The 1932 Iowa Senate elections took place as part of the biennial 1932 United States elections. Iowa voters elected state senators in 30 of the Iowa Senate's 50 districts. State senators serve four-year terms in Iowa.
A statewide map of the 50 state senate districts in the 1932 elections is provided by the Iowa General Assemblyhere.
The primary election on June 6, 1932 determined which candidates appeared on the November 8, 1932 general election ballot.[1][2]
Following the previous election, Republicans had control of the Iowa Senate with 44 seats to Democrats' 6 seats, so to flip control of the chamber, the Democrats needed to net 20 Senate seats in these elections.
The Democrats gained control of the Senate following the 1932 general election, with the balance of power shifting to Republicans and Democrats having 25 seats each (a net gain of 19 seats for Democrats).[b]Lieutenant Governor of IowaNelson G. Kraschel was a Democrat and presided over the evenly-divided Iowa Senate following the election.[a]
By winning her election in the 23rd senatorial district during these elections, Carolyn Campbell Pendray became the first woman elected to the Iowa Senate. Previously, she had been the first woman elected to the Iowa House of Representatives as well.[c]
Summary of results
Note: 19 districts with "holdover" Senators not up for re-election are not listed on this table.[d]
Note: If a district does not list a primary, then that district did not have a competitive primary (i.e., there may have only been one candidate file for that district).[5]
^ abcAs Lieutenant Governor of Iowa, Democrat Nelson G. Kraschel presided over the evenly-divided Iowa Senate following the 1932 general election.
^ abcdSenator Frank Iradelle Coykendall of district 7 switched parties from Republican to Democratic, adding an additional seat to the Democratic caucus starting in 1933.
^Note that district 7 did not have an election and Senator Coykendall was a holdover Senator; however, he switched parties starting in 1933.
^The seventh district did not hold an election in 1932. However, Senator Coykendall switched parties from Republican to Democrat.
^ abHis surname is listed as both "McDonald" and "MacDonald" on various documents on the Iowa General Assembly website.[6][7]
^ abcSenator Moen switched parties and ran for re-election as a Democrat. He was defeated.
^ abHis name is written as both "Browne" and "Brown" in the primary and general elections, respectively.
^ abDespite getting the most votes in the Republican Primary, Lynch ran in the general election as an Independent.
^ abDespite getting the second most votes in the Republican Primary, Scott ran in the general election as an Independent.
^ abDespite coming in third in the Republican Primary, Pell would run as the party's nominee in the general election as the first and second placed finishers in the Republican Primary both ran in the general as Independents.