Iowa gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2014

Iowa Gubernatorial and Lieutenant Gubernatorial Election

Primary Date: June 3, 2014

General Election Date: November 4, 2014

November 4 Election Winners: Terry E. Branstad Kim Reynolds

Incumbents prior to election: Terry E. Branstad Kim Reynolds

Terry Branstad Kim Reynolds

Iowa State Executive Elections Top Ballot Governor/Lieutenant Governor • Secretary of State • Attorney General Down Ballot Treasurer, Auditor, Agriculture Commissioner

Battleground Races Iowa House of RepresentativesIowa State Senate

Divided government

State executive offices in Iowa

The Iowa gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election took place on November 4, 2014. Iowa Governor Terry E. Branstad (R) and Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds (R) were up for re-election in 2014 and ran successfully on a single ticket in the general election. Branstad and Reynolds won new four-year terms in office.

Branstad and Reynolds were challenged by four tickets including the Democratic ticket of Jack Hatch and Monica Vernon, the Libertarian Party ticket of Lee Hieb and Tim Watson along with tickets for the Iowa Party and the New Independence Party of Iowa. Branstad first served as governor from 1983 to 1999 and returned to office after defeating incumbent Chet Culver (D) in the 2010 election. Polling results detailed here showed Branstad with an average lead of 10 points over Hatch heading into the general election.

The gubernatorial race was not the only race on the November ballot that could have shifted the balance of power in Iowa. The Iowa House of Representatives and Iowa State Senate were identified by Ballotpedia as two of the top 20 legislative chambers to watch in 2014. The Iowa House of Representatives stayed in Democratic hands after the 2014 elections, preventing trifecta status for Republicans.

A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. In Iowa, a voter must be affiliated with a party in order to participate in its primary. However, a voter can change his or her political party affiliation on Election Day, creating what is effectively an open primary.

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article. The primary took place on June 3.

Candidates

Running mates listed together in order of "Governor/Lieutenant Governor"

General election

Terry E. Branstad/Kim Reynolds - Incumbents
Jack Hatch/Monica Vernon
Lee Hieb/Tim Watson
(Iowa Party) Jonathan Narcisse/Michael Richards
(New Independence Party of Iowa) Jim Hennager/Mary Krieg

Lost in primary

Tom Hoefling

Results

General election

Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Iowa, 2014
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Terry Branstad/Kim Reynolds Incumbent	59%	666,023
	Democratic	Jack Hatch/Monica Vernon	37.3%	420,778
	Libertarian	Lee Hieb/Tim Watson	1.8%	20,319
	New Independent Party	Jim Hennager/Mary Krieg	0.9%	10,582
	Iowa Party	Jonathan Narcisse/Michael Richards	0.9%	10,239
	Nonpartisan	Write-in votes	0.1%	1,093
Total Votes				1,129,034
Election results via Iowa Secretary of State

Primary election

Republican primary

Governor of Iowa, Republican Primary, 2014
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Terry Branstad Incumbent	83%	129,752
Tom Hoefling	16.8%	26,299
Write-in	0.2%	294
Total Votes		156,345
Election results via Iowa Secretary of State.

Democratic primary

• Uncontested

Race background

Incumbent standing before re-election

Before Branstad formally launched his campaign, polls showed him in excellent standing for re-election, with an average lead of 20 percentage points in hypothetical general election match-ups. Branstad had looked considerably less secure around the time ex-Democratic challenger Tyler Olson entered the race in July 2013, with only 43 percent of polled voters saying they believed the governor deserved to be re-elected and 54 percent answering that he held office long enough, even though 51 percent approved of his performance. A December 2013 poll by Quinnipiac University gave him a boost of 8 percent in both approval and "deserves to be re-elected" categories.

Candidate withdrawals

Democratic State Rep. Tyler Olson declared his candidacy for governor in July 2013 and was considered a strong contender for the party's nomination before withdrawing from the race in December 2013. He decided to drop out following the announcement of his separation from wife Sarah Olson, who had been an instrumental part of his family-oriented campaign. Olson's withdrawal was followed soon thereafter by former state Sen. Bob Krause's announcement he was shutting down his campaign. Their absences cleared the path for remaining Democratic hopeful Jack Hatch to face Branstad in the general election. Krause immediately gave Hatch his support, while Olson declined to endorse Hatch upon dropping out of the race.

