- Lead
- 1,822
- Total
- 35,376
- vs nation
- R+3.7
Iowa 38th State Senate District
President margin by year
Place winner margin
President results by year
Modeled candidate-vote estimate on current district boundaries
- Lead
- 109
- Total
- 36,047
- vs nation
- R+4.2
- Lead
- 1,013
- Total
- 35,207
- vs nation
- R+5.0
- Lead
- 3,944
- Total
- 35,732
- vs nation
- D+7.2
- Lead
- 4,642
- Total
- 34,463
- vs nation
- D+6.2
- Lead
- 744
- Total
- 34,405
- vs nation
- D+4.6
- Lead
- 832
- Total
- 29,610
- vs nation
- D+2.3
- Lead
- 3,178
- Total
- 28,389
- vs nation
- D+2.7
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+5.2MIT Election Lab
- Population
- 63,3832024 5-year
- Population density
- 138 / sq mi2024 5-year · TIGER/Line
- Land area
- 459 sq miTIGER/Line
- Median household income
- $79,8822024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 88.5%2024 5-year
- Black
- 2.6%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 2.7%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+14.0 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+60.9 in 1920MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- State Senate District 18, MN · twin score 82.6
presidential history
Party record book
Iowa 38th State Senate 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
56.9%
15,575 votes · D+14.0 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Barack Obama, 2008 · 55.9%
Republican
Warren G. Harding1920
77.7%
11,247 votes · R+60.9 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Herbert Hoover, 1928 · 71.1%
Most votes
Largest number of votes cast for the party’s presidential nominee here.
Democratic
Barack Obama2012
19,480votes
54.5% of the vote · D+11.0 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Barack Obama, 2008 · 19,253 votes
Republican
Ronald Reagan1984
18,929votes
54.7% of the vote · R+10.3 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Richard Nixon, 1972 · 18,321 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
+13.1pts D vs U.S.
Place D+5.3 · U.S. R+7.7 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Walter Mondale, 1984 · +8.0 pts
Republican
Warren G. Harding1920
+34.7pts R vs U.S.
Place R+60.9 · U.S. R+26.2 · modeled estimate
Runner-up · Charles E. Hughes, 1916 · +30.5 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.
In 2024 it voted Republican by R+5.2, against D+13.5 in 2008, having changed party at least once across the five cycles. About 54,000 residents lived here, with White alone at 80.7% in the 2024 ACS 5-year.
Across the recorded series it reached a Democratic high of 14.0 points in 1964 and a Republican high of 60.9 points in 1920. Between 2020 and 2024 the district moved 5.5 points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was 5.2 points.
A population of 63,383, a 89% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $79,882 describe the district. The district's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of State Senate District 18 and State Senate District 7.
The state-senate 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 38th State Senate District. Akashic. https://akashic.app/sld-upper/19038/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.