Iowa Democratic primary voters more urban in 2022

Democrats residing in Iowa’s ten most populous counties delivered greater than two-thirds of the votes within the June 7 main election, a bigger share than in different latest primaries, in line with Bleeding Heartland’s evaluation of preliminary election outcomes.

Hotly contested races for legislative or county workplaces pushed turnout notably excessive in Iowa’s three largest Democratic vote-producing counties, relative to the state as a complete.

The share of the first votes forged in Iowa’s mid-sized counties dipped barely, in comparison with the earlier three Democratic primaries, reflecting much less competitors for down-ballot workplaces in these communities.

HIGH DEMOCRATIC ENGAGEMENT IN POLK, LINN, JOHNSON

The Iowa Secretary of State’s workplace tabulated 156,589 votes forged in final week’s Democratic main election. That degree was 44 p.c under the record-breaking turnout of 281,544 for the 2020 Democratic main, when the secretary of state had despatched each registered voter an absentee poll request type. It was additionally 13 p.c decrease than the variety of Democrats who participated in Iowa’s 2018 main, when a number of candidates for governor spent closely to influence voters and mobilize supporters.

The drop in participation wasn’t uniform throughout the state. It was much less pronounced in counties the place a number of candidates had been combating to develop into the Democratic nominee for native or state workplaces. Utilizing figures posted on the Iowa Secretary of State’s web site, I up to date the chart printed right here with unofficial numbers from the ten counties that ship the best variety of Democratic votes.

Notice that whereas the general inhabitants of Scott County (Quad Cities space) exceeds that of Johnson County (Iowa Metropolis space), way more Johnson County residents vote in Iowa Democratic primaries.

Votes forged in latest Democratic primaries (massive counties)

The ten largest counties accounted for almost 68 p.c of Democratic votes forged in the newest election.

Polk County had 4 aggressive Iowa Home primaries, one Iowa Senate main, and multi-candidate races for county legal professional and county treasurer, which had not occurred for many years. The county containing a lot of the Des Moines metro space accounted for about 20 p.c of the statewide main votes forged in 2016 and 2020, however 24.2 p.c of this yr’s main vote. Within the 2018 main, that includes a number of candidates for governor who lived in Des Moines, Polk County residents forged 23.6 p.c of the statewide Democratic vote.

Linn County Democrats forged slightly greater than 10 p.c of the statewide main votes this yr, because of hard-fought races for 2 open Iowa Senate seats, plus a three-way main for a supervisor place within the county containing the Cedar Rapids metro.

Johnson County’s turnout was notably robust, on account of two open Iowa Home seats, one Iowa Senate seat, and a three-way main for 2 at-large county supervisor seats. Democrats within the “Folks’s Republic” forged about 9.7 p.c of all main votes, up from 8.0 p.c in 2016, 9.4 p.c in 2018, and eight.7 p.c in 2020.

By the way, Mike Franken carried eight of Iowa’s ten largest counties within the U.S. Senate main. Abby Finkenauer carried Scott, the place her marketing campaign was outspending Franken’s on tv, and Pottawattamie (Council Bluffs), the place neither candidate purchased television time.

MID-SIZED COUNTIES CONTRIBUTE SMALLER SHARE OF PRIMARY VOTE

I additionally up to date a desk exhibiting Democratic votes forged in sixteen medium-sized counties. Most of these counties have been trending crimson over the previous decade, and Democrats now maintain few Iowa Home or Senate seats overlaying these areas.

Because of this, Democratic candidate recruitment has suffered. Most counties listed on this desk had no contested Democratic primaries for legislative seats. In some circumstances, no Democrat filed for numerous county workplaces.

The upshot was that rather less than 15 p.c of the statewide main vote got here from the mid-sized counties, a lot of which had been as soon as Democratic strongholds.

Votes forged in latest Democratic primaries (mid-sized counties)

Including the Democratic turnout from massive and mid-sized counties collectively, residents of 26 Iowa counties accounted for about 82.5 p.c of votes forged in final week’s election. Solely 17.5 p.c of the 2022 Democratic main voters reside within the state’s different 73 counties.

When the Iowa Secretary of State’s workplace publishes the statewide statistical report on the June 7 election later this summer season, Bleeding Heartland will overview the age and gender breakdown of this yr’s Democratic main voters.

Prime picture: Johnson County residents vote early on the Coralville Public Library on June 4, 2022. Picture initially printed on the Johnson County auditor’s Fb web page.