- Lead
- 4,777
- Total
- 14,700
- vs nation
- D+34.0
Iowa 78th State House District
President margin by year
Place winner margin
President results by year
Modeled candidate-vote estimate on current district boundaries
- Lead
- 6,089
- Total
- 16,065
- vs nation
- D+33.4
- Lead
- 4,849
- Total
- 15,458
- vs nation
- D+29.3
- Lead
- 6,457
- Total
- 15,846
- vs nation
- D+36.9
- Lead
- 6,797
- Total
- 15,246
- vs nation
- D+37.3
- Lead
- 5,035
- Total
- 14,455
- vs nation
- D+37.3
- Lead
- 3,992
- Total
- 12,016
- vs nation
- D+32.7
- Lead
- 4,352
- Total
- 11,118
- vs nation
- D+30.6
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+32.5MIT Election Lab
- Population
- 31,9732024 5-year
- Population density
- 2,687 / sq mi2024 5-year · TIGER/Line
- Land area
- 11.9 sq miTIGER/Line
- Median household income
- $64,1982024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 74.1%2024 5-year
- Black
- 12.4%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 5.1%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+50.7 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+29.2 in 1924MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- State House District 79, IA · twin score 90.4
presidential history
Party record book
Iowa 78th State House 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
75.3%
6,424 votes · D+50.7 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Barack Obama, 2008 · 71.6%
Republican
Warren G. Harding1920
60.8%
1,910 votes · R+24.8 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Herbert Hoover, 1928 · 56.4%
Most votes
Largest number of votes cast for the party’s presidential nominee here.
Democratic
Barack Obama2012
10,983votes
69.3% of the vote · D+40.7 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Barack Obama, 2008 · 10,920 votes
Republican
Donald Trump2024
4,805votes
32.7% of the vote · D+32.5 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Donald Trump, 2020 · 4,774 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
+45.1pts D vs U.S.
Place D+37.4 · U.S. R+7.7 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · George McGovern, 1972 · +41.2 pts
Republican
Calvin Coolidge1924
+4.1pts R vs U.S.
Place R+29.2 · U.S. R+25.2 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Warren G. Harding, 1920 · −1.3 pts
Current officeholders
State legislative officeholder from OpenStates nightly current-legislator data.
Senate and governor results are in the Office selector at the top of this page.
U.S. House
Each row is a county-allocated estimate of U.S. House votes for this district — county returns apportioned onto its boundary, not precinct-counted. “Vote lead” is the estimated local lead here, not necessarily the winner of the full contest.
Anchored in a dense urban core, this district recorded a 32.5-point Democratic presidential margin in 2024, placing it among the state's most lopsided legislative constituencies and reflecting the concentration of younger, college-educated voters typical of Iowa's urban precincts.
Across the recorded series it reached a Democratic high of 50.7 points in 1964 and a Republican high of 29.2 points in 1924. Between 2020 and 2024 the district moved 5.4 points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was 32.5 points.
A population of 31,973, a 74% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $64,198 describe the district. The district's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of State House District 79 and State House District 74.
The state-house 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 78th State House District. Akashic. https://akashic.app/sld-lower/19078/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.