The 1938 Iowa State Senate elections took place as part of the biennial 1938 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 1938 elections is provided by the Iowa General Assembly here.
The primary election on June 6, 1938 determined which candidates appeared on the November 8, 1938 general election ballot.
Following the previous election, Republicans had control of the Iowa state Senate with 28 seats to Democrats' 22 seats. Following a special election in 1937 in district 1, Republicans flipped the first district to their party. Therefore, on election day in November 1938, Republicans held 29 seats to Democrats' 21.
To claim control of the chamber from Republicans, the Democrats needed to net 5 Senate seats.
Republicans maintained control of the Iowa State Senate following the 1938 general election with the balance of power shifting to Republicans holding 38 seats and Democrats having 12 seats (a net gain of 9 seats for Republicans).
Summary of Results
Note: The 28 holdover Senators not up for re-election are not listed on this table.
Source:
Detailed Results
NOTE: The 28 districts that did not hold elections in 1938 are not listed here.
Note: If a district does not list a primary, then that district did not have a competitive primary (i.e., there may have only been one candidate file for that district).