Election Day count if they arrive by noon Monday, November 9, and provisional ballots are settled that week. County boards certify their results on Tuesday, November 10. The changes are usually small: in 2024 a Cerro Gordo supervisor race flipped after 41 provisional and late-arriving ballots were reviewed. If the race is within a point when you go to bed, the forecast's likely range is the honest answer.

Nov 11–30

Recount window and state certification. If the margin is under 0.15% (roughly 2,000 votes at midterm turnout), the trailing candidate has until 5 pm on November 11 to ask for a statewide recount. In 2024 the 1st District's 799-vote race was recounted and called on November 27. The state board certifies the results by November 30.