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IowaPolitics.com: Dem Hanson wins HD 90 special election by 107 votes
9/1/2009

By Lynn Campbell
IowaPolitics.com

Democrat Curt Hanson defeated Republican Stephen Burgmeier by 107 votes tonight in a special election for Iowa House District 90, according to unofficial results from the Iowa secretary of state. Hanson tallied 48.9 percent of the votes to Burgmeier's 47.5 percent, allowing Democrats to retain their 56-44 majority in the Iowa House.

The district stretches into three counties. Hanson won by more than 600 votes in Jefferson County, but Burgmeier won by more than 500 votes in Van Buren County. The race was a nail-biter and at one point, only two votes separated the candidates at 9:30 p.m. after most results came in from those two counties. It all came down to Wapello County, where results trickled in and Burgmeier won by just four votes, not enough to overcome the margin from the other two counties.

The final, unofficial vote that came in just after 10 p.m. was 3,932 to 3,825. Hanson replaces Rep. John Whitaker, D-Hillsboro, who resigned to serve as state executive director of the USDA's Farm Service Agency.

Some saw the special election in southeast Iowa as a bellwether race and a chance for Republicans to start turning the tide on their minority status in the Iowa Legislature. Burgmeier, a farmer from Lockridge, is a three-term Jefferson County supervisor.

But Hanson, a retired schoolteacher from Fairfield, went into the month-long race with an advantage: President Obama carried the district by nearly 1,400 votes, Democrats hold an advantage in voter registration and Gov. Chet Culver won the district in 2006 with 55 percent of the vote.

As of 10 days ago, Burgmeier had out-raised Hanson in cash, with $63,101 in contributions compared to Hanson's $42,881. However, Hanson had $128,721 in in-kind contributions, while Burgmeier had $77,806.30. The campaign included the National Organization for Marriage making a controversial $86,060 ad buy for Burgmeier.

Dan Cesar of the Fourth of July Party and Douglas William Philips, who was nominated by petition, were also on the ballot. Cesar received 40 votes or less than 1 percent, while Philips received 242 votes or 3 percent of the 8,046 votes cast.

See the results: http://www.sos.state.ia.us/elections/results/09specialresults.html


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