- Lead
- 18,602
- Total
- 424,026
- vs nation
- R+2.9
Iowa 3rd Congressional District
President margin by year
Place winner margin
President results by year
Vote totals, margins, and source status
- Lead
- 1,452
- Total
- 421,197
- vs nation
- R+4.8
- Lead
- 11,235
- Total
- 373,470
- vs nation
- R+5.1
- Lead
- 21,453
- Total
- 368,335
- vs nation
- D+2.0
- Lead
- 26,208
- Total
- 349,893
- vs nation
- D+0.2
- Lead
- 6,107
- Total
- 334,502
- vs nation
- D+0.6
- Lead
- 3
- Total
- 291,240
- vs nation
- R+0.5
- Lead
- 31,579
- Total
- 268,078
- vs nation
- D+3.3
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+4.4MIT Election Lab
- Population
- 797,5512024 5-year
- Population density
- 75 / sq mi2024 5-year · TIGER/Line
- Land area
- 10,673 sq miTIGER/Line
- Median household income
- $80,8442024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 78.8%2024 5-year
- Black
- 5.0%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 8.1%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+28.0 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+44.4 in 1924MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Congressional District 1, IA · twin score 87.1
presidential history
Party record book
Iowa 3rd Congressional District · the strongest Democratic and Republican presidential performances recorded here, measured three ways.
1892–2024 (partial returns from 1876) · 38 presidential cycles · 38 with a vote-share denominator · 34 with a national benchmark
Highest vote share
Largest share of the presidential candidate vote cast here.
Democratic
Lyndon B. Johnson1964
63.8%
155,874 votes · D+28.0 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Michael Dukakis, 1988 · 57.3%
Republican
Warren G. Harding1920
68.7%
135,514 votes · R+40.2 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Herbert Hoover, 1928 · 67.3%
Most votes
Largest number of votes cast for the party’s presidential nominee here.
Democratic
Joe Biden2020
205,591votes
48.8% of the vote · R+0.3
Runner-up · Kamala Harris, 2024 · 199,043 votes
Republican
Donald Trump2024
217,645votes
51.3% of the vote · R+4.4
Runner-up · Donald Trump, 2020 · 207,043 votes
Best relative to the U.S.
This Place’s margin against the national margin in the same election — positive when it leaned toward the party more than the country did.
Democratic
Michael Dukakis1988
+23.0pts D vs U.S.
Place D+15.2 · U.S. R+7.7 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Walter Mondale, 1984 · +16.7 pts
Republican
Theodore Roosevelt1904
+20.1pts R vs U.S.
Place R+39.8 · U.S. R+19.7 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Alf Landon, 1936 · +19.9 pts
Current officeholders
Federal officeholders only. State and local officeholders are planned for the next data pass.
Senate and governor results are in the Office selector at the top of this page.
U.S. House
Each result reflects the U.S. House district as it was drawn for that election; redistricting has redrawn these lines over time, so they can differ from the current 120th-Congress district shown on the map above.
Iowa's 3rd covers the Des Moines metro and its fast-growing suburbs, where a 2020 presidential split has narrowed to R+4.4 in 2024, reflecting the competitive realignment reshaping Midwestern urban-suburban corridors.
Across the recorded series it reached a Democratic high of 28.0 points in 1964 and a Republican high of 44.4 points in 1924. Between 2020 and 2024 the district moved 4.0 points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was 4.4 points.
A population of 797,551, a 79% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $80,844 describe the district. The district's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Congressional District 1 and Congressional District 7.
The congressional districts whose fingerprint — 2000–2024 trajectory, demographics, ancestry, religion — sits closest to this one, and why.
Twin score (0–100) = weighted cosine between tier-standardized fingerprints: presidential margins 2000–2024 with 12-yr trend and elasticity, ACS income, age, education, population and race, top reported ancestries, and religious adherence — chips name the closest-shared dimensions and the widest gap. Re-weight the groups in the twins explorer.
District research tools
Open the source-auditable district brief for electoral baseline, electorate, current-cycle coverage, geography, official dates, and methodology. Open campaign intelligence report → · Browse all comparisons →
Iowa 3rd Congressional District. Akashic. https://akashic.app/cd/1903/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.