Iowa

State Highlights

Terry E. Branstad, a Republican former governor, capped a yearlong campaign to regain the office by defeating Gov. Chet Culver, a Democrat.

And Senator Charles E. Grassley, a Republican who has served for nearly 30 years, cruised to victory over his Democratic opponent, Roxanne Conlin, a former United States attorney.

Mr. Culver, the son of a former United States senator, John C. Culver, said he had steered the state through the worst flood in its history and through a worldwide recession without raising taxes. But given the state’s economic difficulties, he had an uphill struggle in his bid for a second term.

Mr. Branstad, who served four terms as governor, from 1983 to 1999, won a fifth term by promising a smaller, more efficient state government. He said his record showed he would be more effective in creating jobs and attracting business investment.

In the Senate race, Ms. Conlin portrayed Mr. Grassley as a career politician, but the label did not stick. Mr. Grassley, a reliable Republican vote on economic issues, has built a reputation as a scourge of wasteful federal spending under presidents of both parties.

All five House members from Iowa, three Democrats and two Republicans, were re-elected.

In the First Congressional District, Representative Bruce Braley, a two-term Democrat, was challenged by Ben Lange, a Republican who portrayed him as a liberal supporter of President Obama on health care and taxes.

Outside organizations spent more than $1 million on advertisements attacking Mr. Braley and his record. He denounced what he called “secret donors from outside the state who are trying to buy this election for Ben Lange.”

In the Second District, which includes Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, Representative Dave Loebsack, a Democrat, defeated Mariannette Miller-Meeks, a Republican, in a rematch of their 2008 race. Mr. Loebsack won the seat four years ago in a surprise victory over Representative Jim Leach, a moderate Republican.

ROBERT PEAR