1950 Iowa Senate election

The 1950 Iowa State Senate elections took place as part of the biennial 1950 United States elections. Iowa voters elected state senators in 22 of the state senate's 50 districts. State senators serve four-year terms in the Iowa State Senate.

A statewide map of the 50 state Senate districts in the 1950 elections is provided by the Iowa General Assembly here.

The primary election on June 5, 1950, determined which candidates appeared on the November 7, 1950 general election ballot.^[1]^[2]

Following the previous election, Republicans had control of the Iowa state Senate with 43 seats to Democrats' 7 seats.

To claim control of the chamber from Republicans, the Democrats needed to net 19 Senate seats.

Republicans maintained control of the Iowa State Senate following the 1950 general election with the balance of power shifting to Republicans holding 41 seats and Democrats having 9 seats (a net gain of 2 seats for Democrats).

Summary of Results

Note: The 28 holdover Senators not up for re-election are not listed on this table.^[3]

State Senate District	Incumbent		Incoming Senator
1st	Stanley Lawrence Hart	Rep	Stanley Lawrence Hart	Rep
4th	Pearl Wayland McMurry	Rep	Ray Fletcher	Rep
7th	Earl C. Fishbaugh	Rep	Earl C. Fishbaugh	Rep
9th	William Nielsen Skourup	Rep	Thomas J. Dailey	Dem
10th	Harlan C. Foster	Rep	Carl T. Anderson	Rep
12th	Luke Vittetoe	Rep	Wilbur Cleland Molison	Rep
13th	Elmer K. Bekman	Rep	Elmer K. Bekman	Rep
18th	Jay C. Colburn	Rep	Jay C. Colburn	Rep
20th	Herman B. Lord	Rep	Herman B. Lord	Rep
21st	Frank D. Martin	Rep	Philip T. Hedin	Rep
22nd	Otto H. Henningsen	Rep	Otto H. Henningsen	Rep
29th	Fred Maytag	Rep	James Harold Nesmith	Rep
30th	George M. Faul	Rep	George E. O'Malley	Dem
34th	Eli Clarence Myrland	Rep	Eli Clarence Myrland	Rep
35th	Robert C. Reilly	Dem	Arnold Utzig	Dem
37th	Rex R. Bateson	Rep	Rex R. Bateson	Rep
38th	John Peter Berg	Rep	John Peter Berg	Rep
42nd	William Linnevold	Rep	William Linnevold	Rep
44th	Ralph W. Zastrow	Rep	Ralph W. Zastrow	Rep
45th	Richard V. Leo	Rep	Harry E. Weichman	Rep
48th	Ralph E. Benson	Rep	Alan William Vest	Rep
50th	Jacob Frederick Miller	Rep	R. J. Oltman	Rep

Source:^[4]

Detailed Results

NOTE: The 28 districts that did not hold elections in 1950 are not listed here.

District 1 • District 4 • District 7 • District 9 • District 10 • District 12 • District 13 • District 18 • District 20 • District 21 • District 22 • District 29 • District 30 • District 34 • District 35 • District 37 • District 38 • District 42 • District 44 • District 45 • District 48 • District 50

Note: The Iowa Secretary of State's website does not list vote totals for competitive primaries. Only names of candidates in each primary race are provided.^[5]^[6]

District 1

Iowa Senate, District 1 General Election, 1950
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Stanley L. Hart (incumbent)	7,617	54.2
	Democratic	John M. Kudebeh	6,445	45.8
Total votes			14,062	100.0
	Republican hold

District 4

Iowa Senate, District 4 General Election, 1950
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ray Fletcher	6,418	65.4
	Democratic	Gordon A. Ward	3,391	34.6
Total votes			9,809	100.0
	Republican hold

District 7

Iowa Senate, District 7 General Election, 1950
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Earl C. Fishbaugh, Jr. (incumbent)	8,094	65.8
	Democratic	Paul V. Nichols	4,213	34.2
Total votes			12,307	100.0
	Republican hold

District 9

Iowa Senate, District 9 General Election, 1950
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Thomas J. Dailey	7,168	53.1
	Republican	W. N. Skourup (incumbent)	6,321	46.9
Total votes			13,489	100.0
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 10

Iowa Senate, District 10 General Election, 1950
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Carl T. Anderson	8,867	68.8
	Democratic	Gertrude S. Flickinger	4,027	31.2
Total votes			12,894	100.0
	Republican hold

District 12

Iowa Senate, District 12 General Election, 1950
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Wilbur C. Molison	7,779	59.5
	Democratic	Jesse A. Breon	5,297	40.5
Total votes			13,076	100.0
	Republican hold

District 13

Iowa Senate, District 13 General Election, 1950
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Elmer K. Bekman (incumbent)	7,668	51.5
	Democratic	John T. Brady, Jr.	7,227	48.5
Total votes			14,895	100.0
	Republican hold

District 18

Iowa Senate, District 18 General Election, 1950
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jay C. Colburn (incumbent)	8,809	100.0
Total votes			8,809	100.0
	Republican hold

District 20

Iowa Senate, District 20 General Election, 1950
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Herman B. Lord (incumbent)	7,782	57.5
	Democratic	William T. Newell	5,762	42.5
Total votes			13,544	100.0
	Republican hold

District 21

Iowa Senate, District 21 General Election, 1950
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Philip T. Hedin	14,885	57.8
	Democratic	Harry Ward	10,881	42.2
Total votes			25,766	100.0
	Republican hold

District 22

Iowa Senate, District 22 General Election, 1950
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	O. H. Henningsen (incumbent)	9,288	58.6
	Democratic	Emmett P. Delaney	6,575	41.4
Total votes			15,863	100.0
	Republican hold

District 29

Iowa Senate, District 29 General Election, 1950
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	James H. Nesmith	6,111	58.9
	Democratic	Joe Cross	4,267	41.1
Total votes			10,378	100.0
	Republican hold

District 30

Iowa Senate, District 30 General Election, 1950
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	George E. O'Malley	32,826	52.8
	Republican	James P. Irish	29,293	47.2
Total votes			62,119	100.0
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 34

Iowa Senate, District 34 General Election, 1950
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	E. C. Myrland (incumbent)	10,163	56.3
	Democratic	William H. Welch	7,890	43.7
Total votes			18,053	100.0
	Republican hold

District 35

Iowa Senate, District 35 General Election, 1950
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Arnold Utzig	11,237	55.7
	Republican	John H. Ford	8,941	44.3
Total votes			20,178	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 37

Iowa Senate, District 37 General Election, 1950
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	R. R. Bateson (incumbent)	12,184	68.3
	Democratic	Rodney Urdahl	5,660	31.7
Total votes			17,844	100.0
	Republican hold

District 38

Iowa Senate, District 38 General Election, 1950
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John P. Berg (incumbent)	20,084	62.2
	Democratic	M. H. Kelly	12,216	37.8
Total votes			32,300	100.0
	Republican hold

District 42

Iowa Senate, District 42 General Election, 1950
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	William Linnevold (incumbent)	7,333	54.6
	Democratic	George Mikesh	6,097	45.4
Total votes			13,430	100.0
	Republican hold

District 44

Iowa Senate, District 44 General Election, 1950
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ralph W. Zastrow (incumbent)	6,583	55.0
	Democratic	Henry F. Hauth	5,394	45.0
Total votes			11,977	100.0
	Republican hold

District 45

Iowa Senate, District 45 General Election, 1950
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Harry E. Weichman	8,467	59.7
	Democratic	Fred J. Hushak	5,715	40.3
Total votes			14,182	100.0
	Republican hold

District 48

Iowa Senate, District 48 General Election, 1950
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Alan Vest	9,828	57.6
	Democratic	Francis L. Cudahy	7,221	42.4
Total votes			17,049	100.0
	Republican hold

District 50

Iowa Senate, District 50 General Election, 1950
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	R. J. Oltman	9,094	61.0
	Democratic	George Grau	5,824	39.0
Total votes			14,918	100.0
	Republican hold

References

^ "Primary Election 1950 For State Senator" (PDF). Iowa Official Register. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
^ "General Election 1950 For State Senator" (PDF). Iowa Official Register. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
^ "Holdover State Senators" (PDF). Iowa Official Register. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
^ "Legislators". Iowa State Senate. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
^ "Primary Candidates for State and District Offices 1950" (PDF). Iowa Secretary of State. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
^ "Primary Election for State Senator 1950" (PDF). Iowa General Assembly. Retrieved June 15, 2020.

[1] "Primary Election 1950 For State Senator" (PDF). Iowa Official Register. Retrieved June 15, 2020.

[2] "General Election 1950 For State Senator" (PDF). Iowa Official Register. Retrieved June 15, 2020.

[3] "Holdover State Senators" (PDF). Iowa Official Register. Retrieved June 15, 2020.

[4] "Legislators". Iowa State Senate. Retrieved June 15, 2020.

[5] "Primary Candidates for State and District Offices 1950" (PDF). Iowa Secretary of State. Retrieved June 15, 2020.

[6] "Primary Election for State Senator 1950" (PDF). Iowa General Assembly. Retrieved June 15, 2020.

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