Iowa Attorney General election, 2022

Elections in Iowa, 2022

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← 2018
Iowa Attorney General
Democratic primary Republican primary General election
Election details
Filing deadline: March 18, 2022
Primary: June 7, 2022 General: November 8, 2022 Pre-election incumbent(s): Tom Miller (Democratic)
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Voting in Iowa
Ballotpedia analysis
Federal and state primary competitiveness State executive elections in 2022 Impact of term limits in 2022 State government trifectas State government triplexes Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2022
Iowa executive elections
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Incumbent Brenna Bird (R) defeated Thomas John Miller (D) in the general election for Attorney General of Iowa on November 8, 2022. Miller defeated Bird for attorney general in 2010, making this race a rematch.

In September 2022, Sabato's Crystal Ball released an analysis of state attorney general election competitiveness. Iowa's attorney general election was rated as at least somewhat competitive: "Tom Miller is the nation’s longest-tenured state AG, first winning election in 1978 and serving all but 4 years since...Miller faces a rematch with Brenna Bird, a former aide to former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R) who lost a challenge to Miller in 2010." Click here to read the analysis.

Stephen Gruber-Miller of the Des Moines Register wrote the following about the election results: “Miller, 78, held the record as the longest-serving state attorney general in U.S. history. He survived Republican wave election years in 1994, 2010 and 2014 but fell short to Bird, 46, who ran an aggressive campaign promising to sue President Joe Biden and accusing Miller of being ‘retired on the job’… State and national Republicans saw the race as a top pickup opportunity this year, given the GOP’s success in federal and statewide races in recent years, and Biden’s unpopularity in the state. The national Republican Attorneys General Association funneled $2 million into Bird’s campaign this year…Miller received close to $1 million from the Democratic Attorneys General Association.”

This was one of 30 elections for attorney general taking place in 2022. All 50 states have an attorney general who serves as the state's chief legal officer, responsible for enforcing state law and offering the state government advice on legal matters. In 43 states, the office was, at the time of the 2022 elections, an elected post. At the time of the 2022 elections, there were 27 Republican attorneys general and 23 Democratic attorneys general. Click here for an overview of all 30 attorney general elections that took place in 2022. A state government triplex refers to a situation where the governor, attorney general, and secretary of state are all members of the same political party. Heading into the 2022 elections, there were 23 Republican triplexes, 18 Democratic triplexes, and nine divided governments where neither party held triplex control.

Bird’s win has made Iowa a Republican triplex.

For more information about the primaries in this election, click on the links below:

• Iowa Attorney General election, 2022 (June 7 Democratic primary)
• Iowa Attorney General election, 2022 (June 7 Republican primary)

Candidates and election results

General election

General election for Attorney General of Iowa

Brenna Bird defeated incumbent Thomas John Miller in the general election for Attorney General of Iowa on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Brenna Bird (R)	50.8	611,432
		Thomas John Miller (D)	49.1	590,890
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	801

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,203,123
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Attorney General of Iowa

Incumbent Thomas John Miller advanced from the Democratic primary for Attorney General of Iowa on June 7, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Thomas John Miller	99.7	146,284
		Other/Write-in votes	0.3	399

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 146,683
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Attorney General of Iowa

Brenna Bird advanced from the Republican primary for Attorney General of Iowa on June 7, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Brenna Bird	99.6	163,114
		Other/Write-in votes	0.4	670

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 163,784
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Past elections

2018

See also: Iowa Attorney General election, 2018

General election

General election for Attorney General of Iowa

Incumbent Thomas John Miller defeated Marco Battaglia in the general election for Attorney General of Iowa on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Thomas John Miller (D)	76.5	880,531
		Marco Battaglia (L)	22.8	262,131
		Other/Write-in votes	0.7	8,237

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,150,899
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Attorney General of Iowa

Incumbent Thomas John Miller advanced from the Democratic primary for Attorney General of Iowa on June 5, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Thomas John Miller	100.0	157,483

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 157,483
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2014

See also: Iowa attorney general election, 2014

Attorney General of Iowa, 2014
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Tom Miller Incumbent	56.1%	616,711
	Republican	Adam Gregg	43.8%	481,046
	Nonpartisan	Write-in votes	0.1%	1,249
Total Votes				1,099,006
Election results via Iowa Secretary of State

Election analysis

Click the tabs below to view information about demographics, past elections, and partisan control of the state.

• Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the state.
• Statewide elections - Information about recent U.S. Senate and gubernatorial elections in the state.
• State partisanship - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.
• Demographics - Information about the state's demographics and how they compare to the country as a whole.

Presidential elections

See also: Presidential voting trends in Iowa and The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

Cook PVI by congressional district

Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index for Iowa, 2022
District	Incumbent	Party	PVI
Iowa's 1st	Mariannette Miller-Meeks	Republican	R+3
Iowa's 2nd	Ashley Hinson	Republican	R+4
Iowa's 3rd	Cindy Axne	Democratic	R+3
Iowa's 4th	Randy Feenstra	Republican	R+16

2020 presidential results by 2022 congressional district lines

2020 presidential results in congressional districts based on 2022 district lines, Iowa
District	Joe Biden	Donald Trump
Iowa's 1st	47.6%	50.5%
Iowa's 2nd	46.9%	51.3%
Iowa's 3rd	48.9%	49.3%
Iowa's 4th	36.2%	62.2%

2012-2020

How a state's counties vote in a presidential election and the size of those counties can provide additional insights into election outcomes at other levels of government including statewide and congressional races. Below, four categories are used to describe each county's voting pattern over the 2012, 2016, and 2020 presidential elections: Solid, Trending, Battleground, and New. Click [show] on the table below for examples:

County-level voting pattern categories
Democratic
Status	2012	2016	2020
Solid Democratic	D	D	D
Trending Democratic	R	D	D
Battleground Democratic	D	R	D
New Democratic	R	R	D
Republican
Status	2012	2016	2020
Solid Republican	R	R	R
Trending Republican	D	R	R
Battleground Republican	R	D	R
New Republican	D	D	R

Following the 2020 presidential election, 40.1% of Iowans lived in one of the state's six Solid Democratic counties, which voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in every election from 2012 to 2020, and 31.6% lived in one of 61 Solid Republican counties. Overall, Iowa was Trending Republican, having voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2012, Donald Trump (R) in 2016, and Donald Trump (R) in 2020. Use the table below to view the total number of each type of county in Iowa following the 2020 election as well as the overall percentage of the state population located in each county type.

Iowa county-level statistics, 2020
Solid Democratic	6	40.1%
Solid Republican	61	31.6%
Trending Republican	32	28.3%
Total voted Democratic	6	40.1%
Total voted Republican	93	59.9%

Historical voting trends

Iowa presidential election results (1900-2020)

• 11 Democratic wins
• 20 Republican wins

Year	1900	1904	1908	1912	1916	1920	1924	1928	1932	1936	1940	1944	1948	1952	1956	1960	1964	1968	1972	1976	1980	1984	1988	1992	1996	2000	2004	2008	2012	2016	2020
Winning Party	R	R	R	D	R	R	R	R	D	D	R	R	D	R	R	R	D	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	R	D	D	R	R

Statewide elections

This section details the results of the five most recent U.S. Senate and gubernatorial elections held in the state.

U.S. Senate elections

See also: List of United States Senators from Iowa

The table below details the vote in the five most recent U.S. Senate races in Iowa.

U.S. Senate election results in Iowa
Race	Winner	Runner up
2020	51.8%	45.2%
2016	60.1%	35.7%
2014	52.1%	43.8%
2010	64.5%	33.2%
2008	62.7%	37.3%
Average	58.2	39.0

Gubernatorial elections

See also: Governor of Iowa

The table below details the vote in the five most recent gubernatorial elections in Iowa.

Gubernatorial election results in Iowa
Race	Winner	Runner up
2018	50.3%	47.5%
2014	59.0%	37.3%
2010	52.8%	43.2%
2006	54.0%	44.4%
2002	52.7%	44.5%
Average	53.8	43.4

State partisanship

Congressional delegation

The table below displays the partisan composition of Iowa's congressional delegation as of November 2022.

Congressional Partisan Breakdown from Iowa, November 2022
Party	U.S. Senate	U.S. House	Total
Democratic	0	1	1
Republican	2	3	5
Independent	0	0	0
Vacancies	0	0	0
Total	2	4	6

State executive

The table below displays the officeholders in Iowa's top four state executive offices as of November 2022.

State executive officials in Iowa, November 2022
Office	Officeholder
Governor	Kim Reynolds
Lieutenant Governor	Adam Gregg
Secretary of State	Paul Pate
Attorney General	Thomas John Miller

State legislature

The tables below highlight the partisan composition of the Iowa General Assembly as of November 2022.

Iowa State Senate

Party		As of November 2022
	Democratic Party	18
	Republican Party	32
	Vacancies	0
Total		50

Iowa House of Representatives

Party		As of November 2022
	Democratic Party	40
	Republican Party	60
	Vacancies	0
Total		100

Trifecta control

As of November 2022, Iowa was a Republican trifecta, with majorities in both chambers of the state legislature and control of the governorship. The table below displays the historical trifecta status of the state.

Iowa Party Control: 1992-2022
Four years of Democratic trifectas  •  Eight years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
Governor	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R
Senate	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	S	S	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R
House	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R

Demographics

The table below details demographic data in Iowa and compares it to the broader United States as of 2019.

Demographic Data for Iowa
	Iowa	United States
Population	3,190,369	331,449,281
Land area (sq mi)	55,853	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White	89.1%	70.4%
Black/African American	3.7%	12.6%
Asian	2.5%	5.6%
Native American	0.3%	0.8%
Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more	3%	5.2%
Hispanic/Latino	6.2%	18.2%
Education
High school graduation rate	92.5%	88.5%
College graduation rate	29.3%	32.9%
Income
Median household income	$61,836	$64,994
Persons below poverty level	11.1%	12.8%
Source: population provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "Decennial Census" (2020). Other figures provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2015-2020).
**Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Iowa Attorney General official website