Iowa GOP pours money into key state races

DES MOINES - Iowa Republicans are making robust investments in their attempt to win control of the state Senate, outspending Democrats by nearly 70 percent in the chamber's most critical election races.

In each of four races that will go a long way toward deciding which party sets the agenda in the Senate for the next two years, Republicans outspent Democrats by an average of roughly $117,000, according to fundraising reports filed Wednesday.

The new reports cover statehouse fundraising over three months from July 15 to Oct. 14.

The majority party in the Iowa Legislature determines which bills are debated and receive votes. Republicans control the House and Democrats the Senate.

Going into the November election, the Senate is made up of 25 Democrats and 23 Republicans, with one independent senator and one vacant seat to be filled by a special election in December. That vacancy in a Democratic-leaning district was created by the death of Sen. Joe Seng, a Democrat from Davenport.

That means Republicans likely need to flip three seats if they are to gain the Senate.

Republicans have targeted a handful of seats. For the seats most vulnerable to change, the GOP has significantly outspent Democratic incumbents on advertising.

In four key races elsewhere in Iowa, the state GOP party spent an average of about $289,000 each, while the Democrats' spending averaged roughly $172,000.

Republicans appear to have high hopes for the Cedar Rapids-area race in which Democratic incumbent Sen. Liz Mathis is up for re-election.

The state GOP devoted more than $242,000 in mostly advertising to the campaign of Republican challenger Rene Gadelha.

The Democratic Party, perhaps signaling its confidence in Mathis, provided just more than $44,000. Mathis also raised nearly $72,000 on her own, compared with the roughly $24,000 raised by Gadelha.