Republican Zaun to face Boswell in 3rd District

State Sen. Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale, walked away with the GOP nomination in Iowa's 3

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Congressional District, beating out six other candidates for the chance to take on Democratic U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell.

With 175 out of 339 precincts reporting, Zaun had 51.6 percent of the vote.

He was followed by Jim Gibbons, the former Iowa State University wrestling coach, who had 21.2 percent, and Dave Funk of Runnells, who had 19.8 percent.

During the campaign, Zaun highlighted his tenure in the Iowa Senate and time as mayor of Urbandale, as well as his experiences as an owner of a hardware store.

Zaun attributed his win Tuesday night to his work ethic, and said he wanted to bring common sense to Washington, D.C.

He said voters feel they are not being listened to.

“My No. 1 mission – I've said it all along – is the spending problem we have in  Washington, D.C.,” Zaun said.

In a statement, Boswell congratulated Zaun on his win and said he looked forward to discussing his record.

“Voters this fall will have a clear choice between my record of pursuing common sense solutions for Iowa and my challenger's out of touch agenda that will hurt Iowa families, businesses and family farms,” Boswell said.

Pundits had predicted that with seven candidates in the GOP primary race, it might be difficult for any of the contenders to get the 35 percent of the vote needed to win the nomination outright.

Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Matt Strawn already had scheduled a July 10 convention to choose a nominee in the event no candidate met the 35 percent threshold on Tuesday. With Zaun's decisive victory Tuesday, it proved to be unnecessary.