Polls

General election
Polls in October 2014

Governor of Iowa: Branstad v. Hatch
Poll	Terry Branstad* (R)	Jack Hatch (D)	Undecided/Other	Margin of error	Sample size
New York Times/CBS News/YouGov October 16-23, 2014	50%	37%	13%	+/-3	2,322
NBC News/Marist October 2014	58%	36%	6%	+/-2.8	1,235
AVERAGES	54%	36.5%	9.5%	+/-2.9	1,778.5
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to [email protected].

Polls through September 2014

Governor of Iowa: Branstad vs. Hatch
Poll	Terry Branstad* (R)	Jack Hatch (D)	Undecided/Other	Margin of error	Sample size
Loras College Poll (September 2-5, 2014)	55.5%	33.5%	11%	+/-2.82	1,200
NBC News/Marist Poll (July 16, 2014)	53%	38%	10%	+/-2.5	1,599
Quinnipiac University Poll (June 12-16, 2014)	47%	38%	14%	+/-2.7	1,277
Rasmussen (June 4-5, 2014)	49%	40%	8%	+/-4.0	750
Vox Populi Polling (June 4-5, 2014)	51%	40%	9%	+/-3.8	667
Public Policy Poll (May 15-19, 2014)	48%	40%	12%	+/-3.3	914
Global Strategy Group (May 13-15, 2014)	47%	40%	13%	+/-4.0	602
Hickman Analytics Poll (April 24-30, 2014)	50%	40%	10%	+/-4.4	500
Vox Populi/Daily Caller Poll (April 22-24, 2014)	45%	43%	12%	+/-4.0	600
Public Policy Poll/Progress Iowa Continued* (April 19-20, 2014)	41%	40%	19%	+/-3.8	677
Public Policy Poll/Progress Iowa* (April 19-20, 2014)	43%	38%	19%	+/-3.8	677
Suffolk (April 3-8, 2014)	42%	32%	24%	+/-3.5	800
Quinnipiac University Poll (March 5-10, 2014)	46%	35%	15%	+/-2.6	1,411
Selzer & Company/The Des Moines Register Poll (December 8-11, 2013)	52%	29%	19%	+/-3.8	650
Quinnipiac University Poll (December 10-15, 2013)	49%	33%	18%	+/-2.4	1,617
AVERAGES	47.9%	37.3%	14.2%	+/-3.43	929.4
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to [email protected].

*The April 19-20 Progress Iowa poll is displayed above as two separate polls to delineate responses registered before and after respondents were provided information on recent scandals effecting the administration of Gov. Branstad.

Hypothetical match-ups

Governor of Iowa: Branstad vs. Krause
Poll	Terry Branstad* (R)	Bob Olson (D)	Undecided/Other	Margin of error	Sample size
Quinnipiac University Poll (December 10-15, 2013)	49%	31%	19%	+/-2.4	1,617
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to [email protected].

Governor of Iowa: Branstad vs. Olson
Poll	Terry Branstad* (R)	Tyler Olson (D)	Undecided/Other	Margin of error	Sample size
Selzer & Company/The Des Moines Register Poll (December 8-11, 2013)	51%	28%	21%	+/-3.8	650
Quinnipiac University Poll (December 10-15, 2013)	50%	32%	18%	+/-2.4	1,617
AVERAGES	50.5%	30%	19.5%	+/-3.1	1,133.5
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to [email protected].

Note: An asterisk (*) denotes incumbent status.

Campaign media

Ad spending

The Wesleyan Media Project published a report on September 30, 2014, highlighting spending on gubernatorial races from September 12-25. This report found that Democratic and Republican groups spent a total of $46.84 million on TV ads in 15 states with gubernatorial elections. The following chart details the group's findings, including spending amounts and number of ads:

Note: A bolded number indicates the highest total for this category. A number in italics is the lowest total for this category.

Spending on TV ads, September 12-25, 2014
State	Total # of ads	% Democratic-leaning ads	% GOP-leaning ads	Total spending-Democratic leaning (in millions of $)	Total spending-GOP leaning (in millions of $)
Colorado	2,460	83.1	16.9	1.35	0.39
Connecticut	2,312	61.7	38.3	1.48	0.89
Florida	20,111	38.5	61.5	4.07	6.64
Georgia	4,625	51.1	48.9	1.43	0.99
Illinois	7,793	63.5	36.5	4.17	3.5
Iowa	2,134	47.5	52.5	0.25	0.38
Kansas	5,024	45.7	54.3	0.85	1.17
Maine	3,281	42.3	57.7	0.46	0.32
Michigan	6,767	33.9	66.1	1.14	2.3
Minnesota	1,974	83.9	16.1	0.65	0.29
New York	4,926	61	39	2.18	0.88
Pennsylvania	3,263	50.9	49.1	1.58	1.23
South Carolina	2,883	39.1	60.9	0.33	0.38
Texas	10,330	33.4	66.6	2.24	2.93
Wisconsin	7,374	63.3	36.7	1.36	1.01
TOTALS	85,257	48.2	51.8	23.54	23.3

Past elections

2010

Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Iowa, 2010
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Terry E. Branstad/Kim Reynolds	52.8%	592,494
	Democratic	Chet Culver/Patty Judge Incumbent	43.2%	484,798
	Independent	Jonathan Narcisse/Richard Marlar	1.9%	20,859
	Libertarian	Eric Cooper/Nick Weltha	1.3%	14,398
	Independent	Gregory James Hughes/Robin Prior-Calef	0.3%	3,884
	Independent	Write-in votes	0.3%	2,823
	Socialist	David Rosenfeld/Helen Meyers	0.2%	2,757
Total Votes				1,122,013
Election results Iowa Secretary of State

Voter turnout

Political scientist Michael McDonald's United States Elections Project studied voter turnout in the 2014 election by looking at the percentage of eligible voters who headed to the polls. McDonald used voting-eligible population (VEP), or the number of eligible voters independent of their current registration status, to calculate turnout rates in each state on November 4. He also incorporated ballots cast for the highest office in each state into his calculation. He estimated that 81,687,059 ballots were cast in the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, representing 35.9 percent of the VEP. By comparison, 61.6 percent of VEP voted in the 2008 presidential election and 58.2 percent of VEP voted in the 2012 presidential election.

Quick facts

• According to PBS Newshour, voter turnout in the 2014 midterms was the lowest since the 1942 midterms, which took place during the nation's involvement in World War II.

• Forty-three states and the District of Columbia failed to surpass 50 percent turnout in McDonald's analysis.

• The three states with the lowest turnout according to McDonald's analysis were Texas (28.3 percent), Tennessee (28.6 percent), and Indiana (28.8 percent).

• Maine (58.5 percent), Wisconsin (56.5 percent), and Colorado (54.5 percent) were the three states with the highest turnout.

• There were only 12 states that increased voter turnout in 2014 compared to the 2010 midterm elections.

Voter turnout rates, 2014
State	Total votes counted	% voter eligible population	Top statewide office up for election	Size of lead (Raw votes)	Size of lead (%)
Alabama	1,191,274	33.2	Governor	320,319	27.2
Alaska	285,431	54.4	Governor	4,004	1.6
Arizona	1,537,671	34.1	Governor	143,951	12.5
Arkansas	852,642	40.1	Governor	118,664	14.0
California	7,513,972	30.8	Governor	1,065,748	17.8
Colorado	2,080,071	54.5	Governor	50,395	2.4
Connecticut	1,096,509	42.5	Governor	26,603	2.5
Delaware	234,038	34.4	Attorney General	31,155	13.6
District of Columbia	177,176	35.8	Mayor	27,934	19.0
Florida	6,026,802	43.3	Governor	66,127	1.1
Georgia	2,596,947	38.5	Governor	202,685	8.0
Hawaii	369,554	36.5	Governor	45,323	12.4
Idaho	445,307	39.6	Governor	65,852	14.9
Illinois	3,680,417	40.9	Governor	171,900	4.9
Indiana	1,387,622	28.8	Secretary of State	234,978	17.8
Iowa	1,142,284	50.2	Governor	245,548	21.8
Kansas	887,023	43.4	Governor	33,052	3.9
Kentucky	1,435,868	44.0	U.S. Senate	222,096	15.5
Louisiana	1,472,039	43.8	U.S. Senate	16,401	1.1
Maine	616,996	58.5	Governor	29,820	4.9
Maryland	1,733,177	41.5	Governor	88,648	6.1
Massachusetts	2,186,789	44.6	Governor	40,361	1.9
Michigan	3,188,956	43.2	Governor	129,547	4.3
Minnesota	1,992,613	50.5	Governor	109,776	5.6
Mississippi	631,858	28.9	U.S. Senate	141,234	33.0
Missouri	1,426,303	31.8	Auditor	684,074	53.6
Montana	373,831	47.3	U.S. Senate	65,262	17.9
Nebraska	552,115	41.5	Governor	97,678	18.7
Nevada	547,349	29.0	Governor	255,793	46.7
New Hampshire	495,565	48.4	Governor	24,924	5.2
New Jersey	1,955,042	32.5	N/A	N/A	N/A
New Mexico	512,805	35.7	Governor	73,868	14.6
New York	3,930,310	29.0	Governor	476,252	13.4
North Carolina	2,939,767	41.2	U.S. Senate	48,511	1.7
North Dakota	255,128	45.0	U.S. House At-large seat	42,214	17.1
Ohio	3,149,876	36.2	Governor	933,235	30.9
Oklahoma	824,831	29.8	Governor	122,060	14.7
Oregon	1,541,782	53.5	Governor	59,029	4.5
Pennsylvania	3,495,866	36.0	Governor	339,261	9.8
Rhode Island	329,212	42.2	Governor	14,346	4.5
South Carolina	1,261,611	35.2	Governor	179,089	14.6
South Dakota	282,291	44.9	Governor	124,865	45.1
Tennessee	1,374,065	28.6	Governor	642,214	47.5
Texas	4,727,208	28.3	Governor	957,973	20.4
Utah	577,973	30.2	Attorney General	173,819	35.2
Vermont	193,087	38.8	Governor	2,095	1.1
Virginia	2,194,346	36.6	U.S. Senate	16,727	0.8
Washington	2,123,901	43.1	N/A	N/A	N/A
West Virginia	451,498	31.2	U.S. Senate	124,667	27.6
Wisconsin	2,410,314	56.5	Governor	137,607	5.7
Wyoming	168,390	39.3	Governor	52,703	33.6

Note: Information from the United States Elections Project was last updated on December 16, 2014.

Campaign finance

Comprehensive donor information for this election has been collected by Follow the Money. Based on available campaign finance records, the candidates raised a total of $8,948,074 during the election. This information was last updated on May 12, 2015.

Campaign Contribution Totals
Candidate	Office	Result	Contributions
Terry Branstad/Kim Reynolds	Iowa Governor/Lieutenant Governor		$7,314,177
Jack Hatch/Monica Vernon	Iowa Governor/Lieutenant Governor		$1,551,049
Tom Hoefling	Iowa Governor		$71,060
Lee Hieb/Tim Watson	Iowa Governor/Lieutenant Governor		$11,788
Jonathan Narcisse/Michael Richards	Iowa Governor/Lieutenant Governor		$0
Jim Hennager/Mary Krieg	Iowa Governor/Lieutenant Governor		$0
Grand Total Raised			$8,948,074

Key deadlines

Deadline	Event
March 14, 2014	Filing deadline (Major party candidates)
June 3, 2014	Primary election
August 15, 2014	Filing deadline (other candidates)
November 4, 2014	General election
December 1, 2014	State Canvass of general election votes deadline
January 1, 2015	Inauguration day for attorney general, secretary of state, auditor and treasurer
January 13, 2015	Inauguration day for governor and lieutenant governor

Recent news

This section links to a Google news search for the term "Iowa + Governor + elections"

Iowa Gubernatorial Election News Feed

See also

• Governor of Iowa
• Lieutenant Governor of Iowa
• Iowa state executive official elections, 2014
• State executive official elections, 2014

External links

Suggest a link

• Office of the Governor of Iowa
• Iowa Lieutenant Governor