State Senate District 36 goes to Edler

Jeff Edler, Republican challenger from State Center, won the State Senate District 36 seat, defeating two-time Democratic incumbent State Senator Steve Sodders, with 8,719 votes to 8,634.

“I’m very proud of my family, friends and support network,” Edler said. “It proves hard work does pay off.”

Once Edler assumes duties, he plans to work towards creating a senate that turns power and say over to the people.

“Returning [power] over to the common people is how we operate in government and create solutions,” he said.

The seat represents the people of Marshall and Tama counties, as well as La Porte City and southern parts of Black Hawk County.

Incumbent Fisher retains State House District 72 seat

State House District 72 incumbent Dean Fisher, Republican from Garwin, has defeated his opponent, Nathan Wrage, Democrat from Gladbrook with 3,439 votes to 1,654.

“I’m certainly humbled and honored by the folks in my district to be selected,” Fisher said. “My plan is to keep spending down, cut taxes, support life, protect the Second Amendment and keep doing what I’m doing. I’ll be sitting down today to work on some bills.”

This seat represents all of Tama county, the southern and western parts of Marshall County, the La Porte City and Eagle Center area in Black Hawk County. Fisher was first elected to the Iowa House in 2012.

Smith ran unopposed

State House District 71 Representative Mark Smith has retained his seat. The Democratic incumbent from Marshalltown ran unopposed.

“It’s been a long campaign season, but I’m honored to be elected to another term,” Smith said. “In Iowa we still need to work on job creation. I continue to be concerned about low funding for schools and education, and I want to continue to work to raise funding and attention as a state to address this.”

This will be the representative’s ninth term in the Iowa House. Before being elected House Democratic Leader, he served as an Assistant Democratic Leader and on the Administration and Rules, Environmental Protection, Ethics, Human Resources, Judiciary and Legislative Council committees. Smith represents people in Marshall County, including the Marshalltown area, the cities of Albion and Liscomb and the townships Bangor, Le Grand, Liscomb, Marion, Taylor, Timber Creek and Vienna